Ok so I am building an ash Strat with a floyd rose and I have never done a floyd.
I am going to recess it.
The questions I have are these:
1) how deep should I rout it? StewMac says 1/8 to 5/16".... That is a lot of difference when you are talking about a bridge. How do I know the best height? Can someone measure one for me? Is there a way to tell from the bridge itself what I should recess it to? How deep do you have to go for maximum "Whammy-ness?"
2) StewMac also says to mount the studs on center at 25" from the nut. That puts the high E saddle right around 25.5" but I would still like someone to confirm or disconfirm that for me.
3) How much room is needed behind the string locks to get the wrench in to tighten them? I know the easy answer is to put the wrench in and rout from the back of the wrench, but that will create a huge hole in the front of the guitar. Do you lift up on the back of the bridge to loosen the string locks typically? I can shorten the wrench if necessary, I just want the guitar to be somewhat consistent with a typical floyd guitar.
4) Is it absolutely necessary to drill through the neck to mount the nut? What are the advantages or disadvantages of not drilling the whole way through? The floyd I bought has two sets of screws for the nut. One set of button head machine screws to mount it through the back of the neck and a set of flathead wood screws that fit in the countersink of the mounting holes from the top. I would prefer to mount it from the top, but if it is better to drill through, I will. Also, is there any kind of setup needed on these locking nuts? They look like they are plug and play, nothing to file or what have you.....?
I make my own simple templates, and the template for a floyd is two simple rectangles. I will make the template for the bridge with my carpenters square and a piece of plywood. I know I can buy a template for $20, but there is no need to for a rectangle shaped hole. Anyway, I know I can figure this out but it's easier with a step or two in the right direction. In all my years of wrenching on guitars and playing around with them, I have never once come across a floyd bridge, let alone install one!! But there is only one way to learn, so I am going to do it.
Any other tips or tricks, like how to set the intonation without pulling all of my hair out, would be extremely helpful
I actually like the setup of this bridge. I like the fine tuners, how it was designed. I don't play with a tremolo at all anymore, but I could easily convert one of these to a hardtail, just for the fine tuners!! Remove the arm and sustain block, drill the body where the block attached to the bridge and you have a floyd hardtail. Overkill on tuning perfection? Yes. But it intrigues me. That's how most of my guitar projects get started, with a specific idea, and I build off of it! I doubt it if I would ever do such a thing, but knowing it is possible has my mind hard at work and smoke pouring out of my ears!!
Thanks in advance for any help or advice!!
ccasion14:
I am going to recess it.
The questions I have are these:
1) how deep should I rout it? StewMac says 1/8 to 5/16".... That is a lot of difference when you are talking about a bridge. How do I know the best height? Can someone measure one for me? Is there a way to tell from the bridge itself what I should recess it to? How deep do you have to go for maximum "Whammy-ness?"
2) StewMac also says to mount the studs on center at 25" from the nut. That puts the high E saddle right around 25.5" but I would still like someone to confirm or disconfirm that for me.
3) How much room is needed behind the string locks to get the wrench in to tighten them? I know the easy answer is to put the wrench in and rout from the back of the wrench, but that will create a huge hole in the front of the guitar. Do you lift up on the back of the bridge to loosen the string locks typically? I can shorten the wrench if necessary, I just want the guitar to be somewhat consistent with a typical floyd guitar.
4) Is it absolutely necessary to drill through the neck to mount the nut? What are the advantages or disadvantages of not drilling the whole way through? The floyd I bought has two sets of screws for the nut. One set of button head machine screws to mount it through the back of the neck and a set of flathead wood screws that fit in the countersink of the mounting holes from the top. I would prefer to mount it from the top, but if it is better to drill through, I will. Also, is there any kind of setup needed on these locking nuts? They look like they are plug and play, nothing to file or what have you.....?
I make my own simple templates, and the template for a floyd is two simple rectangles. I will make the template for the bridge with my carpenters square and a piece of plywood. I know I can buy a template for $20, but there is no need to for a rectangle shaped hole. Anyway, I know I can figure this out but it's easier with a step or two in the right direction. In all my years of wrenching on guitars and playing around with them, I have never once come across a floyd bridge, let alone install one!! But there is only one way to learn, so I am going to do it.
Any other tips or tricks, like how to set the intonation without pulling all of my hair out, would be extremely helpful
I actually like the setup of this bridge. I like the fine tuners, how it was designed. I don't play with a tremolo at all anymore, but I could easily convert one of these to a hardtail, just for the fine tuners!! Remove the arm and sustain block, drill the body where the block attached to the bridge and you have a floyd hardtail. Overkill on tuning perfection? Yes. But it intrigues me. That's how most of my guitar projects get started, with a specific idea, and I build off of it! I doubt it if I would ever do such a thing, but knowing it is possible has my mind hard at work and smoke pouring out of my ears!!
Thanks in advance for any help or advice!!
ccasion14:
