Floyd rout question

[Cederick]

I'm modding a shite guitar with Gotoh Floyd right now and wanna know if it's completely necessecary for the recessed rout to have that "two level" deepness?

I've seen it's a bit higher where the studs are, and lower where the "pullup" space is.

Can I just rout it with one "deepness"? I'm quite new to this and that would help a lot



ALSO! I would appriciate a good way how to measure where to put the studs too! I think having the bridge a bit forward or backwards shouldn't matter since you can just change the saddles to fix intonation.
But how do I precisly measure where the MIDDLE is?

 

[AutoBat]

Question 1: sure, you can make it 1 depth if you must. The block will probably reach the wall well before the trem hits wood.
Question 2: If your neck is on already, measure from the nut to 12th fret; that's half your scale length.  Use that same distance from the 12th fret to where the saddles should be.  Place studs as appropriate based on their distance from the saddle location.

 

[line6man]

The depth of the route depends entirely on how far you want to be able to pull up, and how the action is set at the saddles. You can route any way you want.

You should have a centerline that marks the center. From there, you just measure out the distance in each direction, and mark the holes. Perhaps you should consider a Floyd Rose template, such as the one that StewMac sells.

 

[Cederick]

The problem is that I don't have a "centerline", it's an old guitar that I wanna mod.

I tried measuring from the middle of the sex screws, but that didn't seem very accurate actually... I don't know, maybe I should do that again? I tweaked the centerdots for studs one millimeter to the left and it seemed more in the middle

 

[line6man]

The problem is that I don't have a "centerline", it's an old guitar that I wanna mod.

I tried measuring from the middle of the sex screws, but that didn't seem very accurate actually... I don't know, maybe I should do that again? I tweaked the centerdots for studs one millimeter to the left and it seemed more in the middle

Is that a centerline in the neck pocket? Use that.

 

[Cagey]

You don't need to center the bridge on the body so much as the neck, as that's going to set where the strings show up on the neck. So, if it was me, I'd bolt the neck on, find the center of that at two places (say, the 12th and 22nd or 24th fret), then use those two marks along with a straightedge to project a center line down the body. Measure the width of the bridge mounting point centers and divide by 2, and that'll tell you how far off the body center line the bridge mounting hole centers need to be.

Did I say center enough times? My 8th grade English teacher would beat me with some hard rock Maple  <grin>

 

[AutoBat]

If pictures suit you better, this one should help.
Even if it's on an acoustic, the same measurement applies.

 

[Cederick]

It's gonna be a bit hard to measure the center off the neck now when I've scallopped it hahaha. It's ugly but will probably work. The frets are lined up very well despite a lot of damaged fretboard.

Keep in mind this project isn't going to be a beauty  :icon_biggrin:

However, I will do try that neck measuring technique, thanks a lot  :cool01:

 

[Pelagaard]

How do scalloped frets effect where the centerline of the neck is located?

 

[Cagey]

You don't necessarily need to mark the fretboard. You could use a sharpie and mark the frets. Or, put a piece of masking tape on them and mark that.

Another thing that might work is to put the low and high E strings on, and simply line the bridge up by eye so the strings are equidistant from either side of the neck. Then, mark where the bridge mounting holes need to be.

 

[Cederick]

You don't necessarily need to mark the fretboard. You could use a sharpie and mark the frets. Or, put a piece of masking tape on them and mark that.

Another thing that might work is to put the low and high E strings on, and simply line the bridge up by eye so the strings are equidistant from either side of the neck. Then, mark where the bridge mounting holes need to be.

I have done the latter thing you mentioned, and it seems quite good. However, I will double check, triple check and check a million times more before actually going on with the routing!

 

[Neo Fender]

Them some deep scallops.

It's gonna be a bit hard to measure the center off the neck now when I've scallopped it hahaha. It's ugly but will probably work. The frets are lined up very well despite a lot of damaged fretboard.

Keep in mind this project isn't going to be a beauty  :icon_biggrin:

However, I will do try that neck measuring technique, thanks a lot  :cool01:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

That's beyond "scallop".  That's a trench!

 

[SustainerPlayer]

A tsunami of frets really. 

 

[Cederick]

Haha yeah I know but the dots was easily destroyed and I have to continue so that there was no hole.
We'll se if this neck will work anyway ;P