Locking nut over headstock-adjust truss rod?

[swinginguitar]

Is it generally accepted as "do-able" to route for a floyd nut on a strat style neck with the rod adjust nut at the headstock?

Most of the pre-made necks I see that are available for FR nuts are heel adjust.

can anyone confirm from experience that there is enough wood there for this with out bumping into the truss rod nut?

as a related aside, can any typical FR nut be shelf mounted (i.e. screwed in from the top as opposed to holed through the neck), or is it a special piece reserved for that use?

 

[Neo Fender]

On my Charvel, the nut obscures some of the walnut section but I don't know if this would cause a problem with a Vintage Modern neck or not.  Guess it depends on how deep the hex end is.  The presence of the dubious retainer bar may have also driven the decision to move the truss rod adjustment to the heel.

 

[Cagey]

Locking nuts are the spawn of the devil. Use locking tuners, which didn't exist when Mr. Rose came up with his Rube Goldberg scheme of keeping vibrato bridge equipped guitars in tune. Just be sure to get a properly cut nut made of a decent material. I'd suggest Graphtech's "Tusq" parts, or an LSR.

 

[dmraco]

I have several with no issue.  just is a little difficult to get the allen wrench in the truss rod.

 

[swinginguitar]

Locking nuts are the spawn of the devil. Use locking tuners, which didn't exist when Mr. Rose came up with his Rube Goldberg scheme of keeping vibrato bridge equipped guitars in tune. Just be sure to get a properly cut nut made of a decent material. I'd suggest Graphtech's "Tusq" parts, or an LSR.

you reckon locking tuners and an LSR would handle the usual FR acrobatics without goign outta tune?

once you cut out of the 1st fret for LSR you're kinda committed...

 

[Cagey]

I've done it before with good results.

The only reason to use a locking nut is if you don't have locking tuners. Those things didn't exist back when Mr. Rose designed his signature bridge and tuning system. That's not to say that a locking nut was a bad idea or that it doesn't work - it wasn't and it does. But, it's a pain in the shorts you don't need to deal with today.

I don't have a guitar with a Floyd system on it at the moment (I think they're unnecessarily complex and expensive), but I work on them all the time. They're not the panacea they're made out to be. Strings still stretch even if they're locked at both ends, so you still have tuning issues as various strings flat out, albeit much reduced from you average setup. Locking the strings 1 to 3 inches north of where you'd lock them with a Floyd nut doesn't make any difference to speak of, unless you have a really crummy nut.

 

[swinginguitar]

also wondering (for either the floyd nut or LSR) - since over time the frets will wear down and be re-leveled and thus made shorter, is it wise to install these mechanical nuts a tad low so they can be shimmed/unshimmed over time as the fret geometry changes?

if installed "right" for today's fret height, they would be too tall down the road and nothing you could do about it short of making the shelf deeper (which could have been done to start with)

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

If you have a headstock design that incorporates straight string pull, then locking tuners and a well setup nut will accomplish what the locking nut did.

 

[Cagey]

also wondering (for either the floyd nut or LSR) - since over time the frets will wear down and be re-leveled and thus made shorter, is it wise to install these mechanical nuts a tad low so they can be shimmed/unshimmed over time as the fret geometry changes?

if installed "right" for today's fret height, they would be too tall down the road and nothing you could do about it short of making the shelf deeper (which could have been done to start with)

I dislike using shims if I can avoid it. Re-seating/replacing the nut isn't a big deal, especially relative to fretwork. If this is a new neck, just use stainless steel frets. They wear very slowly, they play better, and they don't affect your sound at all. The only downside to them is if your friendly neighborhood guitar tech has cheap tools. They'll get eaten up by stainless frets and stainless takes longer to work, so (s)he'll charge more for any kind of fretwork.

 

[swinginguitar]

hijacking my own thread, but still on the subject of floyds -

if i get a warmoth body with the recessed FR rout and the 720 mod, will some amount of neck angle be mandatory? I don't know how deep the recess is, but I often read of people tilting the neck 2-3 degress with FR bridge for low action.

...or is it somethign i'll just have to mock up upon delivery?

EDIT: to clarify - I saw that warmoth mills an angle on the 720 mod, but i was planning on doing that rout myself ($45 is a little steep to remove a tenth of an inch). so what angle is typically required with the recessed FR?