Natural ash soloist.

Great build and great looking guitar!

I am planning a one-humbucker (roasted) Ash Soloist myself, and since this is my first build I have had a lot of open questions related to it. The once I have left are around which tremolo to use, and ensuring that the string height fits both the tremolo and the neck radius, so questions like this
  • Does wood mounting a humbucker generate requirements related to string height? Examples: recessed/non-recessed Floyd Rose bridge routing, 720 mod (is it needed), chosen neck radius vs nut/bridge, etc?
  • Does using an EVH D-tuna require ticking recessed/non-recessed in the body options menu?
  • Is a neck compound 12-16” radius OK, if I choose an R3 nut (10”) and the Schaller Lockmeister bridge with no shims (16”)? I have only read on forums about these radiuses (nut and bridge), so I am no sure?
  • Is the Schaller Lockmeister exactly the same thing as the Original Floyd Rose?

Thank you!
 
  • Does wood mounting a humbucker generate requirements related to string height? Examples: recessed/non-recessed Floyd Rose bridge routing, 720 mod (is it needed), chosen neck radius vs nut/bridge, etc?

String height is what you need to set for playability. Regardless of how you mount the humbucker, it needs to be adjusted to an optimal height from the strings, you adjust the humbucker after the string height.

The 720 mod only works on a rear rout and is not needed even in that case. All it does is bring the fretboard closer to the body.

  • Does using an EVH D-tuna require ticking recessed/non-recessed in the body options menu?

An EVH D-Tuna requires either a decked dive only Floyd type bridge or one that can be made to be dive only using something such as a Tremel-no or other type of trem stopper. An EVH D-Tuna does not work if the Floyd is floating.

Recessed is made for floating a Floyd without the need for additional neck angle. Non recessed usually has a slight angle to the neck pocket. Non recessed is easier to deck a Floyd for dive only.

  • Is a neck compound 12-16” radius OK, if I choose an R3 nut (10”) and the Schaller Lockmeister bridge with no shims (16”)? I have only read on forums about these radiuses (nut and bridge), so I am no sure?

The difference is slight between a 10" and 12" radius.

At the bridge you need about an 18" radius so you would need to remove the supplied shim and add some shims.

For a 16" radius at the bridge a more optimum compound radius is 10 - 14" but Warmoth does not offer that. On balance 10 - 16" is close enough but you will need to shim to 18" at the bridge.


  • Is the Schaller Lockmeister exactly the same thing as the Original Floyd Rose?

It is the same dimensionally but has improvements from the point of view of Schaller over the OFR (which Schaller makes for Floyd Rose). Depending on where you live the Lockmeister is probably a better value in terms of price. Note the link below is for a Left handed Lockmeister, the right handed ones do not appear on the Schaller site any more at the time of writing. (you would also need the 37mm block option)


Better to put questions such as this in a new thread, really.
 
Last edited:
…(other answers removed rom this reeply)….It is the same dimensionally but has improvements from the point of view of Schaller over the OFR (which Schaller makes for Floyd Rose). Depending on where you live the Lockmeister is probably a better value in terms of price. Note the link below is for a Left handed Lockmeister, the right handed ones do not appear on the Schaller site any more at the time of writing. (you would also need the 37mm block option)


Better to put questions such as this in a new thread, really.
Many, many thanks for the extremely information rich reply!
I can now remove a huge amount of questions I have on my list!

I also noticed that Schaller does not have the tremolo on their web site, so I will quickly order one with the 37mm block from Thomann:
Schaller Lockmeister at Thomann

And apologies for what I realized to be spam, apologies also to the owner of this thread! I will be a better Net citizen in the future!
 
Great build and great looking guitar!

I am planning a one-humbucker (roasted) Ash Soloist myself, and since this is my first build I have had a lot of open questions related to it. The once I have left are around which tremolo to use, and ensuring that the string height fits both the tremolo and the neck radius, so questions like this
  • Does wood mounting a humbucker generate requirements related to string height? Examples: recessed/non-recessed Floyd Rose bridge routing, 720 mod (is it needed), chosen neck radius vs nut/bridge, etc?
  • Does using an EVH D-tuna require ticking recessed/non-recessed in the body options menu?
  • Is a neck compound 12-16” radius OK, if I choose an R3 nut (10”) and the Schaller Lockmeister bridge with no shims (16”)? I have only read on forums about these radiuses (nut and bridge), so I am no sure?
  • Is the Schaller Lockmeister exactly the same thing as the Original Floyd Rose?

Thank you!
  • In my experience (this type of build) it does not make a difference, so long as you are able to shim the pickup to the height you want or use springs. 720 mod is not needed, although this particular build does have it and I personally recomend it because I like the look and feel.
  • Non recessed or recessed will both work with the D-tuna, see my other build thread, I used a D-tuna with that.
  • The neck radius is not going to make it not work, but floyd nuts are a 10" radius so if you are incredibly picky about action feel then you should go with 10-16.
  • Not the same, but it is similar. If youre going for a non recessed route, it will make very little difference if any.
And no worries on bumping the thread. I'm happy to talk about my previous builds. But do make your own thread to show us all your very cool sounding project!
 
  • In my experience (this type of build) it does not make a difference, so long as you are able to shim the pickup to the height you want or use springs. 720 mod is not needed, although this particular build does have it and I personally recomend it because I like the look and feel.
  • Non recessed or recessed will both work with the D-tuna, see my other build thread, I used a D-tuna with that.
  • The neck radius is not going to make it not work, but floyd nuts are a 10" radius so if you are incredibly picky about action feel then you should go with 10-16.
  • Not the same, but it is similar. If youre going for a non recessed route, it will make very little difference if any.
And no worries on bumping the thread. I'm happy to talk about my previous builds. But do make your own thread to show us all your very cool sounding project!
Thank you so much for the advice, much appreciated! And it is good to hear that I didn’t get new enemies :) by bumping the thread!

And yes, I am definitely going to ”give back to the community” by creating a new thread about my build project. It probably becomes boring as I was thinking of starting with the requirements/reasons for the project, and then create a short ”FAQ” about what I learned before ordering the build. And only after that list what I ordered. And then provide updates when I get the body+neck, when the HW is in place, and so on.
I will take a look at the existing build threads for ”best practices”.

This will be fun!
 
Back
Top