kp247
I have just installed a genuine Floyd Rose on my Frankenstein bolt on neck guitar, the positioning and intonation is perfect, the saddles sit nicely in the center and everything works perfect, but not quite! I had to tilt the neck back a bit to get a nice low action on the fretboard and following an earlier suggestion by someone on this forum I used X-ray material which works really well.
The problem is that the Floyd, even at it's lowest position, sits too high off the body and even with the bridge pickup set to maximum height it's still too far away from the strings. The middle and neck pickups are OK but not the bridge.
I get the feeling that I will have to sink the Floyd into the body a bit.
How? Does anyone know of a fairly safe way of doing this?
A router is a dangerous tool, I don't have one and probably never will since all I can think of is blood gushing from severed fingers so they scare me!
Bob-Dubery
I think that installing a Floyd Rose by yourself is a bit like representing yourself in court - unless you know what you're doing.
I'd take it to McGibbon's or Music Connection (good technicians at both shops) and have a chat with them.
AlanRatcliffe
Especially if you want some pullback on the Floyd, there's no way around the routing. If you are not comfortable doing it yourself, take it to a tech.
telefan100
I've had similar problems a few years ago and found a solution that worked for me without using a router.
I hope you've drilled your stud holes a bit deeper than their actual length. Assuming you have a normal drilling machine, find yourself a good tool dealer and buy a set of triangular tipped wood grinding tips (sorry - I can't remember their actual name). You can also use a Dremel tool but it's expensive and you can do the same with a normal drill and the right tips.
Remove your strings, set the floyd all the way down onto the body and trace the outline of it onto the body with a thin marker. Then you remove the floyd, take the drill with one of the medium triangular grinders and gently start grinding the laquer and wood away from inside your traced lines and blend it gently into the traced line. Experiment with a piece of similar wood first to get your action and feel right. Before you start remember to gently tap the swivel studs into the body by a few mm or as deep as you think you need to sink the floyd.
It took me only 20 minutes to do the actual work and it turned out fantastic! ?
Heath
Good idea Telefan , but imo that is asking for problems. this would one of the fews where i would say take it to a tech and have it done properly .
kp247
I don't really want to take the guitar to a technician and want to do the work myself.
Telefan I think I know what youre referring to. My neighbour has a lot of power tools and I have seen him use a funny drilling machine without a handle with grinders tips that he uses to clean the insides of cylinders of his bike. Maybe this will work! You've given me an idea. I'll ask him tonight. ? ?
Thanks! ?
DaFiz
Skip the power tools and do it by hand, with an old fashioned chisel or gouge. Baby steps, a little at a time.
It's a small job and easier to control with hand tools. 8)
Gearhead
I dunno what you guys are so weary of wrt routers. The chisel and the grinding thing actually take more skill if you want to create straight sides and a flat bottom face. There is no better tool for this job than a router, the main thing is to maintain control over its movements. It is actually a 10 minute job once you have made a template, and template making is simpler than any of the woodwork suggested in this thread. The good part with templates is that you can use cheap material and try as many times as you like. You can use any tool you want, but jigsaw+sanding is my favorite technique in 4mm perspex/supawood/ply/etc. The end result is even going to look more smooth than the template itself because of the radius of the template follower. Since you are making a new cut (as opposed to following an existing shape) your template follower can be of the type that mounts into the bottom of the router 'foot'; these are very easy to work with.
Kp247 (what kinda name is that anyway?) you're welcome to come over to my place (Vanderbijlpark) and try your skills at making a template; I will help you do the routing and you can practice on scrap.
kp247
Gearhead wrote:
Kp247 (what kinda name is that anyway?)
>☹ Very Funny
GEARHEAD - What kinda name is
THAT ? ! Kevin Paul Marais. The reason is twofold! Since I've moved up from Cape Town 2 years ago someone started calling me "Capey" and KP also happens to be my initials!
Gearhead, this is exactly why I'm staying away from routers. I don't know what the hell you're talking about! Templates, maintain control over the movements, radius of the template follower, etc etc makes no sense to me. A chisel and a hammer yes, and a drill with a bit in the front yes, but the stuff you're talking about - No!
BUT.........I'm warming to you ever so slightly since you're inviting me over and are offering to help out and show me a few things - Cost involved? Or are we gonna drink some, chat some and then f*** the guitar up? :-\
MikeM
I don't think Gearhead can stuff up a guitar if he tried... Even Townshend style hehe..
Gearhead
I have a strict rule about routers and being sober ?
Cost involved = R0,-
I am no professional and the warranty is never more than what you paid (R0,-).
The sort of template that I talk about is a piece of plate into which one can cut a hole that is slightly larger than the hole that is to be routed out (larger? more later). You stick the template onto the guitar body with double sided tape; for easy positioning you can use transparent plate like perspex and scratch lines on it.
The template follower I am talking about essentially is a ring shaped gizmo that sticks out from underneath your router base. The base slides on the template top face, the ring catches the inside of the template and the router bit sticks through the ring. My favorite router bit to use for this kind of operation is 12mm, the template ring inner diameter is 13mm and the outer diameter is 17mm. So if I rout through a template and the cutout in the template is 40mm square, I am going to cut a square into the wood that is 35mm square with rounded off corners at a radius of 6mm. 8)
AlanRatcliffe
Keep it nice guys!
KP, an important thing about any kind of mod/repair work is know your limitations. The router is the right tool for the job, but if you are not comfortable using one then you should either take it to a pro or find someone who is comfortable doing it. By your own description, the guitar may be a Frankenstein, but If you're fitting an original Floyd to it, I'd guess it's not such a piece of scrap that you'd be unphased by accidentally destroying it.
Oh, and Gearhead is Dutch, so doesn't always phrase things as nicely as we would expect - take that into account when reading his writing.
Gearhead
Townshend style? Have you ever driven down a two way back road and wondered what would happen if you just turn the wheel a little bit while a truck passes from the other side? Or looked over the edge of a cliff and wondered what it would be like to take that extra step? You know you're going to get killed so you never do. I think I would have a really really hard time sticking a headstock into an amp, knowing the consequences.... ?
About the writing: I should have used smileys, apologies. I also think one can make up from the rest of the post that I meant no harm :-[
kp247
I see there's been some chatting going on in my absence.
Went to my neighbor first and chatted about the issues at hand and showed him what I intended doing. He said no problem and that it was a piece of **ss job to do. Next, thanks to the advice from both Telefan & DaFiz I removed the neck and everything from the WD Body, traced the Floyd's outlines and went back to my neighbor.
Once there we opened some Peronis and went to work with Kurt Darren (my absolute favourite musician of ALL time :'( :'( :'() blazing away in the background. What the hell - this IS TRANSVAAL after all! I just smiled and nodded my head to the beat.
So he used a small chisel and a little wooden hammer and removed the wood from the traced lines inward and around the studs and so forth to a depth of around 5mm. Then he took the funny drill and rounded the cavity out nice and neat, blew it out with compressed air, I went and fetched the Floyd, we put it in place, knocked the top stud down by another mm and we were done! Then he taped the body up with masking tape and old newspaper, took a can of quick drying mat white lacquer and sprayed the insides of the cavity a few coats.
Following another 2 Peronis whilst waiting for the lacquer to dry and chatting about his "very interesting" Honda bike that hes busy restoring I had to eventually excuse myself, rushed back home, tripped over the hosepipe still connected to the tap, almost dropped the body in my effort to stabilize myself, hit my toe on the brick paving, swore loudly, rushed back in the house and started reassembled the guitar. Luckily my wife had gone to sleep so the nagging factor was gone.
I re-soldered all the wiring etc, set the Floyd's height for a nice low string action, set the pickup heights perfect, played and adjusted for about 30 minutes, gave everything a final check, put the guitar back on the stand, got up and looked at my finished work for 5 minutes - very pleased! (by now 1:40 this morning)
Got up this morning, did a quick inspection to make sure everything was still right - it was!
So job done!
Heath
glad to hear , so are we gonna see some pics now ?
