Floyd Rose- Bolt On Vs Set Neck

[trashman]

so im putting this floyd on an ibanez w/ a bolt on and cant decide to either mount it flush with the face of the guitar or rout it, ive heard arguments for bolt on vs set neck floyd mounts and was wondering wich is better. i would like to rout a cavity and sink the trem in, but is that the best thing to do on a bolt neck?

[Xanthus]

The only reason for recessing a FR is to bring the strings closer to the body, beneficial for guitars with no neck angle. If you've got a bolt-on, then you more than likely have no neck angle. Easy tip: What bridge was on the guitar before? If it was a Strat-style bridge, then you've got no neck angle. Another tip: Do some measurements and figure out how high your strings are going to sit at the bridge. You can just lay an accurate straightedge on the top of the frets if you like. Then check out your FR and see if you will be able to get the saddles to that height mounting it regular. If not, then you'll need to recess it. StewMac has templates for just such a procedure.

[trashman]

The only reason for recessing a FR is to bring the strings closer to the body, beneficial for guitars with no neck angle. If you've got a bolt-on, then you more than likely have no neck angle. Easy tip: What bridge was on the guitar before? If it was a Strat-style bridge, then you've got no neck angle. Another tip: Do some measurements and figure out how high your strings are going to sit at the bridge. You can just lay an accurate straightedge on the top of the frets if you like. Then check out your FR and see if you will be able to get the saddles to that height mounting it regular. If not, then you'll need to recess it. StewMac has templates for just such a procedure.

yes it had a strat style trem on it before. thanks man much appreicated info.

[crafty]

Actually, the main reason for flush mounting a FR is to make it full-floating without having the strings so high off the fretboard. You can also mount it flush and just never pull up on it. You may have to shim the neck a little, but the sustain will be better.

[86barettaguy]

Actually, the main reason for flush mounting a FR is to make it full-floating without having the strings so high off the fretboard. You can also mount it flush and just never pull up on it. You may have to shim the neck a little, but the sustain will be better.

sorry for bringing an old topic up to the top, but this is one of my pet peeves and I've just seen it said too many times in one week now.

A floyd, or any other floating trem such as the fender-style synchronized tremolo, is either:

A: Floating

or

B: non-floating (blocked)

There is no such thing as a semi-floating trem, and therefore there is no such thing as a full-floating trem. The recessed rout does one thing: it allows the trem to be mounted lower. That's it. The benefit of this is that you can use the trem to raise pitch without raising the trem to an uncomfortable position (the non-recessed rout allows you to raise pitch, but the more you want to raise pitch, the higher off the body the trem needs to be and the more of a neck angle you will need).