uglogirl

This is a strange bridge. I dislike Floyds, I rip my hands on the enourmous ugly fine tuner assembly and though I've learned to set them up well, They are really quite a pain. But when I got this in the 80s, Floyd was about the only game in town (I wasn't routing a '63 strat for a Kahler). I intonated this for a 25 1/2" neck using 11s and shimmed it for about a 9 1/2" radius. It is in excellent condition and when it's set up as Floyds should be set up.... it works as Floyds should work and stayed in tune quite well. It's just the stiffness and feel of Floyds I dislike. On top is simply says Floyd Rose. But on the bottom it says Made in Germany, which makes me think it is a Schaller liscensed Floyd? I just thought that only Floyd made non-fine tuner Floyds however. But it is for sure a very high quality bridge not cheap cast pot metal at all. I use Tremkings on my strats, customs and jagmasters now or sometimes Kahlers on my own custom made "Kiirakasters". They're not in the picture but it comes with the claw and 5 springs. I'll include both allen keys you need and some shim material if you need it to set up your fretboard radius. Whee, Fun. It used it without locking tuners, and it worked fine but if anyone wants to buy this I will throw in some high quality gold Sperzels pretty cheep if you need some. Write to kiira_triea@yahoo.com for questions. Thank you

Wes, thanks for the tip! What I did was get two brass nuts and a nylon washer and a metal washer and put them on the threads (nylon, metal, nut, locknut) of the arm comimg through at the underside of the flyer, adjusted it and then locked it down with the second nut. I used that teflon tape on the top worn out threads (the arm just slides 2/3 the way into the threaded whammey bar) because the arm was flopping around so bad. Works a charm! Uglogirl

Hey DC thanks that looks like it's worth a try. I'm worried about the heat warping the pickguard though... maybe just try and make it warm not hot. I got some sacrificial old pickguards around I can experiment with. I know Rit makes red and orange... could look real nice on my cream essence of toilet seat PG. :-) Uglogirl

Hi all. I m building a beautiful new strat from an ash bheflin body (*very* nice stuff thy sell) and a warmoth neck with pau ferro fretboard. I'm using the reranch coral color, that kind of shrimp orangish faded red stuff. I love it. The trouble is I want a pickguard that doesn't contrast so much like a wwhite pearl one does, I'd like to make my pearl pickguard sort of a shrimpish, pinkish color to, though not the Fender pink or a hot 80's metal pink. I have my own spraying equipment, compressor, touch up gun, filter/regulator. So I was wondering if this is feasible... mix up red and orange dye into nitro (that mek stuff?) and keep trying till I get the color right, let it cure and then shoot some one part epoxy over it then. I just don't know how the toilet seat prearpoid is going to react to the nitro. Or maybe there is some simpler way somone could suggest? I'm using toneriders blues set and a tone king whammy on this guitar. The tone king is feraking astounding. It won't go out of tune even dive bombing on a 24" scale guitar with light strings and cheesy tuners (tried it out on my jagmaster first). thanks, Uglogirl

The callahan is too pricey for me right now, but then, the Wilkinson orobably is too. Mau Ill just put my Kahler on it. It's just sitting there foing nothing. thank you

Ok, how do I tighten uo the whammy bar on my Flyer? It just droops down. Does it need nylon washers and locks inside? It was sold to fit Kahler but it doesn't seem like it does. Uglogirl

THis is a lightweight ash body (STILL trying to fill it perfectly, using epoxy) 4.2 lbs. And I wanted to make it basically pretty traditional, with a few exceptions. The neck on it is a '63 I've played since I was a teenager. No Floyd.s No fulcrums. Does anyone make a vintage trem that is decent l, maybe this Wilkinson made tream at guitarfetish? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=180125097654 or a more modern design like the stainless steal trm that dancing dragon sells (a mighty mite?) for around $44 http://cgi.ebay.com/Chrome-Deluxe-Tremolo-...emZ300035326265. It's an odd color guitar, reranch faded fiesta. It looks salmon pink. It seems to me that a Kahler wouldn't really fit on it stylwise unliess I wanted it to be kind of an 80s MIJ guitar, which would be fine. But the body is so light, I like the idea of using lighter parts and keeping the look more traditional. anybody got an opinion? all welcome! Uglogirl

This is really specific thanks a lot. I have wanted to put strat pickups which were highly overwound on this guitar for a while anyway. I wonder if GFS makes any with alnico5 - that would be convenient. :-) I love the lindy fralins, I think they are a remarkable pickup. But I think they will sound better on the swamp ash guitar I'll be building. Spazzytone, that Floyd STILL doesn't stay in tune and I'm no dive bomber. But that might be because it is a 24" scale and I am usually detuned to e flat or d. It just uses 2 springs. It just has locking tuners... didn't really want to put a Floyd nut on a 1963 neck. It REALLY is too heavy. But I can't see doing much about that. I don't want to refinish it. I've been playing it hard for 15 years and it is aged really beautiful, the nitro is soooo cracked. thanks again everyone... lot of help and info from you guys. Uglogirl

I have a strat with a body which is solid maple and I was wondering if there are any measures which I could take to make it a little less bright? Would overwound pickups help? It has a 24" jaguar neck which maybe helps but maybe the lindy fralin blues at 5.8,6.4 and 7k set is still too bright for it. I'm building a swamp ash strat now that the fralins will probably end up on. What about a different bridge? It has one of the original floyds that have no fine tuners on it, so it's a little less horrible than a normal floyd.

LOL. She can play a vee because unlike me she's developed her musculo-skeletal system carrying around those enormous um.... never mind. Actually, I love the way explorer's balance.... the neck is like closer to my center which feels really comfortable. Uglogirl

Sorry I cannot help with the single coils they sell, I'll be trying some soon myself, either the brass plate or greybottom overwounds. But I have been using a overwound PAF boutique in the bridge (13.5k) and a dream 180 (12k) on the neck of a guitar I put together and they are very nice. The dream 180 has a very nice articulated chimey sound that I especially like. I have them set up to do split coils as well and they sound surprisingly good. They were about $25 each I think. Uglogirl

Strat or Jaguar/Jazz/Jagmaster. Ever notice how most girl guitarists seem to play Fenders? They uh, fit better. Uglogirl

Hi, I am setting up my Flyer but I do not understand the saddles at 10:30 thing. ?? What should be pointing at 10:30? Thanks... I always like it when manufacturers take an interest in their clientele. edit: oh wait I think I get it... it is more obvious what is meant when looking at the 2300 saddles. I have .55 in. from the guitar top to the bottom of the hi E roller saddle so I'mm in the ball park I guess. Kiira

Hi, I have one of the Japanese made 24" Jagmasters, a really decent guitar for the money and I guess it is finished with the indestructable squire type finish, at least stripper doesn't touch it at all. It is that metallic red color which a lot of people like but I hate it... looking to redo with cream. So, since it will be a solid finsih I thought I'd save some effort and shoot it over the old finish, rough it up appropriately, primer, color, clear. Is there any advantage to using nitro for this, since it is over a (probably) polyurethane finish already? I was thinking I could just use the acrylic color and clear from auto stores... it really doesn't look too bad if you wait a looooong time to rub it out. Any opinions? thanks, Uglogirl

Hi Avalon, Pete, Thanks for the help! @Avalon Yes I know what you mean about the string being harder to drive from the bridge position. It is those string dynamics which I suspect causes me to like the sound of the neck pickup I would suspect. I was just thinking from an EMI standpoint, the bridge would be better but ideally, I'd prefer to have the driver in the middle. It would be SO cool to have it there with a Push/Push switch on the volume pot for turn-on. This guitar is set up for HSH PUs already. @pete, Sounds like I better just put things together so they can be moved aroung easily and try it out. I have a broken single coil I can use to make a driver with, also humbucker I can sacrifice, it has no other redeeming qualities. thanks again! Uglogirl

oh dear double post

Hi, I have started building a guitar for my sustainer experiments and have read a quarter of the thread! I didn't find the answer to a simple question though... can I reverse the pickup and driver? I'd like the driver at the bridge and my input pickup at the neck because I rarely use a bridge pickup anyway. This guitar is a 24" scale with the standard stratocaster spacing between the bridge and neck and it will have the 12s on it - my usual strings. thank you, this is an awesome thread. Uglogirl

Yup... like everybody said it works. I did it on a finished neck even and it doesn't look all that bad at all because I carefully filed down and sanded the excess fingerboard seen behind the nut after I installed it. I guess some people would say it looks goofy but honestly, I don't think most people even notice because I used a black floyd locing nut on an ebony fretboard. Yours will be much nicer because you're building from scratch. I should take some pictures but I'm still working on the guitar getting the action perfect and doing a fancy wiring harness. That's the fretboard I plan an getting too when I build a 24" scale neck from scratch. Gotta get my nerve up first though. Good luck! Kiira

Hi since I was finishing up my reanimated franken-caster I took a look at the wood I bought last summer thinking of building something from scratch. I was surprised to see that one of the two 1 7/8" maple body halves had warped... it has a bend across the grain of maybe 1/16" - 1/8" or so (need to measure). The other piece is still perfectly ok. I don't suppose that it can be "unwarped" ... would it be OK to have it thinned flat again, taking the convex and concave sides down to flat - then planing the other side to match? I'd have to take this to a wood shop to have it done as I have no power tools. It can go thinner with no problem... it had to be thinner anyway to end up with the right thickness after I would glue on the very figured mahogany top which is 3/8". Just mainly concerned that the piece is usable after warping? I probably won't start this for a while as it's a pretty ambitious project for me. thanks, Kiira

kiira, this is barefoot ed again.i am a machinist by trade so if you can tell me what you are wanting to do exactly, im sure i could help. i will post or email pics of the bridge as well as my project soon....slide on ....................................................................................barefoot Hiya.... well see I need something to keep the router level while the neck is in the vice. Maybe if I clamped to pieces of wood on top the fretboard and set the router on that.... Kiia

Hi... I would like to do a better job on the install of my floyd style locking nut - I left the cut shallow on purpose. I have a hard time visualizing how to set up a jig for a smallish Ryobi router I can use though. I thought I saw a picture tutorial someplace and gah, now I can't find it. Does anyone know of one. thanks, Kiira

Hiya ed! I've heard of those tremelos... but alas I'll have to refuse your kind offer because I already have a Kahler flyer on this guitar. I love Kahlers... hate Floyds! I finished the wiring yesterday... strung up the E string and worked on the action some... I will need to work on the nut action some so I'll wait until the black locknut I bought arrives. The wiring is impossible... the frankencaster from steve aholas blue guitar site. It's WAYYYY too complicated so I'll put in something simpler later. peace, love and soul Kiira

Hey... I have a mighty mite maple neck I'm trying to stain and having trouble- the stain (stew-mac water) just won't "take". Is this because the maple is so hard and smooth or has the neck maybe been treated somehow. I'd really rather stain the headstock face to match the maple top. Is there some secret method? thanks, Kiira

Well... I worked on this for 4 hours tonight - I filed the floyd locknut until it looked like it would work, then I cut the wide slot for it at the former first fret position using a mini router freehand, a hacksaw and a file. OMG It worked! I installed the nut and the E string rubbed the back of the fretboard as expected so I filed a slope from the back of the nut to the beginning of the peghead and it all works great now. Tuning it is fine because the string rests on the front slot of the floyd... then I just lock it and it doesn't change pitch. The Floyd nut is way ugly for sure... I just had a ugly gold one around and I think a black one would be least obtrusive. The whole neck/peghead thing is not really as ugly as I thought it might be either..not really that weird. yay. I'll post pictures when the whole guitar is doneThe neck is a maple/ebony MM with big jumbo frets and really feels pretty nice though I haven't really played it yet. $75 VS $200 to Warmoth. I 'm happy. thanks for the mathematical underpinnings validating my intuition to S. Dodding too. Kiira

Yes I'll have to make it a little lower but I can't take too much away because of the truss rod adjustment. I could also use a string hold down, yanno that bar thingy, to give some angle downfrom the nut when I am tuning prior to tightening down the llock. Thanks Kiira