Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

[rspst14]

Hey guys, I'm looking to replace my Wolfgang with something that's built to my specs instead of Eddie's. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my Warmoth Strat, and given the good experience I had with Warmoth and their parts, I'm thinking of building another one. I need one guitar with a Floyd, and one of the things that always bothered me with my Wolfgang was that I could never get the action set low enough without resorting to neck shims, something I don't think you should need to do on a guitar that costs $1000. For those of you who have built a Warmoth guitar with a non-recessed Floyd, I have two questions...first, did you have any problems getting the tremolo and the action set to your liking without resorting to neck shims? Second, how did you set up the bridge saddles? I remember a couple of guys mentioning that you need to set a flat radius at the bridge for the best results with a Warmoth compound radius neck. If I remember correctly, original Floyds are available in a 10 and 15 inch radius. Did you just shim the saddles to achieve a flat radius, or did you use six saddles of the same size? Or did you just use a 15" radius Floyd and not worry about it? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ryan

 

[theodie]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

I would use shims on the 15 inch radius floyd to get the radius correct on a Floyd equiped axe with a compound radius. The radius at the brifge should be around 20 or so. About the neck and action issue, Warmoth can rout the neck pocket at an angle so you wouldnt have to shim the neck. That should be the ticket to low action with out shims.

 

[seafoamer]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

http://brandonarzillo.com/gtrs.htm
Class starts now. Talk later.

 

[seafoamer]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

oh, didn't see that you want a NON-recessed floyd.

About the floyd radius: The floyd comes with a thin metal shim under the middle saddles. I take it out. This helps flatten the radius & then it works fine for me.

 

[rspst14]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

Thanks...Do you need to use a 10" radius Floyd nut along with the flatter radius at the bridge to compensate for the compound radius?

Ryan

 

[seafoamer]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

I use the R4 (I think) floyd nut. The one made for a 1 11/16 nut. I don't know what the radius is, but it works fine for me. Due to a small ulnar nerve problem in my left arm, I am a stickler for a low & even action throught the range of the instrument. The only thing I did, with one of my warmoth necks was to shave down a hair, the area where the floyd nut goes. Plays like butter now, throughout the range of the instrument.

 

[yontz]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

I've built three warmoth strat's with floyds.. Two were schaller, one was original floyd. You definitely either need either the recessed floyd route or the angled neck pocket to avoid using neck shims.

also.. the bridge radius matches the compound neck pretty well. If you need to fine tune it, you can get shims for the saddle pieces.

 

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

or you could just not use low action

 

[rspst14]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

I've built three warmoth strat's with floyds.. Two were schaller, one was original floyd. You definitely either need either the recessed floyd route or the angled neck pocket to avoid using neck shims.

also.. the bridge radius matches the compound neck pretty well. If you need to fine tune it, you can get shims for the saddle pieces.

Thanks...do you have a preference between the original Floyd and the Schaller Floyd? I've heard the Schaller has a slightly warmer sound and a slightly more compact profile, but is there any difference between them in terms of the quality and the feel?

Does anyone know if all manufacturers angle the neck pocket on their Floyd guitars, or is that something only Warmoth does?

Ryan

 

[yontz]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

Thanks...do you have a preference between the original Floyd and the Schaller Floyd? I've heard the Schaller has a slightly warmer sound and a slightly more compact profile, but is there any difference between them in terms of the quality and the feel?

They are more alike than different. On all 3 guitars, the floyd has always been blocked for 'down only'. To my ears, the original sounds somewhat more like a standard floating vintage strat trem. There is a bit of sparkle on top. The Schaller sounds a bit darker. The difference seems to be only in the treble, the amound of bass sounds the same to me. I can't comment on how they would sound floating, as I've never set them up that way. I like them both, but I slightly prefer the darker schaller. The quality of both is excellent.

Also - I bought the floyds from warmoth when I bought the body, to save any compatibility headaches.

Does anyone know if all manufacturers angle the neck pocket on their Floyd guitars, or is that something only Warmoth does?

Ryan

No clue..

 

[rspst14]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

Did you have any problems with the string height at the nut? I've heard from a few people that the Floyd nut slot was either too deep or too shallow.

Ryan

 

[seafoamer]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

^ no prob. Shave it or shim it.

 

[yontz]

Re: Anyone own a Warmoth guitar with a Floyd?

Did you have any problems with the string height at the nut? I've heard from a few people that the Floyd nut slot was either too deep or too shallow.

Ryan

One was right on at about .020" , two had to be filed down about 5 thousandths or so. The nut height was at least as accurate as any other new guitar. Even if it were to be off on yours, as seafoamer said, just shave it down or shim it. You can buy floyd nut shims that fit right in around the mounting screws.