Can you have a recessed floyd on a S/S/S strat?

[blakejcan]

I'm trying to build one and realizing that most of the ones you see out in the wild are S/S/H.

I have a body with the standard S/S/S strat setup and I have the Floyd posts in there. I'm realizing that the bridge pickup is VERY close to where the floyd mounting posts are.

I want to recess the flody into the body which would remove even more wood. I think the anchors for the posts will be deep enough but ......ehh I don't know.

Anyone else done this? Everything I can find online shows a humbucker in the bridge

Thanks!

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Yes, it can be problematic if there's not much wood between the stud and the pu route. However, the area where the studs are doesn't need to be deeply recessed, since the relative movement of the trem in this area when you're bending up is less than where the fine tuners/lock bolts are.

Another thing to check is the geometry so that the bushings will fit so you're not blowing out into the cavity at the back. Some people in Ibanez land who look to go from their stock TRS style bridge to a Gotoh 1996 or Edge/Lo Pro find that they cannot install new bushings because they're longer and have a greater diameter than stock, as there wouldn't be enough wood to support them.

Here's an old Japanese Strat with a recessed route: https://reverb.com/uk/item/10311783...ratocaster-with-floyd-rose-with-original-case .

 

[switchman]

If you follow Fender's pickup placement the slanted pickup is no closer to the bridge than a humbucker. Fenders service manual diagrams are helpful for these questions. This is a 62 reissue SSS pickguard layered over top an HSS Floyd Strat. The slanted Strat bridge pickup fits mostly inside the humbucker footprint. The treble end of the Strat pickup is almost in the same place the treble end of the humbucker is.

You are both right about the dimension issues. Original Floyd posts are .390" diameter. Their center is 1/2" closer to the nut than the scale length. Depending where the bridge pickup is placed the edge of the rout may be only about 3/8 from the post holes at their closest point.

Are you building this from scratch doing all the pickup and bridge routs? If you are you can can control this..

 

[blakejcan]

Thank you both. All of this make sense. I think I will JUST barely clear it

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Good luck with the project. Yes, the treble side of the bridge single coil should be in more or less the same place as that bottom corner of a hb.

I had given this issue thought a while back as I was planning to do a similar thing. Had bought an Ibanez Ergodyne with a two post block saddle trem, with the intention of installing a Gotoh 510. Tldr: cannot install Gotoh bushings, too little material would be between them and the recess for the springs. Likewise, the 'luthite' (a type of porous plastic) used in these guitars is something of an unknown factor.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Might be a good idea to strengthen the wood a little around that post.

 

[blakejcan]

ahh that's intersting. I was thinking of dropping some thin CA glue on that area with the hopes that it would strengthen it

 

[switchman]

Good point. It doesn't say what wood the body will be. Basswood is the one most known for Floyd post leaning and cracking problems.

 

[JMP/HBE]

 

[Seashore]

Good luck with the project. Yes, the treble side of the bridge single coil should be in more or less the same place as that bottom corner of a hb.

I had given this issue thought a while back as I was planning to do a similar thing. Had bought an Ibanez Ergodyne with a two post block saddle trem, with the intention of installing a Gotoh 510. Tldr: cannot install Gotoh bushings, too little material would be between them and the recess for the springs. Likewise, the 'luthite' (a type of porous plastic) used in these guitars is something of an unknown factor.

It's a sample size of one, but the only Luthite guitar I ever put my hands on was a pawn shop Ergodyne that had somehow warped under string tension. I dunno if it got left in somebody's hot car trunk for a month, or what, but the body was (slightly but noticeably) folded up towards the headstock at the neck joint. The action was so high it was basically unplayable. I don't think I could trust the stuff after that.

 

[blakejcan]

thank you! Been having trouble finding a real life example! Looks like you have more clearance than I will but all good

Oh yea, for the guy above, it's an alder body

 

[switchman]

You should be good with Alder. If you do the bare minimum angled single coil rout for the Strat bridge pickup, it's even less risk because the bass side has more clearance to the post.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

It's a sample size of one, but the only Luthite guitar I ever put my hands on was a pawn shop Ergodyne that had somehow warped under string tension. I dunno if it got left in somebody's hot car trunk for a month, or what, but the body was (slightly but noticeably) folded up towards the headstock at the neck joint. The action was so high it was basically unplayable. I don't think I could trust the stuff after that.

Interesting, and that would seem like it did indeed melt a bit, eek! Never heard of this happening. Mine is the HSS version and has several differences with the later versions - C shaped neck, rounder fretboard (about 12") and comically small frets (wtf, Ibanez?). Fun guitar though, bit of a poor man's Radius.

The luthite basses seem to have a bit of a cult following, and I've never heard about one of those folding up. Mostly budget friendly stuff, all in all, but some of the limited chrome JSs were also made of the luthite, since the movement in wood bodies would cause the chrome to crinkle, so for production they changed it.

 

[GuitarStv]

Although it's close to the route on the treble side of the trem, I didn't have a problem with a top mounted floyd:

 

[orpheo]

There was an sss iron maiden sign with floyd. Should be no issue.