Floyd Rose Special nut

[Inflames626]

Hi guys,
Does anyone have any experience with Floyd Rose Special nuts? I emailed FR and they said they differ from the OFR nuts in terms of size. They did not specify a quality difference.

I plan on replacing FR Specials with OFRs on my import guitars. I am aware that the saddles and tone block are the only real differences between an OFR and a Special, but if I am going to have to remove the saddles on a Special to get to the block and reintonate, I might as well just get an OFR bridge.

However, I'm not sure if I should replace the Special's nut.

My concern is whether FR Special nut clamps are made of zinc like many other imported nuts. If so, the strings will eventually groove in the clamps and come out of tune.

I have taken my OFR nuts to machinists to grind them down to a proper size to fit my Asian made guitars.

However, if the Special nuts are the same quality as the OFR's, I'll just leave the Special's nut on.

Thanks.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

Unless something has changed, the nut should be all steel. Touch it with a magnet as zinc is not magnetic.

 

[Inflames626]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

Thanks for this tip, Ayrton. Never thought about the magnet.

They confirmed to me that the metal is the same between the OFR and the Special. Only the size is different.

In my experience, the differences are not only in the nut height but also with the size of the nut clamps.

One would think American designers would adopt Asian sizes and use better metals. Less of a better metal = cost savings but keeps the quality up.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

What kind of guitar do you have? Does it have neck binding?

 

[Inflames626]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

What kind of guitar do you have? Does it have neck binding?

Most of them are mid priced Japanese Jackson imports from the 90s and 00s that came with Takeuchi JT580LP Floyd Rose bridges and Duncan Designed pickups. There is no neck binding.

I used an R3 nut on one of them because Jackson support told me that was the nut they used. They must have meant this on the US models with binding. The strings feel and look slightly closer together and are more comfortable to play compared to the import nut.

I know the machine shop ground the OFR nut down to the correct height because I gave them the import nut for comparison. I checked both with a digital gauge and they are around .233" tall or so on the D string, if I recall.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

I see what you mean now. Yea youd prob want an R4 then for necks without binding, but as far as the actual height of the nut itself the Orig Floyd nuts have their own measurements, all others are copies, so its gonna be hard for you to compare unless you stick with OFR products.

The nut you had ground down to fit, was that an actual OFR nut? And it was an R3 width correct?
If it were me id only buy Orig Floyd parts and either have it ground to the correct height again like you already did once, or id have the fretboard filed down by a shop.

 

[Inflames626]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

I wouldn't have bought the guitars in the 90s had I known there are so many variations in FR bridges. The Jackson bridges are recessed, shaped like Schallers, and have saddles without backward protruding bolts. They are like FR Pros.

For my standard tuned guitars, this won't be a problem. But if I need to move the saddles back on drop tuned axes to reintonate, I'll probably try Schaller bridges.

The nut I had ground down was an OFR nut. R3. The import nut was lower (skinnier), but also wider I think.

I would simply keep the import nuts if I could find real steel string clamps to fit them. There's nothing wrong with the nuts themselves. Just the clamps.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

Why dont you have the machine shop shave them to fit then?

 

[Inflames626]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

Shave the clamps? Or the saddle bolts?

Shaving the clamps is a good idea, but it seems easier to just buy the OFR nut and shave it horizontally than trying to get the OFR clamps to fit an import nut. It cost about $10 per nut.

As far as the saddle bolts, I thought this might have interfered with the threading. I have seen some shorter saddle bolts online, but my understanding is they are a smaller diameter than the OFR bolts.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

Well yes absolutely start out with real Original Floyd Rose products and either have them modded to fit or have your nut shelf filed down. But either way itll need set up again and all of that stuff checked again (string/nut height).
I think if you got an R4 and went from there youll be ok.
Or you can use the nut you have now and have the OFR string clamps (locking nut pads, whatever you wanna call them) trimmed down by the machine shop so they fit your nut.

 

[ChAoZ]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

I wouldn't have bought the guitars in the 90s had I known there are so many variations in FR bridges. The Jackson bridges are recessed, shaped like Schallers, and have saddles without backward protruding bolts. They are like FR Pros.

So you have been happy with the guitars for 20 years, I'm confused ???
There are not many variations in Floyd Rose products, there are many among FR copies

 

[Inflames626]

Re: Floyd Rose Special nut

So you have been happy with the guitars for 20 years, I'm confused ???
There are not many variations in Floyd Rose products, there are many among FR copies

Not entirely happy, mostly because the sustain blocks in the licensed trems do not permit flutter, and they come out of tune with heavy use.

I don't mind using a fixed bridge for rhythm but you can't really do flashy things on them. They are somewhat limiting.

As an example I wouldn't mind a guitar with a Graphtech Ghost system, killswitch, sustainer, Kaos pad, or whatever else could be put on it to make it more than six strings on a piece of wood played through an amp. But then it becomes unmanagable.

I needed to spread things out among many guitars for writing on Floyded guitars in multiple tunings from E down to A in half steps. Then you end up with all the pickup combinations. I probably have close to 20 guitars/basses.

There are enough variations in bridges to make retrofitting them onto Asian guitars made before the FR patent expiration a nightmare. Looking at the Jackson bridges, it looks like an FR Pro would fit, but the route isn't deep enough.

For drop tuned guitars, intonating OFR's sometimes prevents pull up in the recessed routes, encouraging one to go with Schaller or Gotoh. But even those have their own problems. I will probably try a Schaller Lockmeister or Gotoh 1996e on my drop tuned guitars.

I don't bother experimenting with pickups in fixed bridge guitars even though these are easier to install into because the sustain block on the FR will totally change the sound. So you end up doing endless setups experimenting with things like tuning and pickups.

It's a pain to improve import guitars to American specs, but ultimately worth it. Used cheaper guitar (200) + OFR (200) + pickups (200) = good guitar for $600-700.

There was a time when you could get a decent American made guitar used for $1000-1500 or new for $1500 on up, but I fear those days are gone. At least, for aggressive looking guitars.