What next with this Floyd (Gotoh)?

[ErikH]

Haze Guitars blog is AWESOME, thanks for reminding me! Correct me if I'm wrong, but you would have a graduate string action for fixed radius too. As the Haze blog says (and you too ): "as you would with any setup". The lower strings need a little more space to ring out, thaat's a given, not a function of the radius. So I see no extra compromise for the compound . If the bridge radius is set with the compound board in mind, the strings just simply don't have any other choice but to track the compound board, methinks.

Yes, correct. I can get my Les Paul (straight 12") a lot lower than my Warmoths (compound 10-16"). The Warmoths are still low but that straight 12" can get crazy low. I bend a lot so if it gets too low and flat, I'll fret out bending on the lower frets. Can't have that.

In this case, I would think that having the nut radiused at 12" and the bridge at 17-18" (the extension of the cone), that it would be fine. I mean, 12-16", that's 4 inches from the 1st to last fret. Another 2 inches from the last fret to the bridge sounds about right. This is without doing the math.

 

[Top-L]

I am very exacting with regards to action and radius. I have used saddle shims to improve action with a Floyd. That is a good avenue to try. If shimming to 16 or 18 made everything play well, except the high E, my guess is there is still a fret/neck problem.

Get your fret ruler to check relief and your fret rocker to check for high spots. A properly radiused Floyd will not overcome need for a level. If you have already leveled, did you glue? Could be a fret pulling up. Also, do you have a real fret level or did you attempt to use a radiused block?

Reading between the lines, there is something wrong besides the radius. Even with improperly radiused Floyd, you can still get very low and playable on the high E, just the middle and/or lower strings may pinch out sooner.