Custom HotRod Strat Build.

[wazkelly]

No EVH dive bombing attempts from me then.

[DrNomis_44]

The thing is, the guy who originally invented the Floyd Rose trem-system, was saying that they are very hard to put out of tune, but I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, they still go out of tune a bit even when properly set up, there's a great website that gives all the info on how to set them up so that they perform their best, definitely a good read for anyone with a Floyd equipped guitar:

http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/

[wazkelly]

One of my mates has a EVH Wolfgang and totally loves the setup raving about how good it is to use. Not for me though.

[DrNomis_44]

One of my mates has a EVH Wolfgang and totally loves the setup raving about how good it is to use. Not for me though.

Yeah they do tend to be something that's for some people and not for others, I've found that you really have to have a lot of patience to put up with one, I'm guessing that your mate with the Wolfgang is one of the lucky few that got a really good Floyd Rose, or at least a really good example of one anyway, the really good ones are about 90% good at staying in tune.

[stan]

Flloyds --aaarrggh
Get a German one, keep it, swap it into any guitar you have with. Swap it out again if you get rid of the guitar

[DrNomis_44]

Flloyds --aaarrggh
Get a German one, keep it, swap it into any guitar you have with. Swap it out again if you get rid of the guitar

As it just so happens, the chrome Lockmeister Floyd on my hot Rod Strat is actually a German one made by Schaller, from what I've read online, Schaller actually manufactured all the original Floyds for Floyd Rose, what I've got installed on the Hot Rod Strat is essentially a Floyd Rose original equivalent, the bridge itself is okay, it's the locking nuts that come with it that's the Achilles Heel of the system, the V-notches are cut a bit too wide in my opinion, so when you tune the strings up to pitch the string vibrates against one side of the V-notch and that makes the string buzz like a sitar, especially when you lock the strings down by tightening the string-clamps.

[Simon Barden]

Are you 100% sure that the nut isn't sitting too low and that they aren't catching on the 1st fret?

Also, is the string post bar sitting low enough that the strings are pulled down onto the rear edge of the nut? You should be able to take all the clamp bits off the nut and the guitar should play like a normal guitar without them. Get that bar set up correctly and the clamps have a much easier time of just holding the strings in place.

[DrNomis_44]

Are you 100% sure that the nut isn't sitting too low and that they aren't catching on the 1st fret?

Also, is the string post bar sitting low enough that the strings are pulled down onto the rear edge of the nut? You should be able to take all the clamp bits off the nut and the guitar should play like a normal guitar without them. Get that bar set up correctly and the clamps have a much easier time of just holding the strings in place.

Yep, the sitar-buzzing is not caused by the nut sitting too low, what seems to be happening is that the strings are vibrating against the sides of the V-Notch string guides (I know this because the sitar-buzzing seems to get worse when I shift the strings from side to side, it gets worse when I shift the strings closer to one side of the V-Notches and shifting the string to the other side of the V-Notch reduces the sitar-buzzing but doesn't eliminate it completely), I've got the string-bar set correctly behind the nut too, I might see if I can post a hand-drawn diagram so you can see what I think is causing the sitar buzzing, it's definitely not the 1st fret that's doing it because I've tried putting shims under the locking nut so that there's at least .020 inch clearance between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string, and I still got sitar-buzzing on some of the strings (the D,G,B, and high E string were the ones that had sitar-buzzing with the D,G, and B strings being the worst offenders).

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

Since I've been having some issues with all the Floyd Rose style Locking-Nuts I've tried on my Hot Rod Strat, I thought that I would try a different approach/tactic to fixing the issues, so, I was thinking to myself about seeing if I could fit my Charvette neck to the Hot Rod Strat body, and was wondering if it would actually fit the neck pocket, so I gave it a try and it does indeed fit the neck pocket, it is even a 22-fret neck like the original Strat Style neck, it's a bit of a tight fit but it does seem to fit well, I can push the neck down into the pocket so that it sits flush with the bottom, so no issues there, the scale length is fine ( it's a Fender 25.5 inch same as the Strat-Style neck so no issues there), just need to dowel and re-drill the neck mounting screw holes and it should be fine, here's a pic of the guitar with the Charvette neck fitted, it looks more like an 80's shred machine now, I think it looks cool, I'm keeping the Schaller Lockmeister bridge though as it seems to be still useable:


I'm calling it my Custom Hot Rod Strat 2.0 now as it's the second version of he design.

[wazkelly]

Way to go Doc. Hope the dowelling and re-drilling works out fine for you.