Custom HotRod Strat Build.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Just found out that I'm going to have to replace the Locking Nut on my HotRod Strat yet again, the reason?...turns out that some of the strings are buzzing like a Sitar because the notches on the back and front of the Locking Nut, where the strings go through, have been cut a bit too wide when the Locking Nut was manufactured, so that's two Schaller Locking Nuts (a Chrome R3 and a Chrome R2) and the Chrome Gotoh Locking Nut, all with the same Sitar-buzz issue, I know that the Locking Nuts are the cause, because when I fret the strings just behind the first fret, the Sitar Buzzing completely vanishes, maybe I should try getting a genuine Floyd Rose Locking Nut to replace the Gotoh one?, I'm starting to feel really frustrated about this because it is almost impossible to accurately intonate all the strings on the HotRod Strat, sometimes I feel like I have an invisible Demon hanging around, cursing all my efforts to get things to work right, and then things start failing one after the other.

[FrankenWashie]

That's a bummer Doc, can you go up a gauge in strings to correct for the issue or is it too big a difference?

[DrNomis_44]

That's a bummer Doc, can you go up a gauge in strings to correct for the issue or is it too big a difference?

I guess I could try a set of 46-10 gauge strings, I have a set of 42-09s on the guitar at the moment, I'm doing some googling about the issue I'm experiencing, and as it turns out, I'm not the only one, it seems to be a fairly common issue that owners of Floyd Rose equipped guitars seem to be having with their guitars, apparently some Locking Nuts have casting-defects and one remedy is to use some sandpaper to smooth out the defects, I'm going to give that a try and see if that fixes things, I had a look at the string-notches on the front of the Gotoh Locking Nut, and they do seem to have been cut a bit too wide for the strings.

I'll have to wait till next Tuesday to try a set of 46-10 gauge strings, cause I'm virtually flat broke at the moment, in the meantime, I'm going to try a few other things to fix the Sitar-buzzing.


Update:

Just tried re-installing the Schaller R2 Locking Nut, with the same result, it's definitely these Locking Nuts that's the cause of the Sitar-buzzing, at first I though that the first-fret action was a bit too low so I tried putting a brass shim underneath the R2 Locking Nut, made no difference, so it's definitely not fret-buzz, it's the Locking Nut, I guess quality control/assurance is a bit lax at Schaller, and Gotoh.

[pablopepper]

Wouldn't locking down the string clamps eliminate this problem?

[DrNomis_44]

Wouldn't locking down the string clamps eliminate this problem?

Normally it should, but it actually made no difference at all, it's definitely a problem caused by the way the Locking Nut was designed in the first place,I'm going to have to try ordering an original Floyd Rose Locking Nut online, might cost me a bit in both time and money.

[Simon Barden]

You could try a dab of CA on each string in its slot once it's all in tune. If it still buzzes then it shouldn't be the nut that's the cause.

My Ibanez RG's locking nut hasn't got any shims under it and it's still too high for me. It's a gold finish so any filing to deepen the slots would be very obvious, plus it may cause buzzing issues. Don't want to deepen the nut slot in the wood as it's quite thin there already. Filing the bottom of the locking nut would seem to be about the only means of lowering it, but I'm still rather scared of weakening the whole thing.

[DrNomis_44]

You could try a dab of CA on each string in its slot once it's all in tune. If it still buzzes then it shouldn't be the nut that's the cause.

My Ibanez RG's locking nut hasn't got any shims under it and it's still too high for me. It's a gold finish so any filing to deepen the slots would be very obvious, plus it may cause buzzing issues. Don't want to deepen the nut slot in the wood as it's quite thin there already. Filing the bottom of the locking nut would seem to be about the only means of lowering it, but I'm still rather scared of weakening the whole thing.

Once I got all the strings tuned up to pitch, I did some checking to find the cause of the buzzing, I did this by fretting the buzzing strings behind the first fret, when the strings were played open (not fretted) the buzzing was there and audible, soon as I fretted the strings the buzzing stopped, indicating that the Locking Nut was the cause, so I'm going to have to replace it with something better.


As a bit of troubleshooting, I removed the black Gotoh Locking Nut I had installed on the neck of my white Ibanez RG 350DXZ guitar, and I have installed it on the neck of the HotRod Strat, the string notches of the Black Gotoh Locking Nut were cut narrower than the ones on the other three Chrome Locking Nuts I have, so the strings should sound a lot cleaner, I tuned the HotRod Strat back up to pitch and now, all the strings are sounding a lot cleaner, those Chrome Locking Nuts were the cause of the problem after all, looks like I'm going to have to order a new Locking Nut from Realtone Music soon.

[Simon Barden]

Sound's like you could send the old one back as not fit for purpose.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I'm going to be doing a bit more work on the HotRod Strat today, nothing really major, just shortening the output wires from the pickups and tidying things up so that the scratchplate isn't such a pain to install, I thought that the 500k Log mini CTS pot (labeled 500kB) was actually a Linear-type, but I checked it with a multimeter and it is indeed a Log-type, strange since I always thought Log-types were denoted by a letter "A", and Linear-types with a letter "B", you can easily check this by rotating the pot-shaft so that the wiper is roughly in the middle of it's range, then you measure the resistance between the middle solder-lug and the two outer ones, a Linear-Type pot should measure the same amount of resistance from the middle lug to each of the outer lugs, on the other hand, a Log-pot will show two different resistance readings, which is what I found in the case of the 500kB mini CTS pot.

Oh, the HotRod Strat is getting a set of new Elixir 42-09 gauge strings as well.

[Simon Barden]

I wrote something about different pot types here, with a section on CTS pots: http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...l=1#post122594, but it certainly can be confusing. Maybe on the mini types with a reduced printing area (as I was just looking at the full-sized types), they refer directly to their curve type without a numerical code? I don't know what CTS series mini-pot type you've got, but it's worth looking it up on their website.