DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[DrNomis_44]

but Doc isn't rest of the hardware gold ?

Yes, that's true, I'll buy myself a Gold Schaller Lockmeister Floyd so that it all matches.


After thinking about it, I'm absolutely sure that I want to install a Schaller Lockmeister Floyd Rose Trem on my Strat, I definitely want to do it, I know that there's going to be some work involved with it, I know that the Floyd Rose Trem takes more time to re-string and set up, I know that there's going to be some consequences , I'm actually okay with that since I feel confident in my ability to set up a Floyd Rose Trem so that it works properly, I've done the setup enough times on my Ibanez S420WK guitar.

[pablopepper]

How handy are you with a router, Doc? The conversion to a locking nut is a bit scary.

[DrNomis_44]

How hand are you with a router, Doc? The conversion to a locking nut is a bit scary.

I have to be honest with you, I don't have much experience with a router, but, there's nothing stopping me from learning how to use one, I have a set of Floyd Rose Routing Templates I bought from Stewmac, if I was to do the routing myself, what I would do is practice on some scrap pieces of wood before I go anywhere near my Strat, or, I could get someone I know to do the routing for me.

I have a fair idea of how to install the Locking Nut on the Neck, I have a spare 22-Fret Mighty Mite Strat Neck that has been routed out for a Locking Nut and I managed to fit a Schaller R2 Locking Nut to it with no trouble.

[pablopepper]

Ok. Please be careful. Routers are incredibly scary tools.

[DrNomis_44]

Ok. Please be careful. Routers are incredibly scary tools.

No worries, and cheers for the warning, what I will do then is have a yarn with a good friend of mine who has a Router, and get him to do it for me, my friend has done a Floyd Rose installation on a custom guitar he built for himself so he knows what he's doing.

[wokkaboy]

sounds like a much safer plan Doc, the routing should be done well before any sanding is done or finish applied

[DrNomis_44]

sounds like a much safer plan Doc, the routing should be done well before any sanding is done or finish applied

For sure, I think I may need to re-do the finish work on the body of my Strat, the finish doesn't seem to want to dry hard since I can easily scrape it off with my fingernail, seeing as quite a few other builders have had to re-do the finish on their guitar builds, I'm fine with re-doing the finish work on the body.

[wazkelly]

I reckon a DB Bone Nut would do the trick and work out much cheaper.

Been away from this thread for a while and thought I had landed in the middle of a Star Trek episode with all that computer programming recording gibberish that ran for so many pages.

C'mon Doc, you can do it......only a few more pages to reach the Century.

[DrNomis_44]

I reckon a DB Bone Nut would do the trick and work out much cheaper.

Been away from this thread for a while and thought I had landed in the middle of a Star Trek episode with all that computer programming recording gibberish that ran for so many pages.

C'mon Doc, you can do it......only a few more pages to reach the Century.

I tried the bone nuts but couldn't get them to work due to the nut slots being too narrow for the 42-09 gauge strings I was using, I have to be honest with you guys, a couple of nights ago I tried fitting my Chrome Schaller Floyd Rose Trem to my Strat, it sort of worked but I found out that the intonation was out at the 12th fret because I placed the bridge pivot posts a bit too far back from where they should have been, making the 12th fret notes play flat, I need to buy some 10mm dowel to fill the holes so I can re-drill them in the correct place, I had the new bridge mounted on top of the body and had to make a shim from two pieces of 220 to angle the neck back to be able to set the 17th fret action to an even 2.5mm for all the strings, I should have abided-by the "measure twice and cut once" rule, I guess that'll be a lesson learnt the hard way.


I also had Sitar-Buzzing issues with the thin B and E strings with the Bone nuts, even when I had a string tree in place, it wasn't due to the 1st Fret action being too low it was definitely the nut, I confirmed this by fretting the string behind the first fret, the string played cleanly with no Sitar Buzzing.

While fitting the locking nut to the neck I managed to "muck it up" a bit when drilling the holes for the mounting bolts, one hole was okay but the other ended up a bit oversized due to the drill being deflected from a straight path through the neck, so, I'm going to use my spare 22 Fret Mighty Mite Strat neck since it has already been machined/drilled to fit a locking nut.



Here's what I should have done to get the new bridge placed correctly so that each string could be intonated properly:


1, Mark out the centre-line on the neck.

2, Mark out the centre-line on the body.

3, Mark out the scale-length from the nut to the 12th fret, to the bridge position.

4, Slide each bridge saddle on the new bridge as far forward towards the nut as it will go.

5, Line up the bridge saddles where the Scale-Length mark is on the body.

6, Put a couple of reference marks on the body so I have a guide for the bridge pivot-post drilling template.

If I had've done that then the new bridge would have been located correctly, instead, it ended up being located at least 6mm back from where it should have been, to fix my mistake, I'm going to have to buy a 1 metre length of 10mm round doweling to plug the existing pivot post holes so I can re-drill them in the correct place, I'm sure lots of other members have made that mistake.

[wazkelly]

Bummer.

With the bone nuts you have used did you file the slots or were they buzzing from how they arrived? Sounds like nut string slots may have been made too wide & a touch low perhaps?