standard nut with floyd bridge

1713 Views 10 Replies 9 Participants Last post by PacificaJonny, Dec 17, 2005

cocobig

Discussion Starter · Jul 18, 2005

Hello,

I tried searching this but nothing came up right, so I will start this question in a new thread.

I have one guitar with floyd bridge (25.5" scale), and one of my friends has spare neck (same scale length) that he want to give away. The problem is that neck has a standard nut (not floyd-type locking nut).

I am wondering if it still ok to put it on my guitar? I know that Carvin & some other companies uses standard nut with locking tuners on their guitar. But are there any trick behind this? or you just put the neck (with locking tuners) in, and it will be fine?

Thanks a lot in advance.

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1 - 11 of 11 Posts

ZJH

· #2 · Jul 18, 2005

I think the nut has to be a certain width, or else the intonation would be off. I'm only guessing though.

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ZOMB13

· #3 · Jul 18, 2005

Well, it would work but if you use over use your floyd, your guitar would go out of tune...

BTW, what happened to YOUR neck???

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cocobig

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 18, 2005

Sabu2k1 said:
BTW, what happened to YOUR neck???

The old neck is fine, but I am thinking to block the trem completely. Having locking nut are troublesome for me since I like to change the tune quite often. (just for experiment)

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Chris From Singapore.

· #5 · Jul 18, 2005

If you're going to use a floyd style bridge with a standard non-locking nut. Besides tuning issues. A few other problems would come to mine, one such is the fact that when you do a dive bomb the string might slip off the nut. Another would be the fact that a lot of stress would be placed at the strings on the nut portion causing your strings to kink hence leading to breakage.

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JESTER700

· #6 · Jul 18, 2005

Many people use a normal nut with a Floyd, but they usually also use locking tuners by Sperzel, Gotoh, etc. They also use Graphite/teflon nuts instead of plastic/bone/micarta, etc. I'd advise making those changes too if you want to stay in tune.

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sniperfrommars1

· #7 · Jul 18, 2005

Your more than likely going to need to have a new nut cut for this either way. If you want to use the floyd and stay in tune you need to change tuners, and change the nut. If you just go ahead and have the neck routed for a floyd nut you may be better off in the long run. In my opinion if you want to be cheap about it, block the tremolo since you probably dont use it anyways and check your intonation. this may work. You know you dont have to change the whole neck if you dont want to use the lockin nut. You can just take the locking pads off, block the trem and be done with it, and that wont cost you anything but time.

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ryanb

· #8 · Jul 18, 2005

He said he wanted to block the trem completely and use a lot of alternate tunings. If you do block the trem, you will be fine with the standard nut ... and probably don't even need the locking tuners. If you want to keep the trem, that's a different story. Simply taking the pads off a locking nut is not the same as a standard nut ... don't do that.

Then again, why not just get a hardtail guitar?

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cocobig

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 19, 2005

Thanks a lot guys

I am going to get this neck for free. That's why no need to buy hard-tail guitar.

So, all I need is just couple pieces of wood for blocking the trem. Take the old neck out, put the new neck in. No locking tuners needed. Cool!

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kbh

· #10 · Jul 19, 2005

a little trick to make it keep in tune is to run pencil lead (graphite) or get some liquid graphite and put it where the string would lie in the nut, make sure your nut slots are big enough so the strings wont bind when movement is happening. if there is equal tension between the strings past the nut on the neck, and the strings over the fretboard - AND what theyre running over has the least amount of friction possible, then things would come back to tune naturally after a big drop.

another tip if there isnt any locking tuners on the neck: learn how to string a guitar properly!! a good guide on restringing is here and i try get between 2 and 4 winds around the post as to not have too much shifting from the extra string.

another quick note - front mount locking tuners can be had, and one would just have to even out a flatter spot ( if it isnt flat already) from the nut and just butt it up agenst the fretboard then glue/screw it in and youre in buisness! if you do do that, dont forget a string tree that goes right behind the nut! if you dont have that then everything will go sharp once you lock down the strings

hope i helped!

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PacificaJonny

· #11 · Dec 17, 2005

If you ask me you should just get a hard tail or a string through guitar if you've got the dosh
Regards
Jonny

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