Help on replacing Floyd on a production series

[joelayres]

the reason most people don't like the cheap floyds is because they are tonally dead sounding compared to a german made OFR due to the fact that they have zinc saddles and a zinc block. zinc is just a dead sounding metal. it doesn't ring or resonate it just thuds and dies out. even if you did a simple test of dropping the zinc block from a asian floyd on a concrete floor and dropping the brass german block you'd hear the difference in how they ring and resonate when they hit the floor. the brass will chime and ring the zinc will just thud and die out. the brass and steel combo of a real floyd lets things ring and resonate and gives the guitar a fuller more lively sound. it's quite a big change when you swap one of the pro-mods from the asian floyd to the german one. it's an even bigger change when you then route the neck pocket for less of an angle and let the floyd rest flat on the body dive only...now the guitar really opens up and sounds more alive and more full. i've done this to all the pro-mods i've had and each one sounded worlds better after the floyd swap and then even better than that after neck angle adjustment.

it's one of those things like many in life that when you don't try it you don't think you're missing anything but once you do try it you realize how bad it was before. like going from TV to HDTV or DVD to Blu-ray. it's one of those "wow" moments where you wonder how you ever dealt with things the old way and vow to never go back lol.

-Mike

Thank you for a level headed, informative and intelligent reply. I'm curious, when you replaced Floyd's in your prod models, are the pivot posts directly interchangable and regarding the nut - is the nut zinc as well? Also, how much did you have to route off of the neck pocket?

[XSSIVE]

the german made pivot posts will screw right into the factory pro-mod bushings, they use the same thread pattern. as for the locking nut metal, i'm not sure on the exact metal but it does seem to have a high copper content since i scratched the paint off the bottom of one and it looked like a shiny new penny under there. high copper content in metals if i'm not mistaken means a cheaper quality metal in general. if you scrape the finish off the bottom of a real german made floyd nut they are 100% silver in color and steel, no copper impurities. as for the neck pockets, i'm not sure on an actual amount since each of the 3 i did needed a different amount routed off. it also depends on where you want your action to be when the floyd is level on the body. since the goal (for me at least) is a perfectly level floyd your action is now controlled mostly by the neck angle with very fine adjustments that can be made on the floyd making it ever so slightly out of level if needed...i'm talking 64ths or less. of course there's no rule here you can have the floyd sit on a slight angle with the pivot end up a bit and the back resting on the body if you want, i just like them perfectly flat on the body as close to level as they can get. best bet is to take it to a tech you trust and tell him you want the floyd level on the body and the action at X at the 12th fret and he should be able to take care of it for you fairly easily by decreasing the neck pocket angle with a pass of the router.

-Mike