I wanted to get rid of the "pot" metal Edge Trem. I wanted to put on some good German heavy metal!. Special thanks to Hippie Tim in giving me some info and I went ahead and looked for a Floyd Gold Speedloader. I did some measuring and I needed a 17" radius nut 43mm wide. So, I contacted my resources and nothing was in North America. Supposidly, they were going to start manufacturing in Jan. 2008 and should be available in the Summer of 2008. Crap! I contacted the Sales offices of Floyd Rose and still nothing. I also asked some technical questions about fitment. They couldn't answer my questions. The offices are now in NJ. Not WA anymore? What's up with that? I don't know. So, as I was about to give up, I get this call a couple of weeks later. "I heard your looking for a Gold Speedloader, #8 nut, 42.86mm wide by 17" radius in Gold". Yes, ah, whom am I talking to? "This is Floyd". Really, "yeah really". I was going to start asking historical questions and quiz him to see if it really was him. Like when (what year) did you first invent the OFR bridge?:ROTF: Well, after payment arrangements, it got shipped to me.
Now, at this point, I wasn't sure if this was going to be a drop in. I talked to several luthiers and none had ever done this, including Ed Roman's "Custom Shop"! (I figured they did everything)
Anyway, I got the unit. The nut is for a Floyd shelf (screw in from the top) The holes cleared the existing bolt through holes (whew, no plugging to do) I wanted to retain the bolts so it would look "stock". I made little threaded inserts from 4mm weld nuts, used a taper ream from the top, installed the the inserts with a press fit and used shorter button head 4mm machine screws from the back of the neck. The bolts were in and the shelf was flat. I drilled the holes and screwed the nut down. A good thing, no shims! The stock Ibby nut had 1-1/2 shims!
Anyway, long story short, I used the stock trem posts in the standard location. The recessed rout is the same size as a Floyd OFR on the JEM. However, the Speedloader uses a smaller opening. No problems, at least I don't have to rout! I got it setup, and I don't know what I have been missing! You don't have to stretch the strings and it stays in tune forever. Plus, I lost 230 grams off the headstock. That's 1/2 a lb.! The guitar is so light now. One of my buddies, stopped over. He doesn't play guitar. We took a look at my latest project. He asked; "How you tune the thing"? I said you just push these here buttons on the headstock
I love this thing!
This pic is kinda crappy. I need to take some outside. The flash was blinding it out, so I tried to cover it, but you get the idea.
I misspelled the title. I've been working on this all weekend. I guess I'm tired:ROTF: :ROTF:
Now, at this point, I wasn't sure if this was going to be a drop in. I talked to several luthiers and none had ever done this, including Ed Roman's "Custom Shop"! (I figured they did everything)
Anyway, I got the unit. The nut is for a Floyd shelf (screw in from the top) The holes cleared the existing bolt through holes (whew, no plugging to do) I wanted to retain the bolts so it would look "stock". I made little threaded inserts from 4mm weld nuts, used a taper ream from the top, installed the the inserts with a press fit and used shorter button head 4mm machine screws from the back of the neck. The bolts were in and the shelf was flat. I drilled the holes and screwed the nut down. A good thing, no shims! The stock Ibby nut had 1-1/2 shims!
Anyway, long story short, I used the stock trem posts in the standard location. The recessed rout is the same size as a Floyd OFR on the JEM. However, the Speedloader uses a smaller opening. No problems, at least I don't have to rout! I got it setup, and I don't know what I have been missing! You don't have to stretch the strings and it stays in tune forever. Plus, I lost 230 grams off the headstock. That's 1/2 a lb.! The guitar is so light now. One of my buddies, stopped over. He doesn't play guitar. We took a look at my latest project. He asked; "How you tune the thing"? I said you just push these here buttons on the headstock
I love this thing!
This pic is kinda crappy. I need to take some outside. The flash was blinding it out, so I tried to cover it, but you get the idea.
I misspelled the title. I've been working on this all weekend. I guess I'm tired:ROTF: :ROTF:
Comment