Wait, OFR = 10" radius or 12" radius?

[SausageofPower]

I've got two guitars with Floyd Rose bridges. My Model 4 with an OFR I got from Warmoth, and my PRS Torero SE with a FR-1000. Earlier, I was reading about possibly shimming the E, A, B and E saddles to flatten the bridge (especially on my PRS, which has a 14" radius fingerboard). However, I came across this on the Floyd Rose website:

Floyd Rose Original:
Q:What is the Floyd Rose Original bridge radius with and without the shim under the center saddle?
A:The bridge radius is 12” without the shim and 10” with the shim

Everything else I can find says OFR's have a 10" radius with no shim. So, who's full of shit and who's right?

[Axewielder]

They are both right. The shim that the Floyd site is referring to is the stock shim that is installed when you buy a complete Floyd kit. It is a wide shim that goes across saddles 2 - 5 and decreases the radius. If you shimmed the outer saddles instead of the inner saddles, naturally you would increase the radius.

[SausageofPower]

How can both be right? One says 12" with no shim, one says 10" with no shim.

[Axewielder]

Oh ok, I just meant that adding a shim can either increase or decrease the radius depending on where you put it.

no shim = 12"

[SausageofPower]

Great, thanks! I know "selectively shimming" can increase/decrease the radius, I was just wondering what the initial radius of the bridge is with no shims whatsoever.

Now to see for myself if flattening out the radius of the bridge really makes a difference...

[JACKSONFREAK]

I have an OFR without shim that is 16"radius. Which is why I had to change the radius on the fingerboard of my evh star to make it playable cuz it was a 71/4 radius. Now its a really comfy 12-16 compound radius.

[Axewielder]

Weird, were the shorter saddles replaced with taller ones? That is the other option for flattening the radius.

[Axewielder]

Man, I'm really not sure about any of this anymore. Coincidentally, I ordered a set of those understring radius gauges from Stew Mac, and they arrived today. I checked the radius at the strings on a 1986 OFR there at the bridge, and it looks like 16" to me. There's no way it is 12". This OFR has all three saddle sizes, as well.

[Axewielder]

I just checked a spare late-model OFR, all stock with three saddles sizes and no shim, and it looks to be a 16" radius. I've seen that 12" OFR radius spec quotes several times, but I really have to question it now.

As a side note, these Stew Mac gauges kick ass! I will say there seems to be a skill set to reading them. I'm shining a flashlight behind them and testing for a perfect fit which blocks all the light. That works for the board, anyway. It's a bit trickier to test the string radius accurately. I'm working on my blue strat, which seems to have a radius mismatch of some sort going on. It looks like the JT6 on it is also 16", however the board is crazy flat at 20". I've never seen that before. The outer E's are scraping off the frets while strings 3 + 4 still feel a bit high. This one is going to require some "deep thinking" to resolve.

[Animus]

I just got a Floyd lo Pro equipped guitar and it has a flat 12 inch radius fretboard. The Floyd is definitely flatter in radius and I will have to shim. I am definitely confused on this though as different conflicting information is scattered on the internet.

[JACKSONFREAK]

All floyds I've encountered see 16" radius. If u need a flater radius shim the outer saddles. If u need a smaller radius shim the center saddles. Most guitars like Jackson, charvel, ibanez are a compound radius 12-16. Strats etc are typically 91/2in radius. Gil

[JACKSONFREAK]

I have seen the shims under the saddles on the ibanez satriani but that has a 91/2 radius IIRC.

[Frigo89]

So if I want to put a new Floyd on a DK2, what is my best option for dropping one in with minimal noodling

Will an OFR drop in nicely? (of course it physically fits in the hole, I've done it before, just don't recall how it played)

[JACKSONFREAK]

The only strats I recall being that flat are the heavy metal strat. I think those may have been 20 in radius. The American std strat and the mim std etc are 91/2 in radius. The new dlx strats are 91/2-14 compound radius. Y shouldn't need th shine a light behind the radius guage. Just place it on the board. If if fits snug all the way across that's the radius.
Gil