Locking Nut / Floyd Rose Issues

[anothersomeone]

I'm looking for a little guidance when working with my Jackson SL2. I bought this guitar on Ebay about a week ago and when I recieved it, the trem wouldn't return to the correct pitch. When I dived down, it would stay flat and when I pulled up, it would stay sharp.

After looking over this message board and some tech advice I found on here, I removed the floyd and it's posts, finding that the posts would move around a bit. I wrapped the posts with the teflon tape and put them back in. Seemed to do the trick but when putting the bridge back into the body, I had a hard time getting the guitar to hold a tune in general. I would tune up the guitar, reef on the floyd a bit and find I had to loosen the nut, retune, retighten the nut and start over again. NOW, my problem is that with all the loosening/tightening of the locking nut, the E/A screw post has stripped out on me.

Is the nut itself stripped out or is there a resessed hole thru the nut that I stripped out? Is the nut glued onto the neck? Any helpful advice that can be given regarding getting this guitar working would be great. Since I've bought it, I've spent more time working on it than playing it and it's gotten really frustrating.

[59custom]

I would take her to a local tech have problem checked out get a quote as to how much work and what it will cost. shouldn't be that much, plus it sounds like the lock needs removed and replaced.

[anothersomeone]

Thanks, I have thought about just taking it to a tech but I don't think this is something that I can't fix on my own. It is however my first experience with a floyd rose tremlo and I don't like the idea of removing the nut, etc. without knowing how it's all gonna go down first, ya know?

[gravol]

It's usually the threads on the screw itself that gives in and it should be very visible. If thats the case you can buy them basically anywhere online or maybe at your local music store. The nut itself is attached with 2 screws from the top and is also easy to change if that is the case, make sure you get the right width on the new one.

Just curious, is that one the Gun metal grey SL2 with EMG´s or the red one?

[rjohnstone]

Just replace the nut.
It's a TOP mount held in place by two small screws.
Pull it off an find out what size it is. Should be an R3 or R4.
Then go online and get a TOP mount genuine Floyd Rose replacement nut.
Cost you between $25 and $30 depending on finish.
No need to take it anywhere.

http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?LNG=en-US&Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Floyd-Rose-Locking-Nuts

[anothersomeone]

Lfr / Ofr

Just curious, is that one the Gun metal grey SL2 with EMG´s or the red one?

It's the red one. I really really wanted the grey one, but I've only ever seen one of those for sale and the bidding went beyond what I wanted to spend at the time.

rjohnstone or anyone for that matter, is the nut size going to be notated on the bottom of the nut? Is an OFR nut compatiable with the licensed FR locking nut?

Furthermore, to avoid all this in the future, how tight is too tight on these things? I don't like my stuff to fall apart ever so I have the tendencies to over tightening anything that has screws...

I really appreciate the responce I'm getting here, thanks!

[Dreamland_Rebel]

never overtighten the locking nut.
and make sure you stretch the strings out real good when restringing. if you don't do this the strings will never stay intune.

[rjohnstone]

a genuine OFR nut will have the size marked on the underside of the nut.
It's HUGE... you can't miss it.
Do not replace a real OFR nut with a licensed nut or vice versa.
They are not the same.

As for tightening, I get the lock nuts snug by hand and then give them a 1/8 to 1/4 turn with the Allen wrench.
You just want to keep the string from moving. There's no need to compress the hell out of it.

[Sunbane]

The SL2, although being MiUSA, had a licensed trem (JT580LP). They /probably/ used a licensed locking nut because of this.

...and if they did; an OFR nut is taller and will not fit without a little modification to the nut shelf.

Btw, those trems wear out with time. Check the knife edges (that the trem pivots on) for wear. Sometimes they've been mistreated and are worn dull.

If the knife edges and the posts are okay; replace the springs in the back with fresh ones, lube the pivot points and break the new springs in.

[rjohnstone]

The SL2, although being MiUSA, had a licensed trem (JT580LP).

I believe you're talking about the older Japanese SL3's.
The SL2's have a real Floyd.

Bridge Floyd Rose® Original™ Double Locking 2-Point Tremolo

[dg]

Nope, he's right. The SL-2 had a JT-580LP. It was a stripped-down USA model:

http://www.audiozone.dk/CatalogScans/Jack1996/pages/Jack1996Page03.htm

[gravol]

I believe you're talking about the older Japanese SL3's.
The SL2's have a real Floyd.

Nope, the old SL2´s (with no fret inlays) had the JT-580LP bridge.
He's not talking about a SL2H.

[gravol]

[gravol]

I would still check the screw itself before replacing the whole nut.
Sorry about the double post.

[rjohnstone]

Ahhh yes... the SL2 and the RR2... blank Ebony boards.
I forgot about them things.
In that case, yea, you're gonna need a 42mm licensed nut, not an R4 Floyd nut.

Or you can just replace the whole thing with a real Floyd.
It will fit with a minor mod to the nut shelf.