Replacing fixed bridge with a Floyd Rose.

[WarlockLover]

I know, people think I'm crazy but I plan on switching out my fixed bridge for a Floyd Rose double locking tremolo. I know where I'm routing and drilling but can anyone tell me how and where exactly to anchor the springs? Any help you have is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely yours,
WarlockLover

[FretDevil]

This might help:
The measurements are in inches.
Floyd Rose Spring Cavity Detail

[musicman1234]

Originally Posted by WarlockLover

I know, people think I'm crazy but I plan on switching out my fixed bridge for a Floyd Rose double locking tremolo. I know where I'm routing and drilling but can anyone tell me how and where exactly to anchor the springs? Any help you have is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely yours,
WarlockLover

lol have fun!

just wondering, what kind of guitar?

[WarlockLover]

It's a NJ BC Rich Warlock.

[wherley_t]

you would need to put in a claw for the springs to attach to in the cavity then put the springs to th trem block

[Soliloquy]

umm...i dont think you're crazy, just...odd

sorry, but i think that that thing wont come out right. why? here's a few things that WILL go wrong with this:

1: floyd rose bridge is a lil wider than fixed/tune-o-matic/vintage 6/vintage 2 bridges. that means you will have to route out your body by quite a lot.

2: not only the bridge, but your pickups would have to be routed out to be slightly wider, so they could be installed with the 'F-spaced' pickups. and i do believe that the bridge pickups are wider than the neck pickups

3: the neck would have to be replaced. this is becuase at the nut, the neck for a floyd rose is usually normal width, how ever, around the 22/24th fret, you'd notice how wide the neck becomes. not only that, but for a floyd rose, you would need those lil nuts to be installed. either you would have to get your first fret routed to install that, and make your first fret TINY. OR you'd have to cut the neck pocket/cavity to become slightly wider and install a new neck.

what would happen if you keep the normal neck? humm...you heard of those GODIN guitars? i dont know the exact series, or the name of that guitar, but one of their guitars(or maybe more...?) use a normal spaced neck, or something that is slightly smaller than FR equiped guitars. this would creat a problem as you'd notic that both your high E and your low E strings would either constanly slide off of your neck, or around the 12th-22/24th fret, it wouldnt even be on the neck! it would just be flying else where



sorry for bursting your bubble, and i'm not saying that it CANT be done. it would just require you to do an exact job.

but if you're thinking of getting a floyd rose just for the dive bombs, why not getting a vintage 2 screw bridge(the thing that yngwie malmsteen has)? i mean, you can do some insane dives on it, and if you losen the spring tension on the back of the guitar, that would raise your bridge from the body. this will allow you to literally PUSH the bridge into your guitar, which would stretch your notes/strings, and would replicate a floyd rose. this actually works wonders with my first frankenstien guitar. i mean, i have a stratocaster replica(i made it a frankenstine guitar...) with the vintage 6 screw bridge. the 6 screws prevent me from doing dive bombs, how ever, i can push the bridge into the body, and i can do the same stuff with harmonics...

g2g, will come back later, so if you have any questions, let me know...

[FretDevil]

Soliloguy is right... it would be a major undertaking and would have to be very precise. Can you post some pics of the front and back of the body as well as the headstock? It might help to see what you're looking at exactly. I know what a Warlock looks like but seeing yours would be better.

[Soliloquy]

back,

actually, the more i think about it, the more it makes sense to get a vintage bridge. just trying to figure out its exact name of it. but the 2 screw bridge has the same principles as a floyd rose. the floyd rose bridge sits on 2 knife edge screws, and the vintage 2 screw bridge does the same.

lets see the pros and cons of the vintage over the floyd rose:

1) changing the strings on the vintage would literally be a breeze comparing to a floyd rose. not only would you NOT have a locking system, but also, your neck wont have those lil locking nuts either. so, you wont be constantly paranoid over losing those allen keys(unless you have those lil key holders that old Jackson and Kramer guitars used to have on the back of their headstocks...). and since the string change wont really rely that much on the string VS spring tension, if you break 1 string, the other strings wont really be affected by a whole lot. where as in a floyd rose, if you break 1 string, your whole bridge would be lowered into your body, and thus, you wont have to tune just 1 string, but each and every string. plus, changing your gauges on your floyd rose might be a pain. but the vintage would again, be a breeze.

2)you would have alot better sustain! i mean, a floyd rose cuts away on sustain but moving back and forth, which absorbs the string's vibrations. unless you're thinking of installing your guitar with a fernandez sustain pickup, your sustain would be cut down by a lot.....but then again, if you're carrying a warlock bc. rich guitar, then why would you need sustain? metal doesnt use much of sustain, where as rock does...

3) you can actually use those guitars in live gigs. say you break a string while still back stage. changing a string on it wont take you that long. maybe it will tkae you 5 minutes to change a string, if you dont know what you're doing. but on a floyd rose, a noob like me takes in about 20-30 minutes to change the strings and tune, and RE tune over and over again. how ever, ive seen players/techs change floyd rose strings in literally 5 minutes, and they lock the strings, and the strings stay in perfect pitch. but they have tons of experience on them.


4) this may be a con towards the vintage bridge. doing dive bombs. if you're trying to replicate that motor bike engin burout sound by diving and releassing your bridge, then the con is that the vintage arm is a lil more straighter when comparing to a floyd rose. so it will limit your motion. how ever, it will allow you to make your strings really floppy either way.

5) doing dive bombs on a vintage bridge MAY actually make the strings so loose, that they may slide off of that lil bridge/nut at the top of the 1st fret. actually, this happens alot, not only on doing dive bombs. forexample, my 6 screw guitar, everytime i'm doing tremolo solos on it, i notice that my high E actually jumps up from its location, and sits in the lil crack of the B string. kinda gets annoying, but i'm sure you can work your way around it...

6) vintage bridges dont come in black, or not that i'm awar of. this may make your guitar look a lil goofy.

i'm still thinking, so give me a lil time....but hope this helps so far. but its best to ask some guitarist who has a lot of experience with a floyd rose bridge.

[Randog]

Here is an excellent tutorial for installing a Floyd Rose if you decide to go through with it.

[guitarchris]

I was once going to put in a floyd rose on my Silvertone Fastback with a fixed bridge. After looking up on the web all it would take i took it to a guitar store, they estimated to do the job they would charge me 200-300 dollars so i said screw it. so if u take it to a guitar technition its gonna be quit costly.

[Soliloquy]

Originally Posted by guitarchris

I was once going to put in a floyd rose on my Silvertone Fastback with a fixed bridge. After looking up on the web all it would take i took it to a guitar store, they estimated to do the job they would charge me 200-300 dollars so i said screw it. so if u take it to a guitar technition its gonna be quit costly.

you actually got lucky. or you have a luthier who is cheap...most of the luthiers here are freaken expensive! they would charge you around 700 to just instal inlays on your fret board. a fret board that has no inlays on! so that should cut the job by more than half...