Help!!! Im customising an old guitar Ive had for years ( an old strat copy ) and fitted a floyd rose original but the string height is way too high. too high to be taken up by adjusting the truss rod and the height adjustment on the trem is screwed right down. I havent recessed it but read this is not nescessary. Its ok at the nut but gets higher all the way to the trem. Ive thought about shimming the neck but there just seems to be too much to take up. Any advice would be grateful. Cheers.
Can you post pics of the guitar, as viewed from the side, esp. where the neck fits into the body? Any Floyds I have mounted would allow the strings to touch the neck if you tightened it down far enough. Not sure where the prob is without a pic or measurements.
What is the height of the 1 & 6 strings at the first & twelfth frets? Also, is the trem adjusted so it is sitting "flat"?
Hi Katmetal, thanks for the reply. Sorry I cant get pics right now I dismantled it again to see if I could sort it.
The posts are connected by a flat bar and Im wondering if that should be recessed or done away with. It did seem to kepp the trem off the face of the guitar. I have put the posts (screw in part) into the holes and put the trem on so it sits flat as you said and it has improved it but the string clearance (only one fitted 5th) is less than 1mm at the first fret, 2mm at the 12th and 4mm at the 22nd to the bottom of the string. The neck looks square enough, and as I said before I thought about shimming it to adjust the angle. Dont know if that would make any diffrence.
The string height from the floyd rose is definately higher than the fender type trem but as you and others have had no problems with this it has to be something else. Probably me being stupid :oops:
I doubt if any of that helps you much. I can put it back together and take some pics if it doesnt. I'll leave it alone just now in the hope you can give me a pointer or two. Cheers.
Good description of what you have done so far; it is kinda hard to tell what is going on without seeing it in person. I believe I know what mounting posts you are referring to, although the ones I have dealt with just have the mounting posts screwed directly in to the guitar body.
I re-worked a Floyd Rose discovery guitar awhile back, & I screwed those posts in flush. The trem was able to be adjusted for a beautiful low action. It is possible that you need a neck shim. It only takes a small amount. Believe it or not, I have seen pro luthiers use construction paper & the like for shimming.
I have used very thin veneer in the past. One thing that could be happening is that those mounting posts may be backing out when you apply string tension to the trem. Some posts are press fit into the body, some are screwed in, don't know your setup.
It is easy to overlook something. you could also back the truss rod off and let it sit for awhile & then re-tension it slightly to pull it into "spec" again. The measurements you listed are not too bad, really. I could probably live with that...
I managed to fix the problem. It was the neck.
Checked with a spirit level and it was running off. And your right, it doesnt take much adjustment to make a big diffrence. A piece of card sorted it. Lossened the truss rod like you said and the strings are down to the frets.
It was just a project I took on out of interest and would probably ended up sitting in a corner if I didnt get it fixed so thanks for your advice and time. Much appreciated. Hopefully I can return the favour to someone else in a fix in the future. Great site. Cheers again.
Sound great! Yeah, those dang truss rods cause more trouble, lol. My dad once owned a Gibson Grabber bass that needed regular adjustment with all the season changes, it was really a pain.
