Thank you SO much for this. There’s 900 vids on “adjusting” but none on truly installing, and it happens to be on my Baretta. The youtube gods provided.
Here's a tip for you, to check to see if you have the locking-nut set to the correct height, get yourself a set of automotive feeler gauges, then select the .005 inch feeler gauge from the set, next, make sure your guitar is tuned up to pitch and then fret the low e-string just after the second fret, use the .005 inch feeler gauge to check the gap between the top of the first fret and the bottom of the low e-string, the .005 inch feeler gauge should just fit in the gap, do the same for the high e-string, if the .005 inch feeler gauge fits the gap under both the low and high e-strings when they are fretted just after the second fret, then the locking nut height should be correct, you can also use a .020 inch feeler gauge to check the first-fret action by seeing if the .020 inch feeler gauge just fits in between the top of the first fret and the underside of both e-strings, if they do then the first-fret action should be correct, you can get-away with a first-fret action as low as .018inch, or as high as .022inch for the two e-strings, since most Floyd Rose locking nuts come with a set radius, you'll only have to check the two e-strings and the rest should automatically fall in line.
I'm amazed at how many people don't think to wrap the tape around the bit to not 'overdrill'. "By god I paid for a 2" drill bit and I'm gonna get my moneys worth out of it..." Be careful guys, painters tape will 'walk up the bit' while you are drilling, so check it before each hole. Thanks for this one. I have a neck with a pre-machined ledge for the nut, but still wanted to see the procedure. There's another good one from Music Nomad on checking and adjusting the nut height.
I'm away to attempt this at the weekend following ur video haha thanks I couldn't have even thought about it without ur video so many many thanks I'll let u no how I get on soon I'm away to do it on my new ibenez s521 S series I hate the plastic rubbish they put on lol I ordered a floyd rose waiting for it to come on friday cant wait to do this it's the fun of modding ur guitar
Just waiting for my locking nut to arrive I have everything all ready to do the job,hopefully the nut will arrive friday so I get it done over the weekend,looking forward to doing this looks fun,only bit I'm nervous is getting the height adjustment perfectly but if I take the time slowly and checks done right I'm sure it will be all good,if I get abit confused or something ain't right,do you mind if I mail you and ask for your help would you be ok with that mate.sorry for my bad grammar I'm Scottish haha I understand if you are like what is he on about lol
Dont mean to sound silly here! I got my FR locking nut I'm away to fit it to my ibenez s521 bbs tomorrow 43mm,36mm E to E that's the right measurements,I'm abit unsure what tremelo system to order for my ibenez s521 there is a whole list of them what size would I have to make sure is the same and what place to order from,its the size I'm really unsure with lol any idea buddie
I'll add tha what I learned on my first one I'll be drilling biased towards the outside of the neck to have more meat for the threads. Not an H Pattern but an A.
I’m glad it worked out for you. But I think the approved method for determining the nut height is to capo at the 3rd fret and measure the string clearance at the first fret with a feeler gauge. I think the magic number is 7/10 of a millimeter. YMMV…
My "China made" Baretta Special has the rod access pretty far off center so the top mount floyd rose nut high E side hole blew out the side and I had to repair the wall. Hopefully nobody else goes through this. No bueno. I believe my Indonesian made ones will be fine. I ended up having to make a wood tunnel like bridge to connect the side walls. These wood screws don't go very deep.
Let me give Greg credit where credit is due but I just thin that for the premium that FR charges they'd give you every little bit of help you might need. Don't get me wrong...90% of my rigs have Floyd's or floyd knockoffs but with their lack of overhead they should include the little things, like shims, to make for a successful install and a happy consumer. Nuf said!
yo ,love the vids. I just did the very same things myself except my nut was a vintage German and the top isn't countersunk so I had to go through the back. ugh anyway cool vid
One of my locking block and nut came off when I was tuning the guitar and will not go back on. The one with the thickest (E and A) strings. It will go on if I take the E string out. So it is not stripped. Tried swapping screws. It is a new Ibanez Steve Vai signature Pia. I have a US Kramer Pacer Custom I bought in 1987 and never had this problem. Anyone have any idea why it is not going on or any tricks to put it back on?
Thank you SO much for this. There’s 900 vids on “adjusting” but none on truly installing, and it happens to be on my Baretta. The youtube gods provided.
Here's a tip for you, to check to see if you have the locking-nut set to the correct height, get yourself a set of automotive feeler gauges, then select the .005 inch feeler gauge from the set, next, make sure your guitar is tuned up to pitch and then fret the low e-string just after the second fret, use the .005 inch feeler gauge to check the gap between the top of the first fret and the bottom of the low e-string, the .005 inch feeler gauge should just fit in the gap, do the same for the high e-string, if the .005 inch feeler gauge fits the gap under both the low and high e-strings when they are fretted just after the second fret, then the locking nut height should be correct, you can also use a .020 inch feeler gauge to check the first-fret action by seeing if the .020 inch feeler gauge just fits in between the top of the first fret and the underside of both e-strings, if they do then the first-fret action should be correct, you can get-away with a first-fret action as low as .018inch, or as high as .022inch for the two e-strings, since most Floyd Rose locking nuts come with a set radius, you'll only have to check the two e-strings and the rest should automatically fall in line.
Good info Simon, thank you
I'm amazed at how many people don't think to wrap the tape around the bit to not 'overdrill'. "By god I paid for a 2" drill bit and I'm gonna get my moneys worth out of it..." Be careful guys, painters tape will 'walk up the bit' while you are drilling, so check it before each hole.
Thanks for this one. I have a neck with a pre-machined ledge for the nut, but still wanted to see the procedure. There's another good one from Music Nomad on checking and adjusting the nut height.
Rad man, pretty much the exact same way i install floyds..Good job sir
"Know the size of your nut..." Yes, I agree....That is good advice at any level.
Glad it worked out, looking forward to the bridge install
I'm away to attempt this at the weekend following ur video haha thanks I couldn't have even thought about it without ur video so many many thanks I'll let u no how I get on soon I'm away to do it on my new ibenez s521 S series I hate the plastic rubbish they put on lol I ordered a floyd rose waiting for it to come on friday cant wait to do this it's the fun of modding ur guitar
Glad my video is able to help. Good luck and yes, let me know how it goes.
Just waiting for my locking nut to arrive I have everything all ready to do the job,hopefully the nut will arrive friday so I get it done over the weekend,looking forward to doing this looks fun,only bit I'm nervous is getting the height adjustment perfectly but if I take the time slowly and checks done right I'm sure it will be all good,if I get abit confused or something ain't right,do you mind if I mail you and ask for your help would you be ok with that mate.sorry for my bad grammar I'm Scottish haha I understand if you are like what is he on about lol
Dont mean to sound silly here! I got my FR locking nut I'm away to fit it to my ibenez s521 bbs tomorrow 43mm,36mm E to E that's the right measurements,I'm abit unsure what tremelo system to order for my ibenez s521 there is a whole list of them what size would I have to make sure is the same and what place to order from,its the size I'm really unsure with lol any idea buddie
I'll add tha what I learned on my first one I'll be drilling biased towards the outside of the neck to have more meat for the threads. Not an H Pattern but an A.
I’m glad it worked out for you. But I think the approved method for determining the nut height is to capo at the 3rd fret and measure the string clearance at the first fret with a feeler gauge. I think the magic number is 7/10 of a millimeter. YMMV…
Cool. Thank you. I will have to remember that.
Can also measure string clearance at the first fret without a capo. Fender spec is .020", but you can pretty easily get away with .018".
Hey bro . Is their a exactly a set locking nut that I could order on Floyd site ?
Hey ,Long time no See,. I modded that exact guitar.Locking nut bolt from the bottom...Not much wood to work with but Works great.So far!!
2mm drill bit should work fine
My "China made" Baretta Special has the rod access pretty far off center so the top mount floyd rose nut high E side hole blew out the side and I had to repair the wall. Hopefully nobody else goes through this. No bueno. I believe my Indonesian made ones will be fine. I ended up having to make a wood tunnel like bridge to connect the side walls. These wood screws don't go very deep.
Great job 👍. Was nervous watching it. Subbed.
How thick was the shim? And what size nut did it need. Cheers
there are nut shims you can buy by companies like schaller or floyd rose themself, for the floyd rose nut, starting from .10mm
Let me give Greg credit where credit is due but I just thin that for the premium that FR charges they'd give you every little bit of help you might need. Don't get me wrong...90% of my rigs have Floyd's or floyd knockoffs but with their lack of overhead they should include the little things, like shims, to make for a successful install and a happy consumer. Nuf said!
Hey bro great video! I’m learning from you ..
yo ,love the vids. I just did the very same things myself except my nut was a vintage German and the top isn't countersunk so I had to go through the back. ugh anyway cool vid
What's the nut measurement/which locking nut for this guitar specifically?
One of my locking block and nut came off when I was tuning the guitar and will not go back on. The one with the thickest (E and A) strings. It will go on if I take the E string out. So it is not stripped. Tried swapping screws. It is a new Ibanez Steve Vai signature Pia. I have a US Kramer Pacer Custom I bought in 1987 and never had this problem. Anyone have any idea why it is not going on or any tricks to put it back on?
I have a kramer baretta special wanting to do the same thing, what size did you get?
I used an R3
...did you use R2 or the R3 nut ? many thanks !!
The R3. The nut width on Kramers site says it's 1.68 inches and the R3 nut according to Floyd Rose is 1.6875 inches.
Still have to shim even with the 1,6875 inch nut?
Can you use a 42mm locking nut? Or is better to use the 43mm?
Drugs. Don’t do drugs, kids