MikeWs 8 Ball

[MikeW]

So I've decided I'm just not in love with the Floyd anymore. The string changes, knocking the fine tuners while I'm playing, and after getting spoilt with how easy it is to change strings on the Wilkinson, I'm just kind of over the Floyd.

I've also modded the old white Strat with some new pickups. I replaced the Quarter Pounders that I had in the neck and bridge positions with a Cool Rails and a Lil Screamin Demon. I really like the pickups now. Clean and clear and punchy in all five switch positions.

Here's what the white Strat used to look like.

I still really love this neck though. It's such a great, bright, clean sounding neck. I didn't want to part with it, but something had to give. Then I saw this as I was browsing the Showcase

So, strange as this may sound, my plan is to pull the neck off the white Strat and use it on the 8 Ball. I'm planning on leaving the Floyd nut and string retainer and the Gotoh (unstaggered and non-locking) tuners on it for now, just to see how it goes. I suspect that the nut will be fine without the locking the strings down, but the retainer will have to go eventually.

My plan is to upgrade the tuners in a few weeks to some Schaller or Sperzel staggered locking tuners.

The body and parts are due Friday. Guess what I'm doing Saturday night??

 

[stratamania]

Saturday night at the movies  :dontknow:

Anyway something you may want to try...

http://www.allparts.com/BN-0623-023-ABM-7092-Ebanol-Nut-for-Floyd-Rose_p_775.html

No idea what nut width you have but they come in different sizes. I've also never tried one so I can't say much about them.

 

[MikeW]

http://www.allparts.com/BN-0623-023-ABM-7092-Ebanol-Nut-for-Floyd-Rose_p_775.html

No idea what nut width you have but they come in different sizes. I've also never tried one so I can't say much about them.

Interesting. I hadn't thought about replacing the nut. I was just working on the assumption that with the Floyd shelf I'd keep what was there. Unfortunately, the neck is the standard 1 11/16" Fender width so this one won't work. I'll poke around a little more and see what I come up with now that you've got me thinking about it.

 

[Cagey]

Aww, come on! You know you're only a blond hair away from ordering the proper neck! LOL!

The Floyd-wrecked neck belongs with the Floyd-wrecked guitar, end of story. Do the new one right and call it a love story.

 

[stratamania]

1 11/16 version

http://www.allparts.com/BN-0624-023-ABM-7093-Ebanol-Nut-for-Floyd-Rose_p_776.html

 

[bagman67]

Holy crap, 30 dollars?  Awesome margins in the guitar-parts online retail business.

 

[stratamania]

A few dollars less than a locking nut. But yes nuts don't seem to be washers...

 

[MikeW]

Aww, come on! You know you're only a blond hair away from ordering the proper neck! LOL!

The Floyd-wrecked neck belongs with the Floyd-wrecked guitar, end of story. Do the new one right and call it a love story.

LOL Too true! I wish the Finance Department would approve a new neck too, but with the Pao Ferro neck just sitting waiting, no, begging for a body, I couldn't get the thumbs up for that. So I gotta make due with what I've got on hand. At least the 8 Ball will be playable. The only thing the white Strat did was hang on the wall and take up a hanger.

I think for $30 I'm gonna stick with the Floyd nut too. Does that seem a bit steep for a nut to anyone else? Besides, a set of Schaller staggered locking tuners is just another $40 or so and I need those way more.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, the finance thing can be a stumbling block sometimes. Keep your eye on eBay and the "Gear For Sale or Trade" thread. Never know what might show up.

$30 does seem pretty stiff for molded composite nut, but I can easily imagine it's a limited production kind of thing so supply is low. Plus, they sorta got you by the short 'n' curlies - what other choices do you have?

 

[bagman67]

Yeah, the finance thing can be a stumbling block sometimes. Keep your eye on eBay and the "Gear For Sale or Trade" thread. Never know what might show up.

$30 does seem pretty stiff for molded composite nut, but I can easily imagine it's a limited production kind of thing so supply is low. Plus, they sorta got you by the short 'n' curlies - what other choices do you have?

I think you could take a Corian or or bone or graphtec blank and cut something to suit your needs if you just go slow and don't try to force things.  But that's more work than most folks are willing to endure, unless (and sometimes even if) they already have some solid craftsman skills.  If I had a sufficiently beautiful fingerboard on a floyd-prepped neck, I'd consider going that route just to avoid having a floyd. 


But yeah, the finance department keeps a moderate governing hand on my tendency to piss away good money on projects I won't finish for years.  I feel your pain.

 

[Cagey]

Shaping/cutting nuts is time-consuming and tedious, but certainly doable. The problem in this case is the there's no blank you can get to cut to replace a Floyd due to its unusual dimensions. Once a neck is routed for a Floyd locking nut, you're pretty much stuck with it.

It's pretty wide, so it needs a lotta shelf. Blanks usually aren't much wider than 1/8", while Floyd nuts approach 3/8".

Plus, you have a couple huge holes to deal with...

Not to mention potential depth issues. Can't put wood back. Although, you could shim, but...

A Floyd Rose installation is quite a commitment. You really gotta know you want one.

 

[MikeW]

... Can't put wood back. Although, you could shim, but...

A Floyd Rose installation is quite a commitment. You really gotta know you want one.

Yep. And for the time, this guitar was exactly what I wanted. It worked out great for the band I was in at the time too. But, five years and a whole 'nother band later, I'm having the 'It's Not You, It's Me. Well, It Really Is You.' talk with the poor girl.

After stratamania posted the link to the Ebanol nut, I went looking. Earvana was supposed to put out a Floyd replacement nut as well, but for some reason it never made it to production. I'm betting they couldn't solve the missing-wood-on-the-shelf problem or didn't like having to use screws to anchor it like the Ebanol does.

My second thought was to get a nut blank and cut the slots myself. I've got the files and did a nut for a friend's acoustic not too long ago, so I've got that to fall back on. The problem would be how to put wood back so that it would be strong enough to hold the nut still. I suspect that you could glue a piece onto the North end of the shelf and then carve or rout the slot to the right width and depth. That seems like a lot of work for not much return though.

If leaving the Floyd nut doesn't work out, I'll give the Ebanol a shot and post what I find.

 

[MikeW]

Alright, here it is. Final setup completed tonight and I really like how it turned out. It's not the Sunburst; that is one of those 'magic' guitars. But the 8 Ball is really nice. It's definitely a good #2, which is what I wanted.

I think I got a little more range out of the Wilkinson on the 8 Ball than on the Sunburst. I'm not sure how that worked out, since the setup should be identical, but whatever. The tuning is a little wonky when I really abuse it too, but I'm chalking that up to not having locking tuners (yet).

Here's some pics:
Mockup to make sure everything's aligned right before I assemble.

The wiring: (Scheme can be found here: http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUHSH5L1101/WDU-HSH5L11-01.html )

And Voila!

I've taken the string retainer off as part of the final setup. This pic was taken literally right after I finished putting it all together.

Sorry I didn't take more pics, but this is a pretty standard build that had nothing go wrong. I put in some stainless steel threaded inserts while I had the neck off. Those are a pain to get installed correctly, but NICE to have when you're assembling. Just thread the screws in and clamp the neck on. I'll be doing that for all of my necks from now on.

I did have one little wiring misadventure, but I realized that I got a crossed ground. Found that and fixed it. Last thing to do is grab some staggered locking tuners and put them on and this one's done.

 

[musicispeace]

That looks great. I have wondered what the bodies with numbers or racing stripes might look like as a finished project. I have the Wilkinson bridge also and have no complaints.

 

[MikeW]

That looks great. I have wondered what the bodies with numbers or racing stripes might look like as a finished project. I have the Wilkinson bridge also and have no complaints.

Thanks! It's a lot of fun to see people's reactions to it. Everybody that's seen it really likes it. The only real bummer about it is that where the number is placed gets covered by my arm while I'm playing.

 

[line6man]

Holy crap, 30 dollars?  Awesome margins in the guitar-parts online retail business.

I think it's fair.

It's one of those things that you wouldn't have even known existed, until you found yourself in the position of needing it to make your plan work out. Yes, it's a lot of money when you look at it for what it actually is, but it saves a lot of hassle in this particular case, and allows the OP to salvage the neck for the modification that he wants. Aside from the fact that nuts tend to cost about the same to begin with (Warmoth's pre-installed nuts are $25 minimum, and a Floyd nut is more than $30), $30 doesn't break the bank.