I have the majority of the parts to build another?! I have the body, neck and a HSS pickguard loaded w/ a PJ Marx Brad Gillis 812 humbucker, red blade pickup etc… all ready to go! 🤘😎🤘
@@Metalcop5150 Thank you, that’s nice. First of all, I don't know your price, and if I'm not mistaken, you are in the USA and I am in France. Imagine the transport and customs fees...
Have literally looked for someone doing this for a while. Awesome build, the non-fine tuning Floyd is a great tremolo and the way Brad modded his guitar was genius. Even managed to install a 22nd fret on an original 21 fret 62 Stratocaster neck.
Thanks for the kind words, my friend, it truly means a lot. I’m glad you enjoyed the video and most importantly - found it useful!! Which is my main goal w/ these videos. 🤘😎🤘
@@Metalcop5150 the more I looked into your channel I realized I had watched your Dave Murray strat video as I am currently in the process of of building a tribute myself out of a Squier body and all aftermaket parts be it Fender, and other companies.
These are the most involved installation, even a pre-routed body from overseas is a pain in the butt since you have no reference to what template they were using! I have a FR routed Strat style body that I've doweled already because I have no reference points. I am starting over and trying to find templates without spending hundreds of dollars for Stew-Mac stuff. Musiclily offers a template, but all I need are the correct measurements for the posts. I think I finally found one and printed it up while I wait for the neck to be delivered so I can measure out the length and make sure it's correct. It's heartbreaking to have it all put together and go to jam out some Van Halen and realize the damn thing won't intonate because the measurements you took were wrong because the body is a one-off.
It can be a daunting process. I have done a ton of these, so I can unequivocally say - It gets easier the more you do!! Promise. I use the Stew Mac templates. I bought them many years ago, I don’t remember them being that expensive? The crucial measurement is from the nut to the posts centerline. You can cheat that line about 1/8” forwards and back, but really no more. Then bolting on the neck and using straight edges to ensure that the Floyd is centered to the NECK. Not too the body! The final thing to remember is that a Floyd route is different from a Fender vintage trem route!! You can make the Fender work, but the mindset has to be that you are modifying the guitar for the Floyd. The Floyd itself is very unforgiving. I used to do the through the neck Floyd nut clamps, but I won’t even attempt them anymore. Way too easy to ruin a neck!! This guitar neck and body took the Floyd mod quite well. Can’t say that for all guitars. Good luck with yours!! 🤘😎🤘
I was thinking about using the wood screws too for my build with the non fine tuner version. Not gonna use a locking nut tho. They are now being manufactured in Korea Ive heard. Probably at the same place they build all the guitars for everyone who wants them to.
You just have to be careful. It’s easy to tell the real German locking clamps from the 1000 Series (which are well made and precise) and finally the Specials, which are absolute junk. The price is the biggest indicator. If you can get an entire FR assembly, including the clamp for $100? It’s a Special and it’s a paperweight. The 1000 series uses mostly quality forged steel but does use mild zinc alloys, for the saddles etc, just for cost. I would always recommend a locking clamp, but that’s just me. Thanks for watching and commenting, my friend!!
Great video.. Great video.. I have a strat I just built, but with a 6 point start trem, but I want a non locking tuner floyd just like brads.. Brad is a hero of mine.. I saw him with Ozzy and have been a huge fan since. . So, I have a warmoth neck with stainless frets.. 22 jumbos and I love it.. How do you once everything installed and strung up .. How do you get the strings in tune once you tighten down the nut? Because it will probably go sharp? Do you loosen the nut and keep adjusting over and over until it stays in tune correctly or does it get in tune and when you lock it down does it not move the strings out of tune? I mean, there was a reason they added fine tuners.. I'm going to have a luthier do mine because I'll mess it up probably if not careful and I don't have all the correct tools.. Great video and I'll check out more.. I subscribed and gave it a thumbs up of course! Very cool.. Thanks and regards from south central Indiana. USA Tim
Great, thought out, and we’ll written comment!! Thank you. 🙏 The way I tuned, I actually got tips from Brad Gillis?! In his Hot Guitarist instructional video. 1. You have to stretch the ever living F out of the strings! 2. You have to experiment and see how much the tuning will change, once you tighten the locking nut/clamp. The strings will go sharp or won’t change at all. So you have to tune flat, the right amount so that the clamp will essentially pull the string into tune. I’m not going to lie; it’s a giant PITA! The good thing about a non fine tuning Floyd is that if you get sick of the tuning woes, a fine tuning version will drop right in. In all honesty, I won’t use a non fine-tuning Floyd. I made this guitar to sell, (it sold in a day!!) so I made it a hyper accurate replica. Love to know how your guitar turns out. Truly appreciate the support, my friend. 🤘😎🤘
@@Metalcop5150 Thank you kind sir. That makes perfect sense. I have an Ibanez with a low pro edge and I can tune it and stretch the strings out good and I've forgotten to tighten the locking nut and it still stayed in tune. I just happened to notice one day they were loose when I changed strings, so that makes perfect sense. I will absolutely let you know when I get it installed. I'm going to try it for awhile with the gotoh steel 6 point trem and graphite nut I have now as well as staggered locking tuners. No string tree to get in the way and cause problems.. I like Floyd's with fine tuners as well. I have a Charvel with a factory Schaller Floyd and it stays in tune if you throw the guitar against the wall. It just doesn't go out of tune, but since Floyd rose reissued the non fine tuner I just love the profile and how well it works and less to go wrong. Just a cool trem. That guitar was so cool. Glad to hear you sold it that fast. Very cool. I would love to find one of the Fernandez guitars of his as well. I may have to make a replica of his strat some day maybe. I love his ideas. Very cool.. Thanks brother and I will keep watching your videos and brads interviews, etc. Best regards kind sir From the heartland.. South Central Indiana . USA Tim.
@@Metalcop5150 Hahahaa. Cool man . I will have to do the same in the future. I built that strat I was telling you about and I have an Ibanez S series from Japan. About a 94 which is one of my favs because it's so light and easy to play with that paper thing neck. I just need to get either stainless or EVO frets installed.. Then I'll put it together and love it. I love the low pro edge trem. It's just killer and probably as good as the original Floyd, but different and has the best low profile. I would like to try the low profile Floyd on a build someday. Anyway, good talking to ya man.. Keep up the good work and builds. Video the new build of you do it. It will be very interesting. ♥️🤘
@@Metalcop5150 Oh. I forgot to tell you. The strat turned out great. I ha e two EMG humbuckers. I love them because I hate being shocked and back in the day I was shocked a couple times with bad wiring in an old club where I was in a band and jamming. Passives make you the ground as you probably know when you touch the strings which makes me very very nervous and EMGs don't do that because they are internally ground. I also use a wireless system as well which works with Passives when I use a guitar with them. I like them a little better in some ways, but I also love the EMGs. An 85 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck which does blues stuff so well. Both do really and active tome controls that really do something besides just roll of treble. Plus , you can use 1600 feet of cord and won't lose treble or tone. The preamp drives the signal so good... Plus, for 80s metal ballads and hard rock and blues they sound great. Be well sir and God speed man!!!
This bridge with locking tuners could do dive bombs and stay in tune without the “instability” of a double locking FR? I can’t seem to find too many new videos on the non-fine tuner bridge so forgive my ignorance.
The double locking Floyd Rose is the most stable tuning trem ever! Not sure what you meant there?! Yes, the non fine-tuning Floyd, combined w/ locking tuners should perform very well; divebombs etc. I built this guitar as an exact replica of Brad Gillis’ guitar. His came w/ an early non fine-tuning Floyd AND a locking clamp at the nut. He learned tricks and techniques to get the clamp locked while the guitar was in tune and it was remarkably stable, for him. Hope this helps and answers your questions. 🤘
@@Metalcop5150 yes! Big help. I misspoke regarding the instability part. I’ve had FR for years and I know that once they are tuned they STAY in tune. I was referring to the floating bridge sometimes dropping when you replace the strings. My mistake.
@@MrHomolka The trick to changing your strings is to replace them one at a time!! Lol That sounds simple, but the trick is to take only one string off, replace it w/ the new one, tune it to pitch and then do the next and so on. That way you never ‘lose’ your setup!! There are lots of other tips and tricks out there, but for a floating bridge, this works best for me. 😉
Why don't you use the hardened steel pivot screws and sleeves marketed by WD ref number 1087. They are alot thinner than those FR screws and won't have the FR knife edges start chewing them up as happens on those FR ones. Plus the tuning stability will be constant unlike those FR screws where the tuning stability will suffer as the knife edges of the FR chews them up over a period of time.
A. I am replicating Brad Gillis’ guitar, which uses the old school, wood screw style posts. Authenticity matters to me. It has to look the part and function as well as the original. B. I have no experience with the WD product you mentioned. However, I have nearly 40 years of experience with the Floyd Rose!! I can assure you that neither the knife edges of the trem assembly, nor that of the wood screw posts will ever wear out. As in never. They will literally never wear out. They are built of hardened German tool steel and they are indestructible. I don’t know this for a fact, but I would wager that Brad’s guitar still has the original posts on it, from 1982. They’re that good. So all in all, why would I replace the period correct posts, which are the best made knife edges posts ever made, with any other inferior product? The Floyd Rose tuning stability is unmatched. It is the benchmark in which All other trems are judged. Units built from 1982 through to today are still perfect in their function. That is a fact. Thanks for watching and commenting my friend, it is much appreciated. 🤘😎🤘
Awesome build sir! Can you please tell me where you obtained the body and neck for this project? Are they Fender parts or a different brand altogether. Did you paint them yourself? I love the finish on them, it looks perfect. If you did paint them, what paint did you use? I know I'm asking a lot of questions, sorry about that. You do great work. Love the tips you give on your videos. Very helpful and informative. Can't wait to see the finished project.
I purchased the body and neck off of eBay (separately). It took a lot of searching and time to find them both, but I think they were likely made with a Brad Gillis guitar in mind. You don't often see a black painted neck?! They were probably made off-shore, but who knows? Save yourself the headache and just buy this guitar!! It's almost done, I just haven't put out the final video yet. Real German Floyd Rose non fine tuning, real PJ Marx Gillis bridge humbucker and Valley Arts branded (probably Gotoh or Schaller) tuners. I had the pickguard professionally wired up by montanarocknrguitarsfatcow.com/ and it is a work of art!! Probably the nicest guitar that I've built to date.
you need a full thickness body, 1.75" and if you are going to use a non Floyd rose routed body you really want to use the wood screw type posts, because that leave the most amount of wood between the post and the humbucker route .. a genuine Floyd rose body the humbucker is further away from the bridge that way there is at least 1" of wood between the anchors and the humbucker route, any less and they tend to break out, WHY a wood screw style is the best!!! it leaves more wood there so it wont break out like they tend to do when people, or guitar makers use a 6pt bridge body fora dual fulcrum... so many builders are guilty of this fender being the most egregious . . . seriously when you do a dual fulcrum with an anchor think about it that anchor removes 1/2" of material, on a 6pt pattern that leaves less than 1/2" of wood to hold that anchor back.. I have seen so many where the wood breaks out on one or both sides, some are very trashed, some not as much... so fender needs to use a FLOYD rose pattern when they make a dual fulcrum body, not he FREEKIN 6 PT PATTERN! like they are guilty of still today knowing this issue exists all too well! use a floyd rose pattern on ALL dual fulcrum set ups... that way you have at least an inch of material to hold back the two lonely posts a dual fulcrum bridge rides on.. ALSO!!! you want to use the narrow humbucker route, YES always use the ring style AND the wide style post pattern, 74mm this puts your posts halfway outside your humbucker route and a lot more wood to hold that anchor back, you never see failures on this type of pattern... just look at your pattern before you hog it out, is there any wood holding the pin anchors back? fender has done like 80mm wide humbucker routes and the anchor a mere 3/16ths inch back form the edge.. they ALL fail just from string tension alone! and some of the repairs are sad indeed, people will sell them not revealing that issue cuz you cannot see it until you remove the pick guard and the bridge, then it reveals itself, OR one takes a very very good look there is a tiny gap to look but you need to know what to look for.. lotta guys get shafted buying these failures that leave the guitar unplayable, not a huge fix if done right you just take the pieces out, celan it up, glue pieces back in place, then use a larger diameter anchor, or fill with a dowel and use the screw type . . . in any event you have to figure a lot of the tone is coming thru those anchors and posts into the body, if there is no wood in front of the anchors what happens to the vibrations? that's right, nothing, there is no wood to resonate the vibrations . . it all matters if you are looking for a tone monster . . use a floyd rose pattern with the humbucker moved toward the neck at least 3/8ths inch... integrity, give it a chance
Dude, that was a lot to read! Too much… lol I modified a FENDER body for a Floyd, just like Brad’s guitar. I purposely moved the posts back, to leave enough wood between the posts and the pickup route. They are completely stable and I stand behind my work 100%. Also, I modified the depth I drilled, that’s all, there was no compromise. The studs were still as low as they needed to be and the Floyd was decked, VH style, w/ zero issues. This was a quality, professional installation that functioned perfectly and will stand the test of time. Not sure exactly what your point was in that manifesto? Thanks for watching and commenting anyways.
Развлечения
I find your approach very interesting. I've been wanting to create my own Frankenstrat for a long time, not a carbon copy, with second-hand parts.
I have the majority of the parts to build another?! I have the body, neck and a HSS pickguard loaded w/ a PJ Marx Brad Gillis 812 humbucker, red blade pickup etc… all ready to go!
🤘😎🤘
@@Metalcop5150 Thank you, that’s nice. First of all, I don't know your price, and if I'm not mistaken, you are in the USA and I am in France. Imagine the transport and customs fees...
Have literally looked for someone doing this for a while. Awesome build, the non-fine tuning Floyd is a great tremolo and the way Brad modded his guitar was genius. Even managed to install a 22nd fret on an original 21 fret 62 Stratocaster neck.
Thanks for the kind words, my friend, it truly means a lot. I’m glad you enjoyed the video and most importantly - found it useful!! Which is my main goal w/ these videos.
🤘😎🤘
@@Metalcop5150 the more I looked into your channel I realized I had watched your Dave Murray strat video as I am currently in the process of of building a tribute myself out of a Squier body and all aftermaket parts be it Fender, and other companies.
@@agcacustoms2852 Just sold the Dave Murray last week! That was a fun build and it turned out great. 🤘
Great video. Is there a video of installing the hardware and pickups and stuff?
There are 3 parts. Here’s the one you’re looking for:
ruclips.net/video/USSaG6qMerM/видео.htmlsi=OGUMOZJfKqvkbdiq
@@Metalcop5150 thank you. I'm learning a lot!
These are the most involved installation, even a pre-routed body from overseas is a pain in the butt since you have no reference to what template they were using! I have a FR routed Strat style body that I've doweled already because I have no reference points. I am starting over and trying to find templates without spending hundreds of dollars for Stew-Mac stuff. Musiclily offers a template, but all I need are the correct measurements for the posts.
I think I finally found one and printed it up while I wait for the neck to be delivered so I can measure out the length and make sure it's correct. It's heartbreaking to have it all put together and go to jam out some Van Halen and realize the damn thing won't intonate because the measurements you took were wrong because the body is a one-off.
It can be a daunting process. I have done a ton of these, so I can unequivocally say - It gets easier the more you do!! Promise. I use the Stew Mac templates. I bought them many years ago, I don’t remember them being that expensive? The crucial measurement is from the nut to the posts centerline. You can cheat that line about 1/8” forwards and back, but really no more. Then bolting on the neck and using straight edges to ensure that the Floyd is centered to the NECK. Not too the body! The final thing to remember is that a Floyd route is different from a Fender vintage trem route!! You can make the Fender work, but the mindset has to be that you are modifying the guitar for the Floyd. The Floyd itself is very unforgiving. I used to do the through the neck Floyd nut clamps, but I won’t even attempt them anymore. Way too easy to ruin a neck!! This guitar neck and body took the Floyd mod quite well. Can’t say that for all guitars. Good luck with yours!!
🤘😎🤘
I was thinking about using the wood screws too for my build with the non fine tuner version. Not gonna use a locking nut tho. They are now being manufactured in Korea Ive heard. Probably at the same place they build all the guitars for everyone who wants them to.
You just have to be careful. It’s easy to tell the real German locking clamps from the 1000 Series (which are well made and precise) and finally the Specials, which are absolute junk. The price is the biggest indicator. If you can get an entire FR assembly, including the clamp for $100? It’s a Special and it’s a paperweight. The 1000 series uses mostly quality forged steel but does use mild zinc alloys, for the saddles etc, just for cost. I would always recommend a locking clamp, but that’s just me. Thanks for watching and commenting, my friend!!
Great video.. Great video..
I have a strat I just built, but with a 6 point start trem, but I want a non locking tuner floyd just like brads.. Brad is a hero of mine.. I saw him with Ozzy and have been a huge fan since. . So, I have a warmoth neck with stainless frets.. 22 jumbos and I love it..
How do you once everything installed and strung up .. How do you get the strings in tune once you tighten down the nut? Because it will probably go sharp? Do you loosen the nut and keep adjusting over and over until it stays in tune correctly or does it get in tune and when you lock it down does it not move the strings out of tune? I mean, there was a reason they added fine tuners..
I'm going to have a luthier do mine because I'll mess it up probably if not careful and I don't have all the correct tools..
Great video and I'll check out more.. I subscribed and gave it a thumbs up of course! Very cool..
Thanks and regards from south central Indiana. USA
Tim
Great, thought out, and we’ll written comment!! Thank you. 🙏
The way I tuned, I actually got tips from Brad Gillis?! In his Hot Guitarist instructional video. 1. You have to stretch the ever living F out of the strings! 2. You have to experiment and see how much the tuning will change, once you tighten the locking nut/clamp. The strings will go sharp or won’t change at all. So you have to tune flat, the right amount so that the clamp will essentially pull the string into tune. I’m not going to lie; it’s a giant PITA! The good thing about a non fine tuning Floyd is that if you get sick of the tuning woes, a fine tuning version will drop right in. In all honesty, I won’t use a non fine-tuning Floyd. I made this guitar to sell, (it sold in a day!!) so I made it a hyper accurate replica. Love to know how your guitar turns out. Truly appreciate the support, my friend.
🤘😎🤘
@@Metalcop5150 Thank you kind sir. That makes perfect sense. I have an Ibanez with a low pro edge and I can tune it and stretch the strings out good and I've forgotten to tighten the locking nut and it still stayed in tune. I just happened to notice one day they were loose when I changed strings, so that makes perfect sense.
I will absolutely let you know when I get it installed. I'm going to try it for awhile with the gotoh steel 6 point trem and graphite nut I have now as well as staggered locking tuners. No string tree to get in the way and cause problems..
I like Floyd's with fine tuners as well. I have a Charvel with a factory Schaller Floyd and it stays in tune if you throw the guitar against the wall. It just doesn't go out of tune, but since Floyd rose reissued the non fine tuner I just love the profile and how well it works and less to go wrong. Just a cool trem.
That guitar was so cool. Glad to hear you sold it that fast. Very cool.
I would love to find one of the Fernandez guitars of his as well. I may have to make a replica of his strat some day maybe. I love his ideas. Very cool..
Thanks brother and I will keep watching your videos and brads interviews, etc.
Best regards kind sir
From the heartland..
South Central Indiana .
USA
Tim.
@@hoosierdaddy2308 I do have the parts to build another Gillis Strat. Just saying… lol
@@Metalcop5150 Hahahaa. Cool man . I will have to do the same in the future. I built that strat I was telling you about and I have an Ibanez S series from Japan. About a 94 which is one of my favs because it's so light and easy to play with that paper thing neck. I just need to get either stainless or EVO frets installed.. Then I'll put it together and love it. I love the low pro edge trem. It's just killer and probably as good as the original Floyd, but different and has the best low profile. I would like to try the low profile Floyd on a build someday. Anyway, good talking to ya man.. Keep up the good work and builds. Video the new build of you do it. It will be very interesting. ♥️🤘
@@Metalcop5150 Oh. I forgot to tell you. The strat turned out great. I ha e two EMG humbuckers. I love them because I hate being shocked and back in the day I was shocked a couple times with bad wiring in an old club where I was in a band and jamming. Passives make you the ground as you probably know when you touch the strings which makes me very very nervous and EMGs don't do that because they are internally ground. I also use a wireless system as well which works with Passives when I use a guitar with them. I like them a little better in some ways, but I also love the EMGs. An 85 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck which does blues stuff so well. Both do really and active tome controls that really do something besides just roll of treble. Plus , you can use 1600 feet of cord and won't lose treble or tone. The preamp drives the signal so good... Plus, for 80s metal ballads and hard rock and blues they sound great.
Be well sir and God speed man!!!
This bridge with locking tuners could do dive bombs and stay in tune without the “instability” of a double locking FR?
I can’t seem to find too many new videos on the non-fine tuner bridge so forgive my ignorance.
The double locking Floyd Rose is the most stable tuning trem ever! Not sure what you meant there?! Yes, the non fine-tuning Floyd, combined w/ locking tuners should perform very well; divebombs etc. I built this guitar as an exact replica of Brad Gillis’ guitar. His came w/ an early non fine-tuning Floyd AND a locking clamp at the nut. He learned tricks and techniques to get the clamp locked while the guitar was in tune and it was remarkably stable, for him. Hope this helps and answers your questions. 🤘
@@Metalcop5150 yes! Big help. I misspoke regarding the instability part. I’ve had FR for years and I know that once they are tuned they STAY in tune. I was referring to the floating bridge sometimes dropping when you replace the strings. My mistake.
@@MrHomolka The trick to changing your strings is to replace them one at a time!! Lol That sounds simple, but the trick is to take only one string off, replace it w/ the new one, tune it to pitch and then do the next and so on. That way you never ‘lose’ your setup!! There are lots of other tips and tricks out there, but for a floating bridge, this works best for me. 😉
@@Metalcop5150 thanks!
Why don't you use the hardened steel pivot screws and sleeves marketed by WD ref number 1087. They are alot thinner than those FR screws and won't have the FR knife edges start chewing them up as happens on those FR ones. Plus the tuning stability will be constant unlike those FR screws where the tuning stability will suffer as the knife edges of the FR chews them up over a period of time.
A. I am replicating Brad Gillis’ guitar, which uses the old school, wood screw style posts. Authenticity matters to me. It has to look the part and function as well as the original.
B. I have no experience with the WD product you mentioned. However, I have nearly 40 years of experience with the Floyd Rose!! I can assure you that neither the knife edges of the trem assembly, nor that of the wood screw posts will ever wear out. As in never. They will literally never wear out. They are built of hardened German tool steel and they are indestructible. I don’t know this for a fact, but I would wager that Brad’s guitar still has the original posts on it, from 1982. They’re that good.
So all in all, why would I replace the period correct posts, which are the best made knife edges posts ever made, with any other inferior product?
The Floyd Rose tuning stability is unmatched. It is the benchmark in which All other trems are judged. Units built from 1982 through to today are still perfect in their function. That is a fact.
Thanks for watching and commenting my friend, it is much appreciated. 🤘😎🤘
How many times did you watch Brad's "Star licks" video?
I've seen it once or twice!! lol
@@Metalcop5150 lol, me too. You said something in this video that reminded me of it. I think it was "tips and tricks " 😁
Awesome build sir! Can you please tell me where you obtained the body and neck for this project? Are they Fender parts or a different brand altogether. Did you paint them yourself? I love the finish on them, it looks perfect. If you did paint them, what paint did you use? I know I'm asking a lot of questions, sorry about that. You do great work. Love the tips you give on your videos. Very helpful and informative. Can't wait to see the finished project.
I purchased the body and neck off of eBay (separately). It took a lot of searching and time to find them both, but I think they were likely made with a Brad Gillis guitar in mind. You don't often see a black painted neck?! They were probably made off-shore, but who knows? Save yourself the headache and just buy this guitar!! It's almost done, I just haven't put out the final video yet. Real German Floyd Rose non fine tuning, real PJ Marx Gillis bridge humbucker and Valley Arts branded (probably Gotoh or Schaller) tuners. I had the pickguard professionally wired up by montanarocknrguitarsfatcow.com/ and it is a work of art!! Probably the nicest guitar that I've built to date.
@@Metalcop5150how much are you selling this for?
@@brandonblattnermusic4687 I’m going to be asking $799, plus shipping. This guitar is available!! Thanks for your interest.
@@Metalcop5150how can I get in contact with you privately to talk about this! Very interested
@@brandonblattnermusic4687 You can email me at jeffrylclark@yahoo.com 🤘
Wear protection gloves when using that dremel , brother!
Good advice!! Thanks for watching and commenting, my friend. 🤘😎🤘
you need a full thickness body, 1.75" and if you are going to use a non Floyd rose routed body you really want to use the wood screw type posts, because that leave the most amount of wood between the post and the humbucker route .. a genuine Floyd rose body the humbucker is further away from the bridge that way there is at least 1" of wood between the anchors and the humbucker route, any less and they tend to break out, WHY a wood screw style is the best!!! it leaves more wood there so it wont break out like they tend to do when people, or guitar makers use a 6pt bridge body fora dual fulcrum... so many builders are guilty of this fender being the most egregious . . .
seriously when you do a dual fulcrum with an anchor think about it that anchor removes 1/2" of material, on a 6pt pattern that leaves less than 1/2" of wood to hold that anchor back.. I have seen so many where the wood breaks out on one or both sides, some are very trashed, some not as much...
so fender needs to use a FLOYD rose pattern when they make a dual fulcrum body, not he FREEKIN 6 PT PATTERN! like they are guilty of still today knowing this issue exists all too well!
use a floyd rose pattern on ALL dual fulcrum set ups... that way you have at least an inch of material to hold back the two lonely posts a dual fulcrum bridge rides on.. ALSO!!! you want to use the narrow humbucker route, YES always use the ring style AND the wide style post pattern, 74mm this puts your posts halfway outside your humbucker route and a lot more wood to hold that anchor back, you never see failures on this type of pattern... just look at your pattern before you hog it out, is there any wood holding the pin anchors back? fender has done like 80mm wide humbucker routes and the anchor a mere 3/16ths inch back form the edge.. they ALL fail just from string tension alone! and some of the repairs are sad indeed, people will sell them not revealing that issue cuz you cannot see it until you remove the pick guard and the bridge, then it reveals itself, OR one takes a very very good look there is a tiny gap to look but you need to know what to look for..
lotta guys get shafted buying these failures that leave the guitar unplayable, not a huge fix if done right you just take the pieces out, celan it up, glue pieces back in place, then use a larger diameter anchor, or fill with a dowel and use the screw type . . . in any event you have to figure a lot of the tone is coming thru those anchors and posts into the body, if there is no wood in front of the anchors what happens to the vibrations? that's right, nothing, there is no wood to resonate the vibrations . . it all matters if you are looking for a tone monster . . use a floyd rose pattern with the humbucker moved toward the neck at least 3/8ths inch... integrity, give it a chance
Dude, that was a lot to read! Too much… lol
I modified a FENDER body for a Floyd, just like Brad’s guitar. I purposely moved the posts back, to leave enough wood between the posts and the pickup route. They are completely stable and I stand behind my work 100%. Also, I modified the depth I drilled, that’s all, there was no compromise. The studs were still as low as they needed to be and the Floyd was decked, VH style, w/ zero issues. This was a quality, professional installation that functioned perfectly and will stand the test of time. Not sure exactly what your point was in that manifesto? Thanks for watching and commenting anyways.