1988 Custom shop neck radius

[Dday]

I have a 1988 custom shop bolt-on, 1-5/8” nut. Anybody know the neck radius? I’m replacing the trem with an original FRose and need specific specs

[pianoguyy]

unless it was, you know, a custom order, then it would have the standard jackson radius

[Dday]

I’m assuming 16” is standard.

[Number Of The Priest]

12-16" compound is standard for Jackson and Charvel. To verify, use understring radius gauges:



If you're thinking of "getting a Floyd that is radiused for Jacksons and Charvels", this thread might be eye-opening for you: https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...-saddle-radius

Summary: Jacksons and Charvels from the factory don't even come with their Floyds properly radiused. If you want to properly radius the Floyd, you will need to shim the 1/2/5/6 saddles to flatten the radius to 20" radius... very little curvature. Read the thread linked above for the investigation and rationale.

[Dday]

12-16" compound is standard for Jackson and Charvel. To verify, use understring radius gauges:



If you're thinking of "getting a Floyd that is radiused for Jacksons and Charvels", this thread might be eye-opening for you: https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...-saddle-radius

Summary: Jacksons and Charvels from the factory don't even come with their Floyds properly radiused. If you want to properly radius the Floyd, you will need to shim the 1/2/5/6 saddles to flatten the radius to 20" radius... very little curvature. Read the thread linked above for the investigation and rationale.

Thanks!!

[CaptNasty]

Prior to 1986 Jackson and Charvel necks could have a lot of variance. Neck profiles were standardized in 1986.

As I recall from when I got them new, my ‘83 Rhoads Custom and my 1984 Soloist were advertised as having a 12-16” compound radius.

Since US made Jacksons were hand built, there will be variance from the official specs if you measure.

As for getting the Floyd. All Floyd bridges ship with a 12” radius on the bridge when unshimmed. You have to use shims to radius the bridge. (The bridge should be radiused just shy of 20” for a 25.5” scale, 12-16” radius fretboard)

With the exception of the R10 nut (which has a 15” radius), all 6 string Floyd nuts are radiused at 10”. There is not really a good solution for adjusting the radius of a Floyd nut. Some people will cut into the nut, but there are a couple of risks to doing so: you could create burrs that will break strings, if you cut the nut wrong/make a mistake the nut is ruined, you could alter the string angle and cause tuning stability issues, and/or the alteration could affect the locking function of the nut. Finally how do you accurately cut for the target radius?

The most important measurements are nut width and nut height. Floyd nuts vary a lot on their height. String spacing and E-E center width are also something to consider. Take the nut off your guitar and see if the nut specs or nut # is on the bottom of the nut.

[Number Of The Priest]

CaptNasty brought up a lot of good points.

One thing he brought up that I never considered before was radiusing the nut slots correctly! WOW! What a pain in the ass this would be. I know about action at the nut but never considered radius at the nut. Even on a normal (non-locking) nut, the slots could be perfectly radiused for one gauge of strings but then the string height (and therefore the radius) would change if you chose a different gauge of strings, because the new strings could potentially sit slightly differently (lower or higher) inside the slot. So, if you file your nut slots wider/deeper to accommodate a heavier gauge of strings with good action at the first fret, who is to say that it's going to match the target radius at the nut? And if you want to go back to a lighter gauge... well, the slots have been cut wider/deeper so the string is probably going to sit too low in the slot, practically necessitating buying and installing a new nut!

This is really getting into what Newc used to call "secrets of the universe".

[metalhobo]

CaptNasty brought up a lot of good points.

One thing he brought up that I never considered before was radiusing the nut slots correctly! WOW! What a pain in the ass this would be. I know about action at the nut but never considered radius at the nut. Even on a normal (non-locking) nut, the slots could be perfectly radiused for one gauge of strings but then the string height (and therefore the radius) would change if you chose a different gauge of strings, because the new strings could potentially sit slightly differently (lower or higher) inside the slot. So, if you file your nut slots wider/deeper to accommodate a heavier gauge of strings with good action at the first fret, who is to say that it's going to match the target radius at the nut? And if you want to go back to a lighter gauge... well, the slots have been cut wider/deeper so the string is probably going to sit too low in the slot, practically necessitating buying and installing a new nut!

This is really getting into what Newc used to call "secrets of the universe".

if you have good action at the first fret then clearly the radius of the nut is fine.

and one of the benefits of the unbastardized floyd nut is that the v-shape of the slots means that bigger strings are going to sit higher than smaller ones. the floyd nut really "just works," even with the radius mismatch.

[CaptNasty]

Yeah, the Floyd nut really is something you just have to accept. The best you can do easily and reversibly is to shim the entire nut which does nothing for the radius but is good for adjusting action.

I have thought about how to easily radius the Floyd nut. The idea that I keep coming back to would be to create an insert for the nut with the desired radius. That would not be a trivial task, especially dealing with the little Vs the strings run through.

[metalhobo]

hey look, smilies are back!


I ordered a musikraft neck for a parts build I'm doing, with a kahler bridge, and opted to go with the standard fender nut slot instead of the floyd shelf, and I'll use a behind the nut lock. I don't have a problem with guitars with floyd nuts, but in an ideal scenario I'd rather have a nut I can slot and shape to my own fancy (or the fancy of the plek machine, which I'm considering doing once it's together).

completed unrelated: why did the kahler bridge never integrate locking clamps at the tailpiece?