Definitive Fair Warning tone thread

[45auto]

gracias amigo! any suggestions?

[rockstah]

u have to constantly tune your floyd guitar? checked neck screws and the locking nut screws that hold the nut in place? try tightening the lower stringed side of the spring claw by a half a turn and loosen the higher string string claw by half a quarter turn. as well you could try going back to where your spring claw was and start by loosening the lowered stringed side and tightening the higher stringed side of the spring claw.
so you don't have fine tuners or on the floyd?

[redozzman]

gracias amigo! any suggestions?

I thought the first clips sounded great, this last clip sounds clearer not as muddy! very well done

[45auto]

well, this guitar truly is a frankenstein special. the "floyd" is an ebay special that ended up being a "single locking" system (no locks on the bridge!) i replaced the saddles, also, the nut is NOT properly installed at all. nor the bridge for that matter. i bought this beast back in like '81? in a pawn shop for $75. it had no finish. i routed the neck pocket deeper refretted it & put a spray can finish on. it's been broken in half before & glued back together. refinished again. i gave it to my wife as a souvenir. she lets me play it still!

[rockstah]

ah yes i had a guitar like this once - with not so secure studs for the bridge and nut, tuning was a huge issue. but if you like the guitar enough u deal with it.

[vanhalen5150]

The angle of that floyd nut will not keep that in tune. That way of locknuts behind a nut never worked for Kahler either. Just too much tension directional changes behind and in front of the locknut. Personally I'd remove all that floyd stuff, get a brass nut. Those ebay "Floyds" are soft metal junk. I had one like yours and it just would not stay on tune. Seems like that thing was always shifting somehow. When you remove the nut blocks do you notice how the strings cut into the metal on both sides? Real quality Floyds are hardened steel. They dont do that.
I noticed that your nut (graphite?) is also shifted toward the low E. You might want to check that to make sure its secure and not sliding back and forth a bit.

Restore that Boogie Body Buddy!

[StuntDouble]

I opted for trying locking tuners and a Kahler "behind the nut" stringlock, b/c Warmoth's vintage necks supposedly won't work with a floyd nut b/c the truss rod is too close to where you'ld need to route. I've found that my setup works pretty well for light use, but for big dives my G and B string wind up a little off every time. The nut slots are wide enough, the break angle is correct and I wipe the nut down and lube it a few times a week. The guitar sounds great so I'm gonna leave the setup pretty much the same, but I think I'm gonna try an LSR roller nut and using a wooden shim or something to raise the locking nut up a bit so there's not so much downward pressure causing excessive friction at the nut.

[45auto]

it has a brass nut.photos may not show it well. it stays in tune alot better than a fender style bridge resting on the body, but, not nearly "perfect" as a floyd can be. the one on my warmoth works flawlessly. i knew the lock beyond the nut would be a rig of sorts. if anything, it seems the fine tuners are not all that fine on this generic model. it could use a good strobe tuning for that matter, i basically set them by eye. i'm onboard with the school of thought that the VH sound can be attained a number of ways. with the 1959, split/shared the 2203, various specs, various pickups a2,a5,a8, various speakers etc. all of which seem to need to be accumulated to get that vibe. i'm just trying to get the amp into the ballpark & then i want to try some of the other guitars & see how they fare. one thing i think makes this guitar sound the way it does, is the high a$$ action. the strings really have a chance to vibrate & don't slap the frets & get shunted down so to speak. my warmoth has the realy low action & just doesn't work the same. more experiments!

thanks all

[vanhalen5150]

I opted for trying locking tuners and a Kahler "behind the nut" stringlock, b/c Warmoth's vintage necks supposedly won't work with a floyd nut b/c the truss rod is too close to where you'ld need to route. I've found that my setup works pretty well for light use, but for big dives my G and B string wind up a little off every time. The nut slots are wide enough, the break angle is correct and I wipe the nut down and lube it a few times a week. The guitar sounds great so I'm gonna leave the setup pretty much the same, but I think I'm gonna try an LSR roller nut and using a wooden shim or something to raise the locking nut up a bit so there's not so much downward pressure causing excessive friction at the nut.

I believe Stew-Mac has original R2 Floyd nuts that have a space underneath for a "bullet truss". Even the brass shims have an arch. These nuts are hardened steel. Very good. Get what you pay for in my experience with them. Only the R2 has it though. You may have to use a good chiesel to get around the rod but if you take your time it will come out well.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddl ... t_Set.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[StuntDouble]

Thanks for the tip; I'll check those out.

[plexified]

Plexified, from your Kramer days, do you have any idea whether Ed was using '59s or JBs during the FW era?

The ones hand built for his tour had Duncan 59s , one of which was a zebra . He was all over , mostly jacked all the electronics down the road and played with them all . Funny thing is the man that built the next 5150 after Eds in house science project used JB's with Poplar . You could make a case to say Ed liked the JB , he specifically wanted those in all the American Kramers , with exception to the ripley . Also to say , I like the JB , so lets get them to send my personal units with 59's .

The secret to the JB is it needs to be a quarter of an inch from the strings or more . That keeps the mids in proportion , allows killer sustain and clarity without having much more output than a real close PAF . The Poplar and maple neck combo and the JB does have such a distinctive tone to it . Alot of sizzle and sweetness .

Hey 45 , just a simple suggestion , why not turn the Floyd nut around . Put the high side towards the brass nut and ease the tension it . Ed wrapped his strings going up on the stock strat to do just that . It also pulls more on the tuners technically . But might be just enough .

Lastly don't forget Ed likes his used strings the best . How rarely do you break wound strings ? very rarely , he left those wound string on sooooooo looooooong just for that flat tone on em . Very important . He also ran with the burnished nickel wrap . Means pure nickel wound strings slightly rolled to ease finger noise and fret wear and with ALOT of hours on them .

The L 500 has a good sound but the width of the blades is too narrow for the floyds bridge width . Trembuckers solve this quite nicely . The closest pickup to it tonally is the Duncan Custom Custom . The sick harmonics is just the maple neck and the sick slap pop he gets on the board . Its only distorted enough to retain clarity . In addition Ed was manning the board , means alot .

[jnewlyn]

The angle of that floyd nut will not keep that in tune. That way of locknuts behind a nut never worked for Kahler either. Just too much tension directional changes behind and in front of the locknut. Personally I'd remove all that floyd stuff, get a brass nut. Those ebay "Floyds" are soft metal junk. I had one like yours and it just would not stay on tune. Seems like that thing was always shifting somehow. When you remove the nut blocks do you notice how the strings cut into the metal on both sides? Real quality Floyds are hardened steel. They dont do that.
I noticed that your nut (graphite?) is also shifted toward the low E. You might want to check that to make sure its secure and not sliding back and forth a bit.

Restore that Boogie Body Buddy!

It looks like he changed the junkier pot metal saddles for the hardened steel originals. I agree that the locking nut behind the brass nut isn't at all the most efficient way to do things (especially for tuning reasons) but I'm also of the belief that it is that hardened steel (originals of course) that make those damn things so steely and bright sounding. But my original Fender bridge is also steel, but perhaps softer? Not hardened? Maybe the hardened steel of the locking nut makes that much difference. Does Floyd make a brass locking nut? I dunno. It's 3:20 a.m. and I'm punchy.

[fivecoyote]

Well, looks like this thread never got close to definitive. Only hard info we have is a Strat/flanger on HAIL. The Eventide was used here and there, possibly everywhere but not to my ears. Assume the Frankie, no Floyd based on Bill's old magazine articles (if Ed wasn't fibbing). Possible F-ing around with Variac settings.

So we are left with:

Frankie, "old" PAF(s), Fender bridge
Signal chain? (anyone recall any Phase 90 on this album? Can't hear any in my head right now)
Various Marshalls with various Variac settings? More Super Bass than SL?
Greenback cab(s) (assumed)

In short, not a whole lot different -- unless there are some old mag articles or other old info floating around out there.

[tonepilgrim]

Phase 90 on the mean street breakdown. Also the bridge before the final chorus on unchained.

[Krinkle]

Phase 90 also on the "heel/palm scratches" (first one at 1:01) on some of the C chords in Dirty Movies.