Hello all. First post but I've been playing and doing maintenance on my own guitars for 40 years and I am having an issue that I cannot quite figure out. Here is the scenario.
I have a Washburn Nuno Bettencourt N24 that I bought new back in May. It is not top of the line but I didn't have the dinero for the full N4 experience. Even though this guitar lists at @$1099 it still comes with a Floyd Rose Special. I always planned on upgrading it eventually. But about a month ago, the high E string slipped from the saddle while I was playing. I decided it was time to do something.
I have a brand new old stock Schaller Floyd Rose from the 90s sitting around. It's the one with the zinc alloy base and replaceable knife edge. I do not love that. It does however have hardened steel saddles just like a real floyd rose. I read that the base on the FR Special is also hardened steel but the saddles are zinc alloy. So, you can probably see where I am going.
I swapped the real hardened steel saddles for the zinc alloys...so I have a FR special baseplate with hardened steel saddles. I placed the saddles in the exact same position as the ones that removed....to the best of my ability. It should have been really close. I didn't set the intonation initially and when I played....you could tell. I ultimately had to set the intonation manually, and I was a little surprised at how far I had to slide some of the saddles forward to get it intonated. It seemed odd since the string gauge hasn't changed. I will say that the saddles from the Schaller seemed as though the area where the string rests across sit a little lower....not the body of the saddle but just where the string sits....like the mold it was made from was just a little different. I am not talking about the different sized saddles for matching the radius here. I'm just talking about the shape.
Well not there are 2 things I am experiencing that feel odd. First, the strings feel was more "loose" than on the FR Special that came with the guitar. It almost has a Les Paul feel like the scale length is shorter. I did move the saddles forward to intonate it but that doesn't seem like it could do that. So it plays really nice but I almost feel like the strings feel too "rubbery" when bending. Any thoughts?
The second thing is that it just seems like as I play the guitar for a few minutes, the tuning seems to drift. I tuned it to a Peterson Strobe tuner, then play some blues patterns around E, A, B and sometimes when I go back to the E something sounds off a little. I check the tuning and sure enough either the E or the A string seem to be a tad sharp or flat. I quickly adjust, and play some more and the same thing happens, often reversing the previous one....meaning if I had been sharp, and flattened it to pitch, the next time it goes flat. It's driving me nuts as it did not do this prior to changing the saddles. It of course does this if I beat on the whammy bar and do a few dives....not everytime but sometimes. I checked to make sure the locking nut is nice and tight, and it is. I also checked the saddles and they are in place. The FR is not setup for floating, I have a trem-stopper in the back that keeps the bridge stable.
I also have a Charvel Pro mod with FR1000 and it had never had issues like this. Again, this seems to have started when I change the saddles. These NOS saddles are for sure hardened steel as I tested them with a magnet. However, I cannot be 100% sure that they are exact replacements since they are from a "licensed" Schaller from the 90s. I mean, upon visual inspection they are almost identical except the spot where the string lays across the saddle....like I said, it seems just a little higher on the FR special than on the Schaller. I had to raise the bridge a little to compensate, and yes, I loosened the strings before turn the post to avoid tension on the knife edge.
Thanks for sticking around for my novel! What I first post. I appreciate any thoughts.
I have a Washburn Nuno Bettencourt N24 that I bought new back in May. It is not top of the line but I didn't have the dinero for the full N4 experience. Even though this guitar lists at @$1099 it still comes with a Floyd Rose Special. I always planned on upgrading it eventually. But about a month ago, the high E string slipped from the saddle while I was playing. I decided it was time to do something.
I have a brand new old stock Schaller Floyd Rose from the 90s sitting around. It's the one with the zinc alloy base and replaceable knife edge. I do not love that. It does however have hardened steel saddles just like a real floyd rose. I read that the base on the FR Special is also hardened steel but the saddles are zinc alloy. So, you can probably see where I am going.
I swapped the real hardened steel saddles for the zinc alloys...so I have a FR special baseplate with hardened steel saddles. I placed the saddles in the exact same position as the ones that removed....to the best of my ability. It should have been really close. I didn't set the intonation initially and when I played....you could tell. I ultimately had to set the intonation manually, and I was a little surprised at how far I had to slide some of the saddles forward to get it intonated. It seemed odd since the string gauge hasn't changed. I will say that the saddles from the Schaller seemed as though the area where the string rests across sit a little lower....not the body of the saddle but just where the string sits....like the mold it was made from was just a little different. I am not talking about the different sized saddles for matching the radius here. I'm just talking about the shape.
Well not there are 2 things I am experiencing that feel odd. First, the strings feel was more "loose" than on the FR Special that came with the guitar. It almost has a Les Paul feel like the scale length is shorter. I did move the saddles forward to intonate it but that doesn't seem like it could do that. So it plays really nice but I almost feel like the strings feel too "rubbery" when bending. Any thoughts?
The second thing is that it just seems like as I play the guitar for a few minutes, the tuning seems to drift. I tuned it to a Peterson Strobe tuner, then play some blues patterns around E, A, B and sometimes when I go back to the E something sounds off a little. I check the tuning and sure enough either the E or the A string seem to be a tad sharp or flat. I quickly adjust, and play some more and the same thing happens, often reversing the previous one....meaning if I had been sharp, and flattened it to pitch, the next time it goes flat. It's driving me nuts as it did not do this prior to changing the saddles. It of course does this if I beat on the whammy bar and do a few dives....not everytime but sometimes. I checked to make sure the locking nut is nice and tight, and it is. I also checked the saddles and they are in place. The FR is not setup for floating, I have a trem-stopper in the back that keeps the bridge stable.
I also have a Charvel Pro mod with FR1000 and it had never had issues like this. Again, this seems to have started when I change the saddles. These NOS saddles are for sure hardened steel as I tested them with a magnet. However, I cannot be 100% sure that they are exact replacements since they are from a "licensed" Schaller from the 90s. I mean, upon visual inspection they are almost identical except the spot where the string lays across the saddle....like I said, it seems just a little higher on the FR special than on the Schaller. I had to raise the bridge a little to compensate, and yes, I loosened the strings before turn the post to avoid tension on the knife edge.
Thanks for sticking around for my novel! What I first post. I appreciate any thoughts.
