Coyote's Build

[Coyote]

Yeah, he's very prompt, always a good thing.
I had a lengthy email conversation with him today too (told him you were a bro, and he said "Yeah, he ordered today!") about widening their recessed Floyd cavity's block rout to better accommodate FU Big-Blocks, too. I mean, it's not i like they don't, but it could be improved a smidge. I've already sent him a pic of the cavity on my Warmoth body - I want to get the body I got from him modded similarly to allow a bit more range on the trem, as well as any future one I may purchase from him, so I'm probably going to end up sending him that body along with a Big-Blocked Floyd, or if he's as close as I think he is (haven't Mapquested it yet) I may just pay him a visit. I told him you might be using a Big-Block on that one too, but even if you don't I think it'd be a good idea for his "standard" recessed Floyd rout to be able to incorporate room for Big-Blocks as they seem to be catching on...

You gonna use a Big-Block on this next one too? If so I might send mine to him sooner rather than later, so yours could be all pre-dialed for one too... Let me know, and if you do either you or I could shoot him an email to delay shipping yours for a sec if you want that done.

Whaddaya mean I "might" be using a Big Block? I'm going Titanium for this one...

And, yeah, it's an excellent idea.

Which also reminds me: Did you have enough room for the block to allow upwards play in your Musikraft body?

It's seemingly a fairly minor alteration - but that tiny extra bit of wiggle-room equals about another whole-step in range...

I think I have room for almost a minor third on the G-string... but that's due to the bridge setup itself, not the block cavity.

What I find interesting is that my Warmoth body from '96 has more than enough room for the Big Blocks that didn't exist back then (think Performance was already making their version but theirs is shaped differently)...it's like they had a premonition...lol OR since they're an offshoot of the whole original Boogie Bodies/Charvel thing from the 70s-80s when they devised their recessed rout they used one of the bridges from when Floyd was still making them in his garage, and they HAD larger blocks...who knows, but they got that right the first try!

Didn't the first Floyds originally come equipped with brass blocks?

[jhale667]

Yeah, missed the Titanium bit in your spec post at first glance. You will love it. All the best qualities of the Brass, but with this liquid sustain vibe all it's own. I love them. And yeah, the original homemade Floyds came with bigger brass blocks, it wasn't until the Kramer years and Schaller began mass-producing them that they went with the shit block as a cost-cutting measure I'm told. That's why I think that's how old Warmoth's recessed rout is, or that's what they based it on....

Cool, so do you want to email Mitch and tell him to hold off on shipping yours, and I'll get with him & schedule a FedEx pickup for mine to ship to him this week?

[jhale667]

Hooked a brotha up!

Update: Mitch was in the office today, so we (also he and Coyote) spoke via email, and here's what we're gonna do: I'm sending him the body (still unfinished luckily, as it's the only way to still do CNC work on it) with the guide-area penciled in (using my old-school Warmoth body as a reference), and my (momentarily) spare Big-Blocked Floyd, and he's going to make the modification to mine, which will then produce the template to do yours, and possibly as an option to future KnE bodies for those using Floyd Upgrades bridges. Pretty cool, huh?

Now I wanna make sure Boogie Bodies offers the same option too...IMO every guitar body sold should comfortably fit an FU block w/o modification.


And like I said, Warmoth had it right in the 90s, wtf is everybody else's problem? I KEED! I make joke!

I mean, help me help you, guitar-people!!

[Hardrock69]

Right on dude. Help dem guitar-meisters!

[jhale667]

Gotta give back, right? Coyote's a bro, and helps him and me out...plus Mitch gets too hook up future FU customers using his bodies. WIN.

As Bill Hicks once said, "I'm like Johnny Appleseed with ideas...all I can do is...toss 'em out...and hope they take root..." Hey, in this case they did!

[jhale667]

I totally laugh at the trolls that bagged on FU blocks here back in the day...

OK, here we go...started penciling in the guideline for Mitch to rout the extra space in the recess cavity...not the greatest pic (or line drawing yet), but you get the idea:



Again, basing it off the Warmoth, will measure it up and make it pretty once I have the bridge off and the springs out, but basically a tiny bit of wood needs to come off of the ledge behind where the springs mount. and around the block's outsides too - but from behind, about to the tip of the spring coils themselves; and before anyone says it, I know from personal experience via the Warmoth- it's not enough wood lost to make a difference tonally especially not with a Big-Block stuck in there over-compensating for it...

Fortunately I have some cool 3 and 5mm art/drafting mechanical pencils I've held onto since I was a kid that made it pretty easy to get in the cavity while everything's still mounted up to score the basic lines for it, would've been a bitch with a No. 2 pencil...

Also talked to Adam at FU who's totally down to help, and sent me - to send to Mitch from KnE - a spec .pdf to aid w/ the CNC in addition to going off the pencil lines and a bridge in hand... this worked out pretty cool for all involved!

Coyote and I - get exactly what we wanted as far as how our Big-Blocked Floyds fit and feel, and what with the recess they're capable of (in my case at least, exactly what my Warmoth can do - fully slack to 2 1/2 steps up at LEAST!). Mitch (and like I said hopefully Scotti too!) gets to provide a valuable service to anyone else in the growing number of freaks that use FU bridges and blocks once Coyote's and mine are done, and Adam gets to rest assured knowing another manufacturer on the other side of the country is interested, by popular request, to make sure his blocks fit their bodies out of the box. That fucking RULES!

[Coyote]

Bitchin'! I can't wait to get my hands on this...

[adena dodds]

It sounds alot like Judas Priest.....I like taking a ride on Heavy Metal every now and then to get the lead out.....pretty cool.

[jhale667]

Getting it done over here...final stages of markings...

Bitchin'! I can't wait to get my hands on this...

OK, check this out: finished outlining it as best I could with the Floyd still installed, then I finally broke down and disassembled this thing and have nearly finished marking the cavity. Without also taking my Warmoth apart I can tell the rout stops before it gets to the shelf underneath the bridge studs...


Here's my rough guide, Top:



And Back:



Needless to say I'm going to have to fill and re-drill those two little screw-holes that held in the trem-stopper...

[Coyote]

Looks good.

[jhale667]

Fun stuff.

Looks good.

Glad you approve. Plus I'm noticing there wasn't much room to get in underneath to adjust the bar tension (especially if you, like me, were using a vintage Floyd) so I'm going to suggest the same room the Warmoth cavity provides there too. I'm hoping my markings make sense to Mitch, but I think they will (and them looking good to you is already a good sign). Plus this will take it from being a "it fits OK" with a Big-Block recess to a "everything a recessed Floyd is supposed to do" cavity...

I'm going to stop working on it for the night, but the outline is pretty much done, it's completely disassembled and ready to ship - I just want to ask Mitch if he needs a full bridge with saddles to do this, or my spare baseplate with the same size (37mm) Brass Big-Block will do (so I can try the Ti block on my other Strat...lol!)

I've noticed the Warmoth's bass-string block-side rout extends all the way back to the ledge for the string clamps on the face of the body...this is a really interesting rout - but I think KnEs and Boogie Bodies should have 'em too, so this is awesome! Stoked to be doing this, thanks Coyote for the reason to get motivated to do this.

[Coyote]

Glad you approve. Plus I'm noticing there wasn't much room to get in underneath to adjust the bar tension (especially if you, like me, were using a vintage Floyd) so I'm going to suggest the same room the Warmoth cavity provides there too. I'm hoping my markings make sense to Mitch, but I think they will (and them looking good to you is already a good sign). Plus this will take it from being a "it fits OK" with a Big-Block recess to a "everything a recessed Floyd is supposed to do" cavity...

Define "vintage"... OFR?

I'm going to stop working on it for the night, but the outline is pretty much done, it's completely disassembled and ready to ship - I just want to ask Mitch if he needs a full bridge with saddles to do this, or my spare baseplate with the same size (37mm) Brass Big-Block will do (so I can try the Ti block on my other Strat...lol!)

I've noticed the Warmoth's bass-string block-side rout extends all the way back to the ledge for the string clamps on the face of the body...this is a really interesting rout - but I think KnEs and Boogie Bodies should have 'em too, so this is awesome! Stoked to be doing this, thanks Coyote for the reason to get motivated to do this.

You're welcome. And thank you for the initial "kick" to build one in the first place.

[jhale667]

Yeah, guess I should've cleared that up...

Define "vintage"... OFR?

In that instance I'm talking more about the old-school bar assembly, not the collared top-mounted screw-off type. THAT's the type on the base plate I'm going to send him - speaking of which, I heard from Mitch about 4:30AM PST as I was about to get in the shower for work, he's OK with just using my spare big-blocked base-plate to assure proper fit, so the one I'll send him has the older type bar assembly. It just means anyone using ANY era OFR will be dialed. Just trying to cover ALL the bases...

You're welcome. And thank you for the initial "kick" to build one in the first place.

You're also welcome. I guess (unknown to me) there was a reason I'd procrastinated so long about painting MY KnE once I'd realized the cavity needed a slight widening - it was supposed to be used as the template for not just the augmented rout on mine, but yours, and for everyone else too!

[jhale667]

Feel like I'm hijacking Coyote's thread, but this is all stuff for HIS guitar too...!

Alright, she's boxed up and ready to ship to Mitch, Coyote... Wrote up a detailed description/suggestion sheet with measurements (which I asked him to double-check) looks like the shelf in the back of the trem cavity that retains the normal appearance is 1/4" and it looks like 1/8" needs to come out from behind the block and within the block sides area, and THAT section wouldn't go so far up as to meet the bottom of the shelf on the top of the recess cavity where the studs mount; it's JUST enough room to allow the block to fit comfortably and increase the travel range as we discussed. Mitch is probably going to look at it (with albeit my sort of long description) and go "Easy!" Harder to describe than it actually is -or will be- in execution it seems.




But NOW I'm excited to get this off to him so it can get done, and in turn yours, then I can get mine back, painted and re-assembled confident it will do anything my Koa Strat can!

[Coyote]

The floyd and the upgrades (Ti block, stainless bits, etc) have arrived...

While waiting for the rest, I installed a brass claw in "Wifey".
Personally, I didn't really notice a major difference in tone... but what I DID notice was hot brass gets when soldering the ground...