Floyd Rose-locking nut or locking tuners with Graphtech TUSQ nut?

[Lucas]

hi there, today I  thinking about some intriguing aspect while having a little break at work...

The technology goes further and become more advanced even on the guitar field.
Lets say, 10 years ago while hearing 'Floyd Rose' people we instantly thinking about locking nut to block the strings and prevent them from going out of tune so rapidly.

These days, is it the only option while having Floyd Rose (genuine or licensed)? Lets forget abput locking nut which might be sometimes tricky and annoying while changing the strings.

What about quality locking tuners (Sperzel for instance) and Graphtech TUSQ nut (more slippery than graphite) instead of traditional locking nut? I know there are roller nuts or something but let`s focus on above configuration.
Would it work? Is that option better and does it cause less hassle when changing the strings? Will it stay in tune during heavy abuses of the Floyd Rose?

Cheers,
Lucas

[Afghan Dave]

Dive bomb that Floyd like Dimebag and watch those strings pop out of the slots!

You didn't think that question through did ya?  :lol:

[Lucas]

Dive bomb that Floyd like Dimebag and watch those strings pop out of the slots!

You didn't think that question through did ya?  :lol:

good point, but there`re guitars set up like that (Carvin). I suppose if you dont do any crazy things on that whammy bar and use it moderately it should work.
Any further thoughts?
cheers

[Dave Sloven]

Dive bomb that Floyd like Dimebag and watch those strings pop out of the slots!

Could be entertaining, but not in a musical way

[Philly Q]

Well, the Floyd was designed to be used with a locking nut, that's why it has fine tuners on the bridge.

If you want something that's much less hassle to set up, why not go the whole hog and ditch the Floyd altogether - try something like a Hipshot, Wilkinson or Gotoh tremolo, with the locking tuners and Graph Tech nut?  They probably have a bit less dive-bombing range than a Floyd, but then you wouldn't have that problem of strings popping out of the nut.

[Lucas]

I have an old copy of Ibanez, and thinking about restoring that at some stage somewhere in the future. The tuning will be Droped D (that might cause the strings especially E popping out).
Apart from changing pickups also have to get a new neck `cause old one is in bad state (especially fretboard).
The problem is that it already has a Floyd Rose Licensed bridge which will be replaced with Graphtech one.

While changing the neck I thought that maybe I`ll avoid using locking nut and get normal neck with locking tuners and Graphtech nut.
Cannot use in that case any other bridge setup due to having FR already.

So basically it`s not a good idea having FR with locking tuners and TUSQ nut? Dive bombs are not my thing, I would rather use it normally and more 'musically'.

The other option is leaving the neck as it is and replacing fretboard with new frets. But that might be an expensive operation.

[JimmyMoorby]

Guthrie Govan has a nice signature guitar with charvel which I believe had a floyd rose without locking nuts.  Maybe you could look into that

[pagan7]

You could also consider glueing a wooden or hard rubber block inside the back of the Floyd cavity to restrict the amount of divebomb potential to say , just before the strings pop out  of the nut.

[pagan7]

To work out how thick the block or plate needs to be , just divebomb the strings to a workable level and measure the distance between the back edge of the Floyd where the springs attach , to the back of the cavity and cut and trim your block to the right width and thickness.

[Lucas]

But generally speaking it`s quite a dangerous option especially when guitar is low tuned. On the other hand, changing the strings, setting an inntonation ect will be a much easier and less hassle.

another idea is giving an extra spring making the whole whammy bar working harder and then preventing it from excessive work, especially when tuning is low (I think that would be a must with that tuning anyway).

[Philly Q]

Guthrie Govan has a nice signature guitar with charvel which I believe had a floyd rose without locking nuts.  Maybe you could look into that

I thought he was still using one of the Gotoh bridges like on his Suhr guitars, but you're right.  I saw the cover of the new issue of Guitarist and he now has a Floyd bridge like one of the very early ones, with no fine tuners, in conjunction with a normal nut and (presumably) locking tuners.