Never Enough: The Custom Floyd Rose Dilemma

Let's get this out of the way: throughout most of this process I've stalled on the decision to order the body with the recessed pocket for a fully-floating Floyd Rose bridge setup, or an angled pocket for a top-mounted dive-only setup.  Then I tested out the Eddie Van Halen D-Tuna in conjunction with the Tremol-No in a best-of-both-worlds scenario, and neither piece could perform as I would have needed it to.  The question remained left open—which bridge setup to choose?  Full float means notes can be raised as well as lowered, but the maintenance on it can be a royal pain in the arse as the spring tension has to be balanced with the string tension.  The angled-pocket top-mount style only allows for notes to be lowered, BUT there's far less maintenance required so long as there's enough tension in the springs to pull the bridge against the body.  I should also note here that dropping from a low E to D would be much easier as [hypothetically] I'd only need to unlock the nut and detune from the peg.

Google image search: the angled pocket rout results in the bridge resting on the top of the body.

This has turned out to be the single most headache-inducing detail of the design phase of the build.  [Notice how I said design phase; I have yet to actually assemble this thing!]  After much thought and deliberation, I have decided that I will be going with the recessed pocket for full-float capability.  I've had over four years of practice playing and working on Floyd Rose bridges on two Jackson guitars I've owned, and I love the stability they offer.  Also, as far as using vibrato goes, I tend toward a balanced approach by lightly lowering and raising around the note or chord I'm playing; not simply by pulling down on the trem arm.  Implementing this capability along with the Sustainiac's infinite feedback function just feels like the right thing to do.

Google image search: This is actually not very off from what I'm going for, except, of course, the maple neck, black hardware, dual humbuckers, and two knobs that I want.

Let's move on.

So I found out by mistake, sort of, that the Floyd Rose website offers upgrades and replacement parts for existing bridges, and even has a custom-order form for building a bridge from the ground up.  The most common upgrade is the tone block.  It's the center of mass upon which the sustaining action of plucking a guitar string happens.  I have to admit, I've ignored this key fact for as long as I've had Floyd-equipped guitars and therefore never thought to try anything different.  The site offers tone blocks made out of materials like brass, tungsten, stone, and titanium, each with different resonant properties.  I am FASCINATED with the new possibilities here.

Google image search: brass sustain block upgrade shown on the underside of the bridge.  This will be entirely hidden when it's installed in the guitar.  Also, for some reason this photo reminds me of spiders.  A lot.

Just for kicks, I decided to run through the custom order form on the site to see what I could come up with, and...  The cost ran up over $400 for what I felt was a modest bridge setup with an R3 nut.  Surprisingly, their stone sustain block is one of the most expensive available.  The "original" Floyd Rose bridge runs for $215-240 on Musician's Friend.  I could still go way over the top and order titanium for the base plate ($450), saddle set ($411), locking nut ($305), etc.  Can you say, CHA-CHING!!!

There could be some real performance differences by upgrading each of these individual components, but there's an element of restraint pressing in on my brain.  Will it make that much of a difference, really?  Just how much will it take before I'm satisfied with the result?  The quest for tone is a stalwart one, and wrought with much fear over never quite being able to reach that golden sound that's in our ears, and loss of gold [money] chasing after it.  After being lost in the fog for a while, though, we need to be reeled back in by Zappa's tender maxim, SHUT UP 'N PLAY YER GUITAR.  Turn up an amp to volume eleven, put a foot up on the monitor, and hit that power chord as hard as you can.  Because no one but you, and maybe your one or two guitar nerd buddies, can tell the tonal difference between a $500 guitar and a $5,000 guitar.

I'm now ready to order the body of Big Riff, but it's sort of a chicken-and-egg scenario.  Warmoth will install the studs for the Floyd Rose if I send them over with my order.  I'd rather order the body first, since it's the next most expensive part of the build, but it looks like I need to figure out how I'll purchase the Floyd bridge before I do anything else.

There's a lot of rad stuff going on, particularly with full-time school being completely covered financially, but man, I've got some major feels these days.