Anyone ever shim thier Floyds to get better radius match?

[halebox]

I'm wanting to learn more about this. I bought some allparts shims. I guess a floyd is 10 radius with stock shims and 12 without. I believe the schaller is the same or comes without shims? I bought a radius measure tool that hasn't arrived so I cant check. Im gonna start with my 2008 style 2 charvel that has a replaced schaller with no shims. Charvel is compound 12-16. I hear its optimum to have bridge radius larger than fretboard so I would want 18 radius? My heads gonna spin trying to figure out!

 

[NaturalBornBoy]

I've done it before.

To get a 16" bridge radius, use 2 shims each under both E saddles and 1 shim each under the A and B saddles.

For an 18" bridge radius, use 3 shims each under both E saddles and i shim each under the A and B saddles.

 

[cardinal]

Yeah I do this a lot; those shims work fine. I'm usually not focused too much on a radius but rather getting the strings a consistent height above the 12th fret or so, with the bass strings a bit higher than the treble (but I'll often tweak that by raising the bass-side post a bit).

 

[halebox]

I've done it before.

To get a 16" bridge radius, use 2 shims each under both E saddles and 1 shim each under the A and B saddles.

For an 18" bridge radius, use 3 shims each under both E saddles and i shim each under the A and B saddles.

Ill try this. for 18 its 3 under E's and 1? under a and b? or 2 under a and b?

 

[NaturalBornBoy]

I've done it before.

To get a 16" bridge radius, use 2 shims each under both E saddles and 1 shim each under the A and B saddles.

For an 18" bridge radius, use 3 shims each under both E saddles and i shim each under the A and B saddles.

Ill try this. for 18 its 3 under E's and 1? under a and b? or 2 under a and b?

For 18 it's 3 shims each under both E saddles and 1 shim each under the A and B.

 

[halebox]

And this is with the stock ADGB shim first removed?
How about 14 radius?
Just 1 shim on the E's?

 

[Dave Rocks]

I do this on all my guitars but have not done one in a while. You cannot just place random shims. You need to measure each saddle as manufacturing tolerances make them inconsistent. I had custom shims made in different thicknesses. I look for my notes later and post more detail on this.

 

[riffermadness]

Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass to get the right height using shims,just install and keep trying and checking until you get the feeling you want and no buzz,all 3 of my guitars with Floyd Roses have shims under the saddles.

 

[Dave Rocks]

Ok, here is a CAD layout I did many years ago. The layout shows the difference in height for a 14 & 16" radius.

What you do is remove the saddle, make sure they were properly installed (there are different height saddles - IIRC, 3), lay them out in proper order and do not mix up. Next, measure the string height of each with calipers and write it down. Then do some math based on this chart and determine how much you need to shim each saddle to obtain the delta from one to another with the chart values - make sense?

 

[halebox]

Wow I just tried it and huge improvement in feel and action! I put 3 under both E's and 1 under A and B for 18 inch radius for my charvel USA with aftermarket schaller floyd. Allparts shims. I'm gonna keep tweaking it. I think they must do this to the custom shops and not the USA and below models as they may came a lot closer in feel?