Installing a Floyd Rose
on a Fender Stratocaster

This Fender Stratocaster looks fairly new, made in the USA.
It's a very nice Strat, but the owner likes to use the whammy
bar a lot... Keeping that in tune with an original Fender Trem
can be very difficult. After trying a Floyd on his friend's guitar,
he was convinced this was for him. Enter 13th Street for the install



Here is how it sat stock. Standard Fender Tremolo and pickguard.



Standard Strat nut/headstock



Pickguard removed. It's business time.



Just routing a little wood away... want to be sure this thing can
pull up a couple steps with the whammy bar.



Hey, that thing drops right in there! Lets get to doweling
those holes, drilling the new anchors, and cleaning things up.



One Floyd Rose Locking Nut
Still need to take it down a little to keep the action tight



Pickguard cut to fit. Anchors drilled and bridge mounted.
Things are really starting to come together now.



How 'bout some strings and a bar?



Locking nut, string retainer
we'll leave that old string tree on just to fill the holes.



That's a fine looking bridge you have there.



And here's the finished product hanging on the rack.
It looks, sounds, and plays fantastic.

A few notes about this install:
This job is time consuming and difficult. Many people find its cheaper to buy a guitar equipped with a Floyd Rose rather than have one installed on their existing guitar.

When replacing a bridge, you have to keep in mind the neck radius of the guitar you're installing it on. This bridge required shimming to correct for the Strat's 9.5" radius. Another option is to re-radius and refret the neck, or replace the neck with one that has the proper radius.

You should also be aware that the quality of Floyd Rose copies out there varies greatly. I've always had great luck with the Original Floyd Rose, but they are not cheap. In my experience, the cheaper it is, the worse it is.
If it cost less than $150 new, I'd be worried.
The cast metal base plates used on many of the cheap copies make it easy to strip screws out. Also the contact points at the anchor studs need to be very sharp and sturdy. This is partly why the Original Floyd has such good tuning stability. If these points are cast and weak, they will degrade quickly over time. Some bridges have steel inserts at these pressure points, alleviating any issues.