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Dear Members, the full width Floyd bars mounted behind the locking nut are to maintain tuning stability between initial coarse tuning with the nut unlocked and then locked up - but, I would be hesitant to use it on the wound strings on a strat type instrument as they would likely hang up a bit for sting s benders. Having said that I have made one out of a Graphtech jumbo nut blank for a customer who had a nasty configuration (absolutely no break angle on a home made unit).

I like the Graphtech T shaped string retainers because they are stable and adjustable (by sanding) for the optimum string break angle (they come in pairs) and they are very slippery and don't rust up like the nasty butterfly F types. How they look is a matter of taste but they are my choice for high performance instruments that need string trees. Locking Sperzels are the best commercial tuners for helping establish a good break angle and on the customs we often machine out a millimeter or so circular rebate to sink the washer, barrel and turret down a bit (you need control over your peghead thickness to pull this off successfully) and improve the break angle. Anyone who has hung around Les Pauls for any length of time will note the difference in break angles between the vintage turret height and the taller 'post' aftermarket Grovers/Shallers - the taller tuner turrets definitely need a few more wraps to get the string breaking over the nut in a useful manner. Break angle is, in my observations, critical to getting tone out of these critters as well as getting a good hard attack. Some Strats feel spongy (and some people like that) because the strings are just resting on the nut, sitaring away and loosing energy. They also set up some vibrations behind the nut which you can hear (especially when recording as this resonance is mostly not harmonically related to what you were doing on the board)......you often see Gretch owners and recording guys wrapping a bit of tape around the strings that are south and north of the nut and bridge - strats - you can use a furry hairband (scrunchy) to kill the noise. Thats all I know at this hour. Regards, Tex

Gooday members,
I'm pleased to have a little time to join back into this enlightened forum....
Another issue with sitaring strats which is related to break angle is the contour of the bottom of the nut slots - if the nut slot bottom is cut flat , ie; parallel to the fingerboard and does not drop away towards the tuner posts or string trees the string will sit on 1/8" of flat nut slot bottom - this is similar to the string sitting on top of a flat jumbo fret - poor intonation and sitaring as the string buzzes in the nut slot (made even worse if there is some width or wear in the slot width).

The intonation issue with nut slots is important - if the nut slot is cut low towards the fingerboard side the string will bear on the edge of the nut closest to the head stock throwing your intonation out by 1/8" - which is a hefty amount if you have ever adjusted your own intonation at the bridge saddles - sometimes you can see where your string is bearing by examining the bottom of the nut slot with a magnifying device - generally where the nut is shiny against the accumulated grime is where it is resting.

Alternatively, you can go to a slightly unattractive black slippery Graphtech nut (I don't have shares in this company, they just happen to have a lot of products which solve a lot of problems) which beds itself in after the string have been up and down the slots a few times. They lose a little tone I think but it sure beats the hell out of playing out of tune or buzzing away.
For those who wish to pursue the finer points of nut making and a whole bunch of other interesting stuff for professionals and serious amatuers try www.frets.com and follow the links (the main one for us is "articles for luthiers") which has an excellent article on nut making and 'buzz' eliminations. I rate Frank Ford who runs Frets.com very highly. Rusty (Tex)