anderson review/rant

[Gainiac]

I am done with the Pebble Beach concours fancy smancy blue ribbon beauty contests, lets see how it has held up over 5-10 yers of abuse.

See... its this type of attitude that just pisses me off. To me, a guitar is like a beautiful piece of furniture to be set out as part of my living room's design. I'm looking to impress visitors to my home with the concept of music/guitar - not to actually play the damn thing. There is no greater feeling on this earth than when an envious visitor declares, "MY GOD! The spalted maple top on that thing complements the lines of that Indian drum coffee table superbly!". To me, THAT is what its all about...

Steve

I cant WAIT to get to YOUR place!!! must be purty......

 

[eddyrox]

and I just don't understand on a guitar that's this nice, with the fretwork and attention to detail, how they could fit a floyd nut on it that doesn't go to the edges of the fingerboard (there's about 1/16" inch on either side) and the back of the nut has an 'overhang' where there is no wood - about 1/4 - 1/3rd of the nut just hangs over a shelf. Also, the floyd nut is attached by drilling two big holes in the back of the neck. This is where I saw several 80s guitars crack the headstock if they took a fall just right...

Pete, PM me for more info, but tom only uses R2 nuts on all Floyd guitars. The rationale is that the strings line up better with the tuners/headstock. there is no impact on tone or performance. all TAG's since the 90's have this R2 nut at 11/16 or 5/8.
mike

 

[Anonymous]

I am done with the Pebble Beach concours fancy smancy blue ribbon beauty contests, lets see how it has held up over 5-10 yers of abuse.

See... its this type of attitude that just pisses me off. To me, a guitar is like a beautiful piece of furniture to be set out as part of my living room's design. I'm looking to impress visitors to my home with the concept of music/guitar - not to actually play the damn thing. There is no greater feeling on this earth than when an envious visitor declares, "MY GOD! The spalted maple top on that thing complements the lines of that Indian drum coffee table superbly!". To me, THAT is what its all about...

Steve

I cant WAIT to get to YOUR place!!! must be purty......

Unquestionably! We shall sip a fine Bordeaux while admiring its finery... please... step inside...

Steve

 

[stratotone]

I am waiting for the forum admin to let me into the anderson board - they have to manually let you in after you do the email confirmation.

I love the guitar and it's not going anywhere... and yeah, it smokes my 3 Charvies... but I figured at that price point they would have a neck shape that fit the floyd properly from front to back without that giant gap. I can buy the use a different slightly narrower nut a lot more than I can the fact that they can't do a neck specifically for a floyd platform on a $4k guitar.

Pete

 

[ratter]

Pete, my EBMM EVH nut sits exactly like that (overhang), but it's a 1 5/8 neck, so there's no gap on the sides. Oh, and I have 3 shims under the nut!!

I think somebody hit the nail on the head in terms of them just choosing not to redesign the neck to accomodate the floyd nut. That would be my guess. I can sort of understand that, especially since I'm not convinced the overhang would make any difference in terms of tone or performance.

As for the shim, if none of the Charvels are shimmed, is it because they don't need them or because the QC on the way out the door isn't tight enough to really care? The presence of the shim on the Anderson, to me, says that somebody went the extra step to get the setup as perfect as possible. Think of the floyd nut as a precut, preslotted plastic nut blank you'd get from MF. Would you trust a factory that slapped the precut, preslotted nut on every neck and sent it out the door? Sure you get lucky sometimes and the fit is great right out of the gate, but if the Floyd nut is a hair too low, you either live with it, shim it, or cut a new neck. Shimming it seems the right choice to me.

I just have a hard time buying the "lack of attention to detail" argument that some have posted. Guys like Anderson, Suhr, etc. - I would bet the details pretty much consume their lives...

I will say though that the gap on the sides would probably bug the shit out of me. Especially considering that if somebody is looking for a 1 11/16th floyded guitar, they might be expecting that string spacing at the nut and a 1 5/8th nut might not be an improvement to them...but it's obviously a conscious choice he made.

I know we disagree about many things, but cmon, man, just from one crappy pic from one view you can see there is so much wrong there at all the sides. Are you saying that you think it's OK for a guitar of this caliber?

We disagree a lot because you make posts like this.

Instead of just saying "there is so much wrong there" how about being a little more specific? The ONLY things "wrong" there are the entire point of this thread and what everybody is talking about. So yeah I can see what is "wrong" there. I can also understand TAG's reasoning behind everything "wrong" and whether or not I agree with it (the mismatched nut, I don't agree with), those are the choices he makes and those are the choices a buyer chooses to live with.

And yeah, when I say something would "bug the shit out of me", that means I'm OK with it.

 

[Anonymous]

Pete, my EBMM EVH nut sits exactly like that (overhang), but it's a 1 5/8 neck, so there's no gap on the sides. Oh, and I have 3 shims under the nut!!

I think somebody hit the nail on the head in terms of them just choosing not to redesign the neck to accomodate the floyd nut. That would be my guess. I can sort of understand that, especially since I'm not convinced the overhang would make any difference in terms of tone or performance.

As for the shim, if none of the Charvels are shimmed, is it because they don't need them or because the QC on the way out the door isn't tight enough to really care? The presence of the shim on the Anderson, to me, says that somebody went the extra step to get the setup as perfect as possible. Think of the floyd nut as a precut, preslotted plastic nut blank you'd get from MF. Would you trust a factory that slapped the precut, preslotted nut on every neck and sent it out the door? Sure you get lucky sometimes and the fit is great right out of the gate, but if the Floyd nut is a hair too low, you either live with it, shim it, or cut a new neck. Shimming it seems the right choice to me.

I just have a hard time buying the "lack of attention to detail" argument that some have posted. Guys like Anderson, Suhr, etc. - I would bet the details pretty much consume their lives...

I will say though that the gap on the sides would probably bug the shit out of me. Especially considering that if somebody is looking for a 1 11/16th floyded guitar, they might be expecting that string spacing at the nut and a 1 5/8th nut might not be an improvement to them...but it's obviously a conscious choice he made.

I know we disagree about many things, but cmon, man, just from one crappy pic from one view you can see there is so much wrong there at all the sides. Are you saying that you think it's OK for a guitar of this caliber?

We disagree a lot because you make posts like this.

Instead of just saying "there is so much wrong there" how about being a little more specific? The ONLY things "wrong" there are the entire point of this thread and what everybody is talking about. So yeah I can see what is "wrong" there. I can also understand TAG's reasoning behind everything "wrong" and whether or not I agree with it (the mismatched nut, I don't agree with), those are the choices he makes and those are the choices a buyer chooses to live with.

And yeah, when I say something would "bug the shit out of me", that means I'm OK with it.

You guys need to stop worrying about this minutiae and concentrating more on how your guitar's 5A exotic woods complement your decor.

Steve

 

[ejecta]

Pete, my EBMM EVH nut sits exactly like that (overhang), but it's a 1 5/8 neck, so there's no gap on the sides. Oh, and I have 3 shims under the nut!!

I think somebody hit the nail on the head in terms of them just choosing not to redesign the neck to accomodate the floyd nut. That would be my guess. I can sort of understand that, especially since I'm not convinced the overhang would make any difference in terms of tone or performance.

As for the shim, if none of the Charvels are shimmed, is it because they don't need them or because the QC on the way out the door isn't tight enough to really care? The presence of the shim on the Anderson, to me, says that somebody went the extra step to get the setup as perfect as possible. Think of the floyd nut as a precut, preslotted plastic nut blank you'd get from MF. Would you trust a factory that slapped the precut, preslotted nut on every neck and sent it out the door? Sure you get lucky sometimes and the fit is great right out of the gate, but if the Floyd nut is a hair too low, you either live with it, shim it, or cut a new neck. Shimming it seems the right choice to me.

I just have a hard time buying the "lack of attention to detail" argument that some have posted. Guys like Anderson, Suhr, etc. - I would bet the details pretty much consume their lives...

I will say though that the gap on the sides would probably bug the shit out of me. Especially considering that if somebody is looking for a 1 11/16th floyded guitar, they might be expecting that string spacing at the nut and a 1 5/8th nut might not be an improvement to them...but it's obviously a conscious choice he made.

I know we disagree about many things, but cmon, man, just from one crappy pic from one view you can see there is so much wrong there at all the sides. Are you saying that you think it's OK for a guitar of this caliber?

We disagree a lot because you make posts like this.

Instead of just saying "there is so much wrong there" how about being a little more specific? The ONLY things "wrong" there are the entire point of this thread and what everybody is talking about. So yeah I can see what is "wrong" there. I can also understand TAG's reasoning behind everything "wrong" and whether or not I agree with it (the mismatched nut, I don't agree with), those are the choices he makes and those are the choices a buyer chooses to live with.

And yeah, when I say something would "bug the shit out of me", that means I'm OK with it.

You guys need to stop worrying about this minutiae and concentrating more on how your guitar's 5A exotic woods complement your decor.

Steve

 

[ratter]

You guys need to stop worrying about this minutiae and concentrating more on how your guitar's 5A exotic woods complement your decor.

Steve

I've got a 2 and a 4 year old. If I wanted my guitars to complement my decor they would need to be made of crayons, apple juice, and poop.

 

[Gainfreak]

You guys need to stop worrying about this minutiae and concentrating more on how your guitar's 5A exotic woods complement your decor.

Steve

I've got a 2 and a 4 year old. If I wanted my guitars to complement my decor they would need to be made of crayons, apple juice, and poop.

Well you pretty much described the paint job on the Tylers

 

[* velcro-fly *]

I am waiting for the forum admin to let me into the anderson board - they have to manually let you in after you do the email confirmation.

I love the guitar and it's not going anywhere... and yeah, it smokes my 3 Charvies... but I figured at that price point they would have a neck shape that fit the floyd properly from front to back without that giant gap. I can buy the use a different slightly narrower nut a lot more than I can the fact that they can't do a neck specifically for a floyd platform on a $4k guitar.

Pete

I'm with you all the way around on this...again - TA explains it right here:

http://www.andersonforum.com/board/show ... loyd+width

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Here you go - from Tom Andersons own mouth, the reasons behind this in full color glory:

http://www.andersonforum.com/board/show ... loyd+width

Here's the main issue with their reason behind it. They claim to use the R2 nut because of the 1 5/8ths string spacing, which is fine and correct for a 1 5/8th neck. But his using the R3 nut is explained incorrectly. The R3 nut is a 1 11/16 neck width nut with a string spacing matching the 1 5/8th, so it does pull the strings closer together by 1/32 at each side of the neck. The R4 nut is the true 1 11/16 neck width and 1 11/16 string spacing nut. The main reason probably has to do with their jig or CNC they use to produce the necks. Each one of the Floyd nuts are slightly different when it comes to drilling for the mounting holes, and for Anderson, it may not be worth the extra effort to modify their machining processes.

But I'm not sure if everybody is really picking up on the original complaint by the thread starter. The issue for him is not the side of the neck gap, but how much the nut hangs off the neck tab towards the string tree. Or I could be completely wrong here.

Copied from Warmoth's website:
Width Dimensions

Chrome Black Gold
These nuts are easily identified by the "R" number located on the bottom or in the case of left hand nuts it is an "L" number.
Right Hand
R-2 = 1-5/8" Nut-Width
* R-3 = 1-11/16" Nut-Width Narrow
R-4 = 1-11/16" Nut-Width Wide
R-5 = 1-3/4" Nut-Width

*R3 & *L3 = 1 11/16" Nut Width Narrow
Essentially, this nut is the 1 11/16" width, but the spread of the strings is pulled in resembling the spread found on a 1 5/8" nut. Supposedly, this was originally intended for Les Paul necks with the funky binding issues. R3 & L3 nuts work well with necks that have a 1 11/16" nut width and that are also bound. They are also popular with players wishing for a little more fret margin so as not to bend the strings beyond the fret ends.

 

[nbarts]

You guys need to stop worrying about this minutiae and concentrating more on how your guitar's 5A exotic woods complement your decor.

Steve

I've got a 2 and a 4 year old. If I wanted my guitars to complement my decor they would need to be made of crayons, apple juice, and poop.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

They claim to use the R2 nut because of the 1 5/8ths string spacing, which is fine and correct for a 1 5/8th neck. But his using the R3 nut is explained incorrectly.

Please give Tom Anderson a call and explain this to him. Get back to us with the results of your conversation

 

[Shark Diver]

after 5 years of abuse and 30-40 string changes.

30-40 string changes in 5 years? When do you have time to actually play the thing?

Steve

Ya...........I may have embellished my story just a tad

Why? That's once every two months. I go through 10-20 string changes a year on a guitar I play a lot. Sometimes as much as once a week or two.

Yeah, I didn't think that was a lot. I change the strings on my gigging guitars every 3rd show - once a week.

I think Suhr's have the same thing going on when you go for a Floyd. Maybe John Suhr or Ed can give their reasoning for it. It never bothered me though.

None of my Suhrs are like that. They are all floyds, and all flush.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

They claim to use the R2 nut because of the 1 5/8ths string spacing, which is fine and correct for a 1 5/8th neck. But his using the R3 nut is explained incorrectly.

Please give Tom Anderson a call and explain this to him. Get back to us with the results of your conversation

Anderson's info was posted by himself on that above forum post. Not my fault if he got it wrong. What I posted is from Warmoth, and based off of Floyd Roses's website also. Both of which you can check and verify if you like. I would expect a builder like Anderson to know this already. If he doesn't, shame on him.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Anderson's info was posted by himself on that above forum post. Not my fault if he got it wrong. What I posted is from Warmoth, and based off of Floyd Roses's website also. Both of which you can check and verify if you like. I would expect a builder like Anderson to know this already. If he doesn't, shame on him.

and again, I'm just sayin call him up and educate him - he's a nice guy.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

and again, I'm just sayin call him up and educate him - he's a nice guy.

Yeah, I sense a lot of sarcasm in this ^^^.

Look I'm not putting down Mr. Anderson or Anderson Guitars, I'm sure they are worth every penny he gets for them and play as great as everybody says they do. From a tone and playability stand point, I would be highly surprised if there was a difference between the two different nuts or they way they are mounted. All I'm saying is that what he posted in defense of his guitars with Floyd nuts is wrong. I called it like I saw it, sorry to those of you with Anderson guitars or who are in support of Anderson guitars for what ever reason, I only stated the facts. The only difference between the R2 and R3 nuts is the width of the nut itself, not the string spacing. The string spacing is the same on both. So it deflates his argument as to why he uses the R2 nut on 1 11/16 wide necks.

But once again, as the person who started the thread said, with as nice as those guitars are and as much as they cost, I would also expect the mounting tab for the locking nut to be a better fit, in all directions.

 

[Suhr]

On string spacing
The R3 is close to he same string spacing the same as a R2 but it actually is a little bit wider string spacing, Tom is right, the R3 was actually designed for guitar with binding that are 1.680 (1 11/16")
The R2 is a 1.62 width, Tom and I use a 1.65 nut width since I personally dont like supper narrow nuts on guitars, we split the difference on the Modern by making it 1.64 Nut width.

As far as the over hang, it means nothing, the nut is secure and the original installations by Floyd had the nuts hanging over.
The Floyd nut was that width to securely clamps the strings, he never meant people to redesign the classic headstocks.
Here is the problem though, if you design a neck for a Floyd specifically you can not use the same design headstock for a non Floyd, On a Headstock adjustment you would need a deeper length adjuster nut or more the truss rod.
You would also need to either move the gears further away from the headstock or change the radius that goes to the headstock whihc would weaken the headstock. If you were then to use this same headstock geometry on a non Floyd guitar the strings would hit the wood behind the nut.
There is no win here and really nothing to fix.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Thank you, Mr. Suhr

 

[JTyson]

I looked at VF's link, Tom says that is exactly how he wanted it. The next wider nut has the strings closer to the edges of the fretboard than he wanted. Pete, you seem to love it aside from that, I would not let it get to me, if Tom told me that You may not like the neck that would be wide enough to work with the wider nut as much? Be at peace, and enjoy your new assualt weapon I do understand your initial concern though, I would have felt the same way.