Floyd Rose is a god. One of the nicest persons I've met. That aside, his invention is on par with the humbucker as one of the most important guitar innovations ever. Remember life before it, literally nothing stayed in tune. Lock nuts are not that hard to deal with, people tend to cry about them for some reason. Nothing compares to a real German made Floyd. IMHO.
@@davidpeterson8431The newer designs are worse than the original edge in fact, and were more budget and cost cutting options (redesigining the edge to avoid paying for floyd rose patent) rather than an actual upgrade
Double locking trems for life! As great as Floyds are, I tend to agree with you, there are some very nice options of similar performance at much more reasonable prices! Keep on doing what you're doing my man - great to see other small Canadian guitar based channels!
It's ok to buy a Guitar with a tremelo on it. If it's just a single direction trem like a Strat just over tighten the springs and take the whammy bar off. No floating trems unless you want to deal with always adjusting.
Did this to my strat and retired my floyd guitars. The penalty of going out of tune in unison bends for the advantage of making dive bomb sounds doesn't add up for me these days.
Nice review, I kinda came to the same conclusions throughout the years of playing different tremolo systems, both locking and non-locking ones. What I don't get is why big companies still keep adding the string trees (Char *cough cough* vel, I'm looking at you) even though they ruin the tuning stability with excessive tremolo usage. I've removed one on my Cort G300 and the tuning stability difference was just day and night.
An offering of many worthy bulletpoints complete with references. Very good. Lots of strains in the guitar that the strings impose. It is amazing how critical how pitch is but the more sensitive you're equipment, the more technical the music is the more important pitch perfect is.
Top mounts float, you never let it sit on the body, you have to route the hole a wee bit back father so the bridge has room under to be able to pull back..
I agree 100%. I put one in my ESP M-1000 and absolutely love it. When I first put it in I used the Floyd 1000 bridge post that the guitar came with but found it just wouldn’t sit right. I pulled those out and used the Gotoh’s and that made a huge difference. The flutter and sustain is insane.
Recently refurbished my Floyd, with a heaps of upgrades and I’ve fallen back in love with them, I’ve played guitars with trems all my life prior to the recent upgrades I had it blocked bc I needed a break from the maintenance, and it was my only axe at the time now I’ve purchased a backup guitar, musicman jp7, non locking trem, I can return my Floyd guitar back to normal and enjoy it the way it was designed for!!
Gotoh is the one for me. More rounded-off edges, better arm mechanism, easier to use fine tuners, comes stock with a brass block, and is generally cheaper than OFR. the only downside is that you have to re-drill the post holes since Gotohs have fatter posts, as well as the "longger than usual" saddle screws. Good thing they accept OFR saddle screws
Floyd Rose comes factory with a brass block or nickel plated brass block . The Gotoh 1996T has ZINC saddles. The front “foot” of the saddle at the saddle screw is zinc, that straight from Gotoh … their website says “ Specially processed steel saddle” that’s it. To me it’s an inferior product and imitation of the Floyd Rose and more on par with a Floyd Rose Special. It’s funny because people talk junk about the Special yet claim a Gotoh is so great without knowing what the Gotoh is made of
@@herbcanter2114 So, that doesn’t prove anything… your feelings aren’t facts bub. Prove it! I’ve already done my research, made the phone calls and emails. They won’t publish any specific specs on their website because it would be false advertising. Their only description of their product is “ specially processed steel saddle” and that’s half ZINC. 😂 if it’s anything, it’s barely or slightly better than a FRS.
A non-recessed Floyd most definitely does not need to be set up non-floating! It CAN be stopped so that it can only do dive, yes, but this is not the result you get without either some weird setup or extra units. A standard setup of a Floyd will be able to pull up a fair bit whether it is recessed on not. What the recessed Floyd does is remove the need for neck shims and allow for greater tolerancies in construction and flexibility when setting a guitar up.
You bring up some great points, hardware has come so far in the past 20 years, back in the 00's locking tuners were just coming out and there was so many bad tremelos on the sub $500 instruments the metalargy on the german floyd was miles ahead of what you could get on a floyd rose special, ibanez, kaler etc. I have a swamp ash strat with a wood screw floyd that is rock solid; flicking the bar will make it purr like a cat. my other trems (fender, wilkinson, ibanez) all have slop in the bar or feel unbalanced or too resistant on dives, i think the brass blocks weight adds alot of "response" to the bar. with that said i've heard jeff beck do it all with a strat in the 60's so *it can be done*
I had 11s full tuning on my Ibanez w FR bridge. I could get some nice thick tone that gave me a unique sound, but I had to rely on the FR for bends. I had it tight enough where I could be a nice light vibrato too. I was never into the heavy dive bombing and harmonic tricks. I think it can be used in modern music as long as you are tasteful. It is however an antiquated look and music has changed to the point where it doesn't seem necessary anymore.
I also do custom work on guitars for people here and there. I seen you were speaking about the brass blocks being too long or too fat. Good thing about brass. Its pretty easily sandable. just take 1/4" or so off the length and redrill the holes for the springs/ Just make sure when drilling the holes to get them pretty straight using a drill press is best. I had to do it with my Batman Fender I built as well. (WEAR A DUST MASK WHEN SANDING METALS!) You do NOT want metal in your lungs.
Great video. I bought a Kiesel Delos 24 fret strat copy with a routed Gotoh510 bridge. It's incredible. Sounds amazing, feels good, looks good, easy to restring and can do everything a floating trem can do - vibrato/ dive bombs / pull notes up / flutter etc. The tuning stability was good but not great and it started making creaking noises a little so I took it to the guitar repair shop to have it checked out and now it's unbelievable! They tweaked a bunch of little details, like bridge height / springs / nut filing / god knows what else. Now it holds tune as good as a floating trem and the creak is gone. Six months later and I haven't needed to tune it in almost a week. I don't even need locking saddles. So if you ever get a Gotoh510 and it's not holding tune, it just needs to be set up correctly. Having said that, the best trem I've ever used is the Ibanez ZR with the ball-bearing pivot. Ball bearing pivots are where it's at. Crazy that Ibanez don't even make them anymore. They are perfect. I've got two of them on my Sabers. Nothing can beat how smooth and comfortable they feel as well as the tuning stability. They have so much "dive-travel" and don't need a lot of force to depress.
Yes and No...Ibanez still make ZR trems, just not the ball-bearing pivot version. The ZR patent was to the guy who makes Sophia Tremolos and he told me that the patent expired in 2018 (or was it 2019?) and that he had no idea why Ibanez didn't keep making the ZR trems with the ball-bearings. I asked him if he could make them and he said no thanks LOL oh well.@@chocolaa-p2689
Some of my best guitar buys are from people who bought guitars for their rugrats and had no idea what they bought, suckers got a snakeskin warlock with floyd fo $40 mint,charvel star with floyd mint $30 but they wanna guitar to play, keep em coming
You're spot on, a brand new Floyd Rose original bridge can cost as much as a brand new well built guitar with a hardtail bridge or a Fender style trem systems. Floyd Rose systems take a lot of getting used to but once you're past that point, it is all great. Yes, you can't drop tune on a fly if you only have one guitar but, it comes with the territory. It is about what you can live with.
The TRS trems were made by Takeuchi it's pronounced ta-kay-oo-chi and they are not bad just likely to come on JDM guitars that have often had a rough life (worn posts and knife edges due to incompetent screwdriver wielding). Kahler's locking nut is way better than a Floyd's you get to use a nice sounding nut instead of a steel Toblerone - but it is inconvenient and if poorly installed it can move! So I think it can pick up hate undeservedly. I worked with a Kahler guitar that would not stay in tune and solved the problems by soldering up the wraps of the ball ends of the strings. It is 100% the way to make a Kahler as stable as a Floyd, then it's all advantages (my opinion of course, not fact). That said I have two OFRs and the next project I'm building will have an OFR in it. That trem cost me over £250 worth it though. FR1000 is definitely inferior to the daddy. You covered a lot of ground in this vid and did it really well!
Oh I can help! Your guitar with the claw that's creeping out? Drill out those two screw holes to like 4mm fill the holes with dowel rods, trim redrill, put it all back together and enjoy! By the way, can't stand Daryl Braun and never watch his vids. Most of the things he carps about as being fatal flaws can be completely nullified. I don't watch his stupid shit. Also I see the FR that I bought 'the 1984' is now £350! Holy ballsacks!
I got a Tremol-No for my Schecter, it's not completely perfect, you can only really lock it if you're going to downtune otherwise there's a bit of vibration on certain notes but I've been able to go down to drop B without it sinking into the body
Great points! I've always told people not to get a Floyd as a beginner. You can learn and practice to get setup and maintenance to not be a pain (it's nowhere near as bas as people on the internet yell about), but there is nowhere the phrase "two is one and one is none" is more true than when gigging with a floating Floyd. If you're going to gig with one, you NEED two. And once you commit to one being in an alternate tuning, that's what it is until you set it up again - and you need a backup for each alternate tuning if you're seriously gigging double locking systems. I have three double locking guitars at the moment - a Yamaha with a 90s-era Floyd, an Ibanez RG with a LoPro Edge, and an original Kahler on an 80s hot-rodded Tele thing. I ADORE the Edge, and it's my favorite locking trem I've ever played. The Kahler is cool, and may arguably be better for subtle tremolo effects than the Floyd-style, but you have to use strings with reinforced wrapping on the ball end, and the locking "device" behind the nut is dumb - but the action on the Kahler is so incredibly smooth thanks to the bearings instead of knives. It's a very different experience. That said, 90+% of my playing now is on non-locking two-point American Fender trems. I have one that floats, and stays in tune very well unless I go crazy on it - and even then, set up and strung properly with a lubricated nut, it comes back if you pull up on the bar before you hit the next chord. The other is blocked with locking tuners and never, ever goes out of tune. But I'm glad I still have the locking ones when the mood strikes even though I'm not in a "heavy" band anymore.
Most of the issues you listed are a case by case issue entirely dependent on setup. There's a massive difference between spending an hour or two going back and forth with tuning and adjusting strings until it's right enough, and understanding the tension principles that a floating double locking bridge works under. When I was first messing with Floyd's I used to take forever too, until I sat down for a few hours to really learn the effects of the tension. I can have my universe restrung and drop tuned or restrung and back to standard in 10 minutes, the only added steps are the locking steps, everything else is incredibly simple of you understand the tension
16:15 this is something I've observed as well. I have a charvel dk24 which could take quite a lot of abuse out of the box but I broke the thumb screw of one of my locking tuners and then upgraded them to hipshot staggered tuners and my god that guitar can handle so much abuse it's actually insane. I've given it the vai treatment recently and when set up right it stays more or less in tune. I still plan on buying a FR equipped guitar because I think if I'm abusing the trem I still want it to stay in tune and eliminate the possibility of minor variations.
The Gotoh 1996t has a 14" radius not 16"..... But all these issues can be addressed with shims guite easily. Ibanez Edge and Gotoh are the best IMHO. Lastly ... You said don't try and put a floyd on a non floyd guitar. You a forgetting about the late 70's and 80's ..... Everyone wanted a floyd and if they had a strat... it got one. I personally still have 4 of my 80's strats with add on floyds and edge trems that still function perfectly. Just have to take it to a tech that specializes. Unless you meant don't try and do it yourself if you are not capable.
As a guitar teacher it's very important to emulate the human voice with guitar, you can do it like derek trucks with a slide or a tremelo bar like Jeff beck or a Floyd like Alan Murphy. The kids metal stuff is fun too.
all of my guitars have the recessed floyd, except for my gibson les paul studio, which ironically gets used more than the others at home for writing and recording demos. it sounds better, sustains better, and is less headaches maintaining it. it was also less expensive than most of my others. having said that, i've been slowly upgrading floyd parts for over 2 years on my others when i have the time and money. great video. also, great cover choices. dissection playthrough was awesome.
As far as bending on a floating trem is concerned you are partially correct. During a deep bend the other strings do drop pitch but, if its properly set up it will return to pitch properly. And a technique that I've developed in my playing, because bending is such a large part of my style, is holding the bridge steady, with the arm, while im bending a note that includes open strings. Also if the bridge is set up as non floating you cant get that delicate vibrato of chords. That only works if you can wabble the note delicately from sharp to flat. If you can only drop pitch the note has to dive a little and then vibrate. That subtle vibrato can only be achieved with a fully floating system. I have a couple of Floyd guitars, and i love them, but i rarely do dive bombs so i get just as much utility out of a floated Fender bridge as i do from my Floyds. I also love my Bigsby which is only a floating system.
honestly, my jackson DK2 doesn't even have an OFR or equivalent, and combined with long lasting elixir strings, the thing stays in tune for weeks, doesn't need string changes very often, and on the occasion where i snap the high E, i can just unwind it a bit and clamp it back into the bridge.
I agree with alot you mentioned. I just did a full system swap on a Peavey Vandenberg offshore model. It had a Peavey license Schaller tremolo and was money metal garbage. It was black so I bought a Gold Schaller tremolo system and almost none of the screw holes lined up (fill and drill). But the end result was awesome. Now I have an original Kramer Nightswan Aztec 1989 I bought new, a 96' Hamer Californian, Kramer Dave Sabo. So these are my Floyd guitars. Now the setup that works for me, so I can get as violent as I want and stay in tune is some parts from Fu-tone. All my Floyds have 42mm bass big blocks, Titanium saddle blocks and block screws and a major thing that helps with tuning stability it a string tree on the headstock and 3 red springs on the block. I have an extremely talented tech that floats them perfectly. And to get around the drop tuning I started using a Digitech Drop pedal is addictive as crack lol, tons of fun and no noticeable delay or anything. I have a few hardtails ,but honestly have less issues with my Floyds during our goofy temp swings. I'm in Central Canada so the hot to cold runs shit on guitars. My Floyds are the most stable. Just my observation and my setups. Adam at Fu-tone has great stuff , I don't mind paying for reliability. Plus you can color match to your axe lol.
like you, I've been through all of this. Back when i did it, there wasn't much chatter about it. Even though, I've had Takeuchi, Kahler, OFR, and the Special, I still enjoyed this video and watched it to the end. The Jackson, that I put the OFR on didnt fit the route perfectly and the locking screws come close to the body, but I lucked out. I never had a problem with the Takeuchi until I tried to turn adjust the floyd height under string pressure and ruined the knife edge. I figured the Floyd Special would have needed to be replaced on one of my guitars by now but somehow it has stood up. It also stays in drop C' and gets rotated.
I had a dean 350 with Floyd and what is worse part is the locking nut this crushes your strings and changes pitch how i solved was removed and put in a tusq nut then it worked great no crushed strings smother string pull and stayed in tune way better
I've been running Floyd's on all but two of my guitars since I got my first electric guitar (an ibanez RG570 back in 1996) and I love them. Nothing has EVER beat the Floyd for tuning stability and playability, and chances are nothing ever will. Edit: you want to talk about a pain in the ass, I just got done with setting up one of my 7 strings (with a Floyd) in drop G. Getting it intonated, anf getting the float perfect was a pain in the ass. She's solid as a rock now.
I like the original Ibanez Edge tremolos. Most of my guitars have this and I never have tuning issues. I've always felt that the original Floyd Rose was the original GOAT, but the Ibanez Edge was an upgrade. Just like the German made Floyd Rose tremolos, they aren't cheap. But they are actually made from the same German steel, the good stuff. I have guitars with these tremolos that has been abused viscously. I'm talking about decades of radical tremolo abuse, and they exhibit little to no wear. They still stay in tune perfectly too. New stuff, I cannot comment on. But this old stuff, the Ibanez Edge, I can completely verify as legit and worth every penny to own.
This is a very great video, in my opinion I think the original Floyd Rose systems are way overpriced, in some parts of the world these systems costs about 550 bucks, totally not worth it at all, unless you are swapping it out on a really expensive guitar that had the original Floyd Rose from the beginning. In my workshop I´ve had over the past 6-7 years customers that are amazing guitarplayers but they don't have a clue what things to look out for before trying to adjust the height of the Floyd Rose Tremolo, so they end up with a guitar that don't stay in tune anymore and bring it to me to get it fixed. Most of the time I can fix the guitar by just getting a new baseplate, but hey.. if there is no baseplate to get then there is only one option, a new tremolo system. Also I tell all my customers with this problem to always try loosen as much tension on the tremolo as possible before turning those posts to change the height of the tremolo. I´ve tested the Floyd Rose Special a few times but yeah, it has less good quality, the material is not as good as the original Floyd Rose, but it will do the job and I think the Special series can be a very good alternative. I have two orders for building two custom electric guitars I will build during 2024, I was intended to start building in 2023 but I did not have the time. Both will have Floyd Rose Tremolo system on them, a Floyd does it´s job best in a recessed routing cavity, and less of a neck angle as a result. Thanks..
I've used Floyd Rose, Kahler, Wilkinson, fulcrum-style bridges, etc. I really liked the ones used for Ibanez and ESP because of the range of motion and how they stay in tune despite heavy use of the whammy bar.
I love what FRs do, but they're a pain when trying to install new strings, ugh. I never touch the Ibanez I have because of that. My "Whammy!" stompbox is much more fun to use, although of course one can't do the quick "quivers" and things very well with it, but it does "the thing", basically.
I think floyds are something like a designer pieces, like having a piece of futuristic panzer on your instrument, sure it has more range then the old strat whammy, but once I learned to setup the old vintage 6 screw bridge, I was like why I'm having locking systems at all, with a proper nut you will have the same tuning stability, not to mention going back to zero fret design, which has the lowest resistance. I always end up striping one of the screws on my schaller nut, on my F1000 bridge, best floyd I got was the gotoh, but many guitars develop problems with two point whammys, wood drying and the stud inserts falling out, also fine tuning the bridge radius with steel shims, again stripped one screw which holds the saddle down on a knockoff "special" floyd. I just quit locking systems, I would rather route out my corts body to give more range to my vintage 6 screw ancient bridge.
If you're going to use a tremolo you must use the very best available, everything else will be a headache, and a Floyd is the only system to guarantee a stable tuning. I've been around the tremolo block so to speak. Locking at the nut is a pain, because you can't finetune it like your normal nut, but nothing will give you that dramatic dive a locking nut does. IMO. The locking saddles are the major point of tuning stability, every other system suffers from G-string tuning issues, even the new Wilkinson saddles are not there 100%. I like a Floyd combined with a "normal" neck with locking tuners alá Guthrie Govan, that's the best of both worlds and easy to make small on the fly adjustments. I 100% agree that beginners should be nowhere near a tremolo system, including Floyds while learning to play. I have my eye on the Tom Anderson Baby Floyd as it has a thinner/traditional arm which I prefer, but I'm in no hurry to buy a Tom Anderson guitar at the moment 😉 $$$
i have floyds on 80% of my players.. i have floyd teles.. floyd les pauls.. floyd everything.. what i cant buy.. i make.. retro.. create.. i have a floyd martin acoustic... yeah.. i dig my floyds..
If you like tinkering with your guitar as an amateur, it is technically impposible not to like this video! You can tell right away when someone knows his shit! Thanks for all this wisdom.
18:14 what are the better systems? i am building some custom 8 strings with high tuning and low tension because of my tuning system the high strings are lower and the lower strings are higher, and a few each in 6 string and 7 string to use for myself i am have most of the materials except hardware and a few fretboards.. i am was going to go with Floyd systems on all of them, except now i am only want the best possible setup. Looked at original floyds for the sixes and the one 7. And the other 7 and 8's the 1000 series. The main six string is an RG that i am replacing the tremelo and the body for any bridge i am decide and all of the other guitars are completely from scratch. However there is anRG8 i am considering converting with a new body as well. The scratch build guitars can use and do absolutely anything money is no object there. How should i am build them. i am have many hundreds and possible thousands of aggressive designs as far as shapefullness. Thanks for any whom read this and can add sense or cents to this to help, thank you for your informative video.
99% of the BS goes away once you block it so that it’s dive only which is what I’ve done to all of my locking trems. I have the Gotoh 1996 on my Charvel and the Floyd 1500 on my Schecter and both are great. The locking system on my Strandberg is excellent as well and I actually prefer it over the Floyds.
Man very in-depth history of the Floyd Rose, great job! And subscribed. I disagree with the main premise of your critique however. I haven't broken a string in over a decade lol. That should maybe be 5% of your worry. Everything else is DEAD on brother!
Great video…you covered everything…I don’t know why, but covid destroyed Floyds availability…you use to go to the website and get anything you needed…now there’s hardly anything available…I had to buy a floyd from stew mac (I’m an idiot)…it was the only place I could find what I needed….great stuff👍
Remember, you can and should adjust the string height at full tension Anyone telling you otherwise is wrong, and it's an urban myth that doing so will ruin the knife edges
1 second ago Just my two cents: no arguing that the Floyd Rose vibrato system is a wonder to behold. having said that, for a gigging musician is quite problematic: for a start, it is quite cumbersome and it just doesn't feel right when the picking hand rests on it. Then, if you break a string mid-song you'd better have the fastest string -changing roadie on the planet or a good comedian in the band, otherwise you are condemned to a ten-minute break while messing around with screwdrivers, Allan keys and the likes. There are ways to keep a Fender -type average vibrato system in tune while dive-bombing. And, if done correctly and all together, they work. It just takes some research and perseverance. If the Floyd Rose rocks your world, good on you! Personally, I'd pass on it....
I own 3-4 OFRs, the only one that turns really really smooth (fine tuners) is the original I got on a NJ Kramer. The build quality has gone down even on the originals
You just couldn't say touchyacoochie without laughing could ya.?yeah I know...lol But you know,when my Floyd breaks strings,which is almost never,but they always only break the 5,or 6 smallest strings and always break where they go into the lockingclamp near the strumming end.of the neck..so I leave my last few strings long and never cut the excess at the tuning knobs?when they break ,I just loosen slack loosen all Allen bolts,nuts and reuse the string.no need to buy an entire set.or even leave the house to buy more...but it can be a bitch on restraints.even when you block it off.shims and wedges can be lost,fall out without noticing.intonation etc.
with the downtunings it always depends on the springs, Iam on cis tuning standard with 11-52. 2 red springs in everything is fine. And you can adjust the radius with shims. Biggest problem is that in germany I cant get these at the moment but I have to fit it .
Most people who avoid or say they don't need Floyd Roses is because they have no clue how to use it as an extra tool in the bag. Otherwise, why not to have and extra trick in the hat ?
They are only worth about a hundred dollars in my opinion Floyd Rose 1000 and original bridge are the best but Floyd Rose special aren't bad worth about fifty or sixty dollars for the special Wilkinson is a good locking bridge also 45$ for a new one in some retailers, oh yeah, Floyd Rose special is a decent locking trem.
They might be a pain in the ass to set up, but not that much and you should not be changing tuning on them anyway. That's not what they're for. 1. Once set up, make sure its the string gauge and tuning you want and leave it there. Changing them will change the way the bridge is set up. Most people will have more than 1 guitar anyway. Set each guitar up differently. Always up and down tuning just sucks anyway. Pick the right tool for the job to start with. 2. Stay away from licensed floyds. Only buy the ones that say Floyd Rose. Cheapos suck! They wear out very fast in comparison. Floyd Rose guitars rule and I have always found the people who don; like them just cannot play them very well. Like anything, it takes practice. Yes they have a small quirk in them of strings diving. Nothing is perfect. Even a regular bridge has its flaws of not being perfectly intonated. You will always find a few chords that sound out of tune no matter the guitar. So learned to deal with what a Floyd does and you will be fine once you learn them. They're freaking awesome, and not having to tune every 5 seconds just gives you more time for playing.
If by improving you mean redesigning the edge bridges originally with the intent of avoiding to pay royalties for Floyd Rose Patents, then yes they have been “improving” the system. Imo, The Lo-Pro Edge, Ibanez ZR, and the ZPS system was the last real “improvement” of the original edge design, every other bridge or system created besides those were made either as a lower cost option to place on budget guitars, eliminate any elements covered by the remaining floyd rose patents at the time, or both.
Also, Floyd D Rose HAS actually been trying to improve his design, look up the Floyd Rose Pro, it’s a low profile version of the Original design It just never really caught on, to the point that it has been discontinued but with an OEM 1000 series version still being made
We'll just say that it's entirely subjective. Yes, Floyds come with their own set of problems. That said, let's not pretend that the guitar isn't a heavily flawed instrument. It's the major love of my life, but guitars in general have inherent issues just based on the way it's designed. My Floyd guitars sit proudly alongside my non-Floyd guitars. I love them all.
I don't agree the original inventors products are not worth the money. They are. Stability and reliability. Still prefer Levi Strauss jeans too. Can't beat the original.
My issue with the Floyd Rose is the preset 12" saddle radius. Just three saddle heights 123321 which forces you to tilt the bridge and this makes the knife edges wear quicker among other issues. Ideally, the bridge should be level on any 2-point trem. There used to be a shim kit on Stew Mac to tweak the saddle heights but it wasn't cheap. I currently have the B saddle swapped with the G which helps a bit but it's still tilted.
AS FAR AS TUNINGS GO, THATS why I have multiple guitars! Bahahahah I’m sorry being a jerk but in a comical way. I hear everything everyone is saying and I have NO experience with any other floating tremolo bridges but would like to see what’s there. Didn’t Kerry and Jeff of Slayer use something called a Kohler bridge? A lot like a Floyd Rose but less headaches? You can substitute a whammy for a Digitech pedal, but it’s better to have both!!!!!
He's guitars were constantly adjusted, monitored, lubricated by the best techs in the world, and he was a master of playing them with precise control. You can be sure worked on the pitch at all times, cause no guitar holds tuning when you work them like he did. I bet studio outtakes would show what he was dealing with FWIW
i think its not that complicated. the man built hotrods, i am sure he could take care of a guitar. Anyhow, with the LSR nut ant the locking tuners, a floating trem you should be ok. I played squier strats with cheap pot metal trems, regular nuts and they stayed in tune well@@christianboddum8783
Wow cool video bruther I'm not a dive bomb guy at all lol...I started seriously (trying to play)😝 one year ago as I entered being single from a three year relationship... At this moment I have quite the collection all within one year....I've got 2 mitchell ms450's ,, ( love em both) ... Epiphone Les Paul traditional pro ( love it also plays great) ,, Harley Benton explorer ( impulse buy at guitar center ) I think it looks really cool but a piece of shit with huge neck dive weight straight to the floor issues) fuck EMG'S BTW 🖕😋.... 2 nice acoustics ( Epiphone classic 1 and a nylon Lucero L1 that's sounds beautiful for a cheapie).... but I've got 5 Ibanez's 🤟 all range from 150 dollar to 350 dollar range and I am and always will be an Ibanez guy for life even tho there's other brands and body styles I love and will hopefully have in my future collection of madness lol .... The two GRGgio 120's I got from guitar center are for a beginner type guitar are super sweet for just everything I need as a intermediate player they sound amazing and feel beyond exceptional ( I'm sure you know what I mean) !!!! But through the years ( I'm 59 years old btw ) and have been listening to death metal since around 87-88 many decades later I'm still if not way more into extreme music I think because now I'm actually trying to learn as much as I can about GUITARS IN GENERAL not just playing it but knowing the wood it's made from the electrical aspects the type of string guages, standard tuning down to drop C# (😋😝🖕for those black SABBATH MOMENTS) ..... so watching videos from luthiers and techs that know a shitload about guitars are the people lately I seem to really be 🧲 magnetically drawn towards in my journey through this beautiful world of GUITAR !!!! it's weird that you have the same exact painting prints on your wall behind you next to the morbid angel flag I've got those exact prints also lol😝😝😝🤟🤟🤟so we're kind of seduced by the same demons man mentally haha 😅😅😝😝😝😝🤯🤯🤯Im not ready for a Floyd rose right now but maybe 6 months from now I still need some practice but thanks for the info REGARDLESS 🎉🎉🎉🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟
I did install a floyd rose in a 200 bucks squier. For my first atempt endend quiet well. Had to file the bottom of the locking nut to acomodate the tross rod , that was my only trouble. I only did this becuse i had parts laying arround from other guitars and the squier was cheap, but over all, turned into a nice guitar with a floyd, single emg 81, grover tuners, killswich, and some stickers to make it look like the kids thrash metal machine hahaa. i play it very often.
Too much work! I have many Floyd and Ibanez edge, Get get a Mexican strat with 2 point trem. Meaning with 2 screws bridge, replace with fender locked tuners and using fender bullet string and that’s it!! Will save you money and headache! Oh don’t forget to vessaline your nuts lol when put in new strings, If you want to go further replace your trem to gotho 510 remember kids stretch your strings is crucial
Really? Explain why Kahler moved to a floyd style locknut (see late stage charvel model series, some class axe era BCR, the original Fender HM Strats….) and why arguably their most notable users today (Kerry King and Jerry Cantrell) BOTH dont use that nut system. I mean maybe you’ve got a good one but it is objectively a worse design and theres a reason it didn’t last. I can’t think of too many guitars coming out today with Kahlers, except for the new “legacy series” from BCR. Their Ironbird is still getting a (you guessed it) floyd rose nut.
Floyd Rose is a god. One of the nicest persons I've met. That aside, his invention is on par with the humbucker as one of the most important guitar innovations ever. Remember life before it, literally nothing stayed in tune. Lock nuts are not that hard to deal with, people tend to cry about them for some reason. Nothing compares to a real German made Floyd. IMHO.
The Ibanez Edge. The true evolution of the Floyd
@@josephfigueroa3527nope. schaller lockmeister is
@@josephfigueroa3527 no floyd no edge. look at the early edge trems, they were awful.
@@davidpeterson8431The Original Ibanez Edge was extremely rock solid wdym, old 80s Ibanez RGs with OG edge still have solid knife edges today
@@davidpeterson8431The newer designs are worse than the original edge in fact, and were more budget and cost cutting options (redesigining the edge to avoid paying for floyd rose patent) rather than an actual upgrade
Love my Floyd’s. I still use them in all my gigging guitars. Hate string changes and setups on them, but the tuning stability makes it worth it.
Double locking trems for life! As great as Floyds are, I tend to agree with you, there are some very nice options of similar performance at much more reasonable prices! Keep on doing what you're doing my man - great to see other small Canadian guitar based channels!
Thank you! I appreciate you watching 😊
It's ok to buy a Guitar with a tremelo on it. If it's just a single direction trem like a Strat just over tighten the springs and take the whammy bar off. No floating trems unless you want to deal with always adjusting.
Did this to my strat and retired my floyd guitars. The penalty of going out of tune in unison bends for the advantage of making dive bomb sounds doesn't add up for me these days.
Nice review, I kinda came to the same conclusions throughout the years of playing different tremolo systems, both locking and non-locking ones.
What I don't get is why big companies still keep adding the string trees (Char *cough cough* vel, I'm looking at you) even though they ruin the tuning stability with excessive tremolo usage. I've removed one on my Cort G300 and the tuning stability difference was just day and night.
TUG All Titanium.. Light Weight Strongest Metal Resistance Un Surpassed for Corrosion resistance.. Also Chinese Version of Titanium.
An offering of many worthy bulletpoints complete with references. Very good. Lots of strains in the guitar that the strings impose. It is amazing how critical how pitch is but the more sensitive you're equipment, the more technical the music is the more important pitch perfect is.
Top mounts float, you never let it sit on the body, you have to route the hole a wee bit back father so the bridge has room under to be able to pull back..
The Gotoh GE1996T is my fave. The locking studs and the arm attachment are the best IMO. For me anyway :)
I agree 100%. I put one in my ESP M-1000 and absolutely love it. When I first put it in I used the Floyd 1000 bridge post that the guitar came with but found it just wouldn’t sit right. I pulled those out and used the Gotoh’s and that made a huge difference. The flutter and sustain is insane.
Recently refurbished my Floyd, with a heaps of upgrades and I’ve fallen back in love with them, I’ve played guitars with trems all my life prior to the recent upgrades I had it blocked bc I needed a break from the maintenance, and it was my only axe at the time now I’ve purchased a backup guitar, musicman jp7, non locking trem, I can return my Floyd guitar back to normal and enjoy it the way it was designed for!!
Gotoh is the one for me. More rounded-off edges, better arm mechanism, easier to use fine tuners, comes stock with a brass block, and is generally cheaper than OFR. the only downside is that you have to re-drill the post holes since Gotohs have fatter posts, as well as the "longger than usual" saddle screws. Good thing they accept OFR saddle screws
Floyd Rose comes factory with a brass block or nickel plated brass block .
The Gotoh 1996T has ZINC saddles. The front “foot” of the saddle at the saddle screw is zinc, that straight from Gotoh … their website says “ Specially processed steel saddle” that’s it. To me it’s an inferior product and imitation of the Floyd Rose and more on par with a Floyd Rose Special.
It’s funny because people talk junk about the Special yet claim a Gotoh is so great without knowing what the Gotoh is made of
@@Ikillintel1The gotoh is wayyyy way superior to the Floyd Rose Special most especially in terms of knife edge durability
@@Ikillintel1 100% BS , Gotoh's are the best of the best , even John Suhr dropped original Floyds in favor of Gotoh trems .
@@herbcanter2114 So, that doesn’t prove anything… your feelings aren’t facts bub. Prove it! I’ve already done my research, made the phone calls and emails. They won’t publish any specific specs on their website because it would be false advertising. Their only description of their product is “ specially processed steel saddle” and that’s half ZINC. 😂 if it’s anything, it’s barely or slightly better than a FRS.
A non-recessed Floyd most definitely does not need to be set up non-floating! It CAN be stopped so that it can only do dive, yes, but this is not the result you get without either some weird setup or extra units. A standard setup of a Floyd will be able to pull up a fair bit whether it is recessed on not. What the recessed Floyd does is remove the need for neck shims and allow for greater tolerancies in construction and flexibility when setting a guitar up.
You bring up some great points, hardware has come so far in the past 20 years, back in the 00's locking tuners were just coming out and there was so many bad tremelos on the sub $500 instruments the metalargy on the german floyd was miles ahead of what you could get on a floyd rose special, ibanez, kaler etc. I have a swamp ash strat with a wood screw floyd that is rock solid; flicking the bar will make it purr like a cat. my other trems (fender, wilkinson, ibanez) all have slop in the bar or feel unbalanced or too resistant on dives, i think the brass blocks weight adds alot of "response" to the bar. with that said i've heard jeff beck do it all with a strat in the 60's so *it can be done*
I had 11s full tuning on my Ibanez w FR bridge. I could get some nice thick tone that gave me a unique sound, but I had to rely on the FR for bends. I had it tight enough where I could be a nice light vibrato too. I was never into the heavy dive bombing and harmonic tricks. I think it can be used in modern music as long as you are tasteful. It is however an antiquated look and music has changed to the point where it doesn't seem necessary anymore.
I also do custom work on guitars for people here and there. I seen you were speaking about the brass blocks being too long or too fat. Good thing about brass. Its pretty easily sandable. just take 1/4" or so off the length and redrill the holes for the springs/ Just make sure when drilling the holes to get them pretty straight using a drill press is best. I had to do it with my Batman Fender I built as well.
(WEAR A DUST MASK WHEN SANDING METALS!) You do NOT want metal in your lungs.
Great video. I bought a Kiesel Delos 24 fret strat copy with a routed Gotoh510 bridge. It's incredible. Sounds amazing, feels good, looks good, easy to restring and can do everything a floating trem can do - vibrato/ dive bombs / pull notes up / flutter etc. The tuning stability was good but not great and it started making creaking noises a little so I took it to the guitar repair shop to have it checked out and now it's unbelievable! They tweaked a bunch of little details, like bridge height / springs / nut filing / god knows what else. Now it holds tune as good as a floating trem and the creak is gone. Six months later and I haven't needed to tune it in almost a week. I don't even need locking saddles. So if you ever get a Gotoh510 and it's not holding tune, it just needs to be set up correctly.
Having said that, the best trem I've ever used is the Ibanez ZR with the ball-bearing pivot. Ball bearing pivots are where it's at. Crazy that Ibanez don't even make them anymore. They are perfect. I've got two of them on my Sabers. Nothing can beat how smooth and comfortable they feel as well as the tuning stability. They have so much "dive-travel" and don't need a lot of force to depress.
Ibanez stopped making ZRs due to a patent claim in which they decided they would rather stop production altogether than to pay for the patent
Yes and No...Ibanez still make ZR trems, just not the ball-bearing pivot version. The ZR patent was to the guy who makes Sophia Tremolos and he told me that the patent expired in 2018 (or was it 2019?) and that he had no idea why Ibanez didn't keep making the ZR trems with the ball-bearings. I asked him if he could make them and he said no thanks LOL oh well.@@chocolaa-p2689
Sounds like u have a lot of experience
Any suggestions for a Yamaha sbg1300ts?
Some of my best guitar buys are from people who bought guitars for their rugrats and had no idea what they bought, suckers got a snakeskin warlock with floyd fo $40 mint,charvel star with floyd mint $30 but they wanna guitar to play, keep em coming
The best feeling! Those days are gone it seens like haha. Used to score great guitars for cheap pre-covid
You're spot on, a brand new Floyd Rose original bridge can cost as much as a brand new well built guitar with a hardtail bridge or a Fender style trem systems. Floyd Rose systems take a lot of getting used to but once you're past that point, it is all great. Yes, you can't drop tune on a fly if you only have one guitar but, it comes with the territory.
It is about what you can live with.
Excellent video. An encyclopedia for Floyd and alternatives. Great job.
The TRS trems were made by Takeuchi it's pronounced ta-kay-oo-chi and they are not bad just likely to come on JDM guitars that have often had a rough life (worn posts and knife edges due to incompetent screwdriver wielding). Kahler's locking nut is way better than a Floyd's you get to use a nice sounding nut instead of a steel Toblerone - but it is inconvenient and if poorly installed it can move! So I think it can pick up hate undeservedly. I worked with a Kahler guitar that would not stay in tune and solved the problems by soldering up the wraps of the ball ends of the strings. It is 100% the way to make a Kahler as stable as a Floyd, then it's all advantages (my opinion of course, not fact). That said I have two OFRs and the next project I'm building will have an OFR in it. That trem cost me over £250 worth it though. FR1000 is definitely inferior to the daddy. You covered a lot of ground in this vid and did it really well!
Oh I can help! Your guitar with the claw that's creeping out? Drill out those two screw holes to like 4mm fill the holes with dowel rods, trim redrill, put it all back together and enjoy! By the way, can't stand Daryl Braun and never watch his vids. Most of the things he carps about as being fatal flaws can be completely nullified. I don't watch his stupid shit. Also I see the FR that I bought 'the 1984' is now £350! Holy ballsacks!
I got a Tremol-No for my Schecter, it's not completely perfect, you can only really lock it if you're going to downtune otherwise there's a bit of vibration on certain notes but I've been able to go down to drop B without it sinking into the body
Great points! I've always told people not to get a Floyd as a beginner. You can learn and practice to get setup and maintenance to not be a pain (it's nowhere near as bas as people on the internet yell about), but there is nowhere the phrase "two is one and one is none" is more true than when gigging with a floating Floyd. If you're going to gig with one, you NEED two. And once you commit to one being in an alternate tuning, that's what it is until you set it up again - and you need a backup for each alternate tuning if you're seriously gigging double locking systems.
I have three double locking guitars at the moment - a Yamaha with a 90s-era Floyd, an Ibanez RG with a LoPro Edge, and an original Kahler on an 80s hot-rodded Tele thing. I ADORE the Edge, and it's my favorite locking trem I've ever played. The Kahler is cool, and may arguably be better for subtle tremolo effects than the Floyd-style, but you have to use strings with reinforced wrapping on the ball end, and the locking "device" behind the nut is dumb - but the action on the Kahler is so incredibly smooth thanks to the bearings instead of knives. It's a very different experience.
That said, 90+% of my playing now is on non-locking two-point American Fender trems. I have one that floats, and stays in tune very well unless I go crazy on it - and even then, set up and strung properly with a lubricated nut, it comes back if you pull up on the bar before you hit the next chord. The other is blocked with locking tuners and never, ever goes out of tune. But I'm glad I still have the locking ones when the mood strikes even though I'm not in a "heavy" band anymore.
Most of the issues you listed are a case by case issue entirely dependent on setup. There's a massive difference between spending an hour or two going back and forth with tuning and adjusting strings until it's right enough, and understanding the tension principles that a floating double locking bridge works under.
When I was first messing with Floyd's I used to take forever too, until I sat down for a few hours to really learn the effects of the tension. I can have my universe restrung and drop tuned or restrung and back to standard in 10 minutes, the only added steps are the locking steps, everything else is incredibly simple of you understand the tension
16:15 this is something I've observed as well. I have a charvel dk24 which could take quite a lot of abuse out of the box but I broke the thumb screw of one of my locking tuners and then upgraded them to hipshot staggered tuners and my god that guitar can handle so much abuse it's actually insane. I've given it the vai treatment recently and when set up right it stays more or less in tune. I still plan on buying a FR equipped guitar because I think if I'm abusing the trem I still want it to stay in tune and eliminate the possibility of minor variations.
The Gotoh 1996t has a 14" radius not 16"..... But all these issues can be addressed with shims guite easily. Ibanez Edge and Gotoh are the best IMHO.
Lastly ... You said don't try and put a floyd on a non floyd guitar. You a forgetting about the late 70's and 80's ..... Everyone wanted a floyd and if they had a strat... it got one.
I personally still have 4 of my 80's strats with add on floyds and edge trems that still function perfectly. Just have to take it to a tech that specializes.
Unless you meant don't try and do it yourself if you are not capable.
As a guitar teacher it's very important to emulate the human voice with guitar, you can do it like derek trucks with a slide or a tremelo bar like Jeff beck or a Floyd like Alan Murphy. The kids metal stuff is fun too.
Very cool video. New subscriber here. I look forward to binge watching your content.👍
Amazing information. Great job!
all of my guitars have the recessed floyd, except for my gibson les paul studio, which ironically gets used more than the others at home for writing and recording demos. it sounds better, sustains better, and is less headaches maintaining it. it was also less expensive than most of my others. having said that, i've been slowly upgrading floyd parts for over 2 years on my others when i have the time and money. great video. also, great cover choices. dissection playthrough was awesome.
As far as bending on a floating trem is concerned you are partially correct. During a deep bend the other strings do drop pitch but, if its properly set up it will return to pitch properly. And a technique that I've developed in my playing, because bending is such a large part of my style, is holding the bridge steady, with the arm, while im bending a note that includes open strings. Also if the bridge is set up as non floating you cant get that delicate vibrato of chords. That only works if you can wabble the note delicately from sharp to flat. If you can only drop pitch the note has to dive a little and then vibrate. That subtle vibrato can only be achieved with a fully floating system. I have a couple of Floyd guitars, and i love them, but i rarely do dive bombs so i get just as much utility out of a floated Fender bridge as i do from my Floyds. I also love my Bigsby which is only a floating system.
honestly, my jackson DK2 doesn't even have an OFR or equivalent, and combined with long lasting elixir strings, the thing stays in tune for weeks, doesn't need string changes very often, and on the occasion where i snap the high E, i can just unwind it a bit and clamp it back into the bridge.
I agree with alot you mentioned. I just did a full system swap on a Peavey Vandenberg offshore model. It had a Peavey license Schaller tremolo and was money metal garbage. It was black so I bought a Gold Schaller tremolo system and almost none of the screw holes lined up (fill and drill).
But the end result was awesome. Now I have an original Kramer Nightswan Aztec 1989 I bought new, a 96' Hamer Californian, Kramer Dave Sabo. So these are my Floyd guitars. Now the setup that works for me, so I can get as violent as I want and stay in tune is some parts from Fu-tone. All my Floyds have 42mm bass big blocks, Titanium saddle blocks and block screws and a major thing that helps with tuning stability it a string tree on the headstock and 3 red springs on the block. I have an extremely talented tech that floats them perfectly. And to get around the drop tuning I started using a Digitech Drop pedal is addictive as crack lol, tons of fun and no noticeable delay or anything. I have a few hardtails ,but honestly have less issues with my Floyds during our goofy temp swings. I'm in Central Canada so the hot to cold runs shit on guitars. My Floyds are the most stable. Just my observation and my setups. Adam at Fu-tone has great stuff , I don't mind paying for reliability. Plus you can color match to your axe lol.
Hell ya, sounds like you got it all sorted out nicely then! I too use the digitech drop and will never look back. So good
@@colt.thrower it's actually a super underrated pedal, especially for this very purpose! It's permanent on my pedalboard!
like you, I've been through all of this. Back when i did it, there wasn't much chatter about it. Even though, I've had Takeuchi, Kahler, OFR, and the Special, I still enjoyed this video and watched it to the end. The Jackson, that I put the OFR on didnt fit the route perfectly and the locking screws come close to the body, but I lucked out. I never had a problem with the Takeuchi until I tried to turn adjust the floyd height under string pressure and ruined the knife edge. I figured the Floyd Special would have needed to be replaced on one of my guitars by now but somehow it has stood up. It also stays in drop C' and gets rotated.
I had a dean 350 with Floyd and what is worse part is the locking nut this crushes your strings and changes pitch how i solved was removed and put in a tusq nut then it worked great no crushed strings smother string pull and stayed in tune way better
I've been running Floyd's on all but two of my guitars since I got my first electric guitar (an ibanez RG570 back in 1996) and I love them.
Nothing has EVER beat the Floyd for tuning stability and playability, and chances are nothing ever will.
Edit: you want to talk about a pain in the ass, I just got done with setting up one of my 7 strings (with a Floyd) in drop G. Getting it intonated, anf getting the float perfect was a pain in the ass. She's solid as a rock now.
I like the original Ibanez Edge tremolos. Most of my guitars have this and I never have tuning issues. I've always felt that the original Floyd Rose was the original GOAT, but the Ibanez Edge was an upgrade. Just like the German made Floyd Rose tremolos, they aren't cheap. But they are actually made from the same German steel, the good stuff. I have guitars with these tremolos that has been abused viscously. I'm talking about decades of radical tremolo abuse, and they exhibit little to no wear. They still stay in tune perfectly too. New stuff, I cannot comment on. But this old stuff, the Ibanez Edge, I can completely verify as legit and worth every penny to own.
This is a very great video, in my opinion I think the original Floyd Rose systems are way overpriced, in some parts of the world these systems costs about 550 bucks, totally not worth it at all, unless you are swapping it out on a really expensive guitar that had the original Floyd Rose from the beginning. In my workshop I´ve had over the past 6-7 years customers that are amazing guitarplayers but they don't have a clue what things to look out for before trying to adjust the height of the Floyd Rose Tremolo, so they end up with a guitar that don't stay in tune anymore and bring it to me to get it fixed. Most of the time I can fix the guitar by just getting a new baseplate, but hey.. if there is no baseplate to get then there is only one option, a new tremolo system. Also I tell all my customers with this problem to always try loosen as much tension on the tremolo as possible before turning those posts to change the height of the tremolo. I´ve tested the Floyd Rose Special a few times but yeah, it has less good quality, the material is not as good as the original Floyd Rose, but it will do the job and I think the Special series can be a very good alternative. I have two orders for building two custom electric guitars I will build during 2024, I was intended to start building in 2023 but I did not have the time. Both will have Floyd Rose Tremolo system on them, a Floyd does it´s job best in a recessed routing cavity, and less of a neck angle as a result. Thanks..
I've used Floyd Rose, Kahler, Wilkinson, fulcrum-style bridges, etc. I really liked the ones used for Ibanez and ESP because of the range of motion and how they stay in tune despite heavy use of the whammy bar.
"guitar,playing,journey,adventure.career. very well said.
I love what FRs do, but they're a pain when trying to install new strings, ugh. I never touch the Ibanez I have because of that. My "Whammy!" stompbox is much more fun to use, although of course one can't do the quick "quivers" and things very well with it, but it does "the thing", basically.
I think floyds are something like a designer pieces, like having a piece of futuristic panzer on your instrument, sure it has more range then the old strat whammy, but once I learned to setup the old vintage 6 screw bridge, I was like why I'm having locking systems at all, with a proper nut you will have the same tuning stability, not to mention going back to zero fret design, which has the lowest resistance. I always end up striping one of the screws on my schaller nut, on my F1000 bridge, best floyd I got was the gotoh, but many guitars develop problems with two point whammys, wood drying and the stud inserts falling out, also fine tuning the bridge radius with steel shims, again stripped one screw which holds the saddle down on a knockoff "special" floyd. I just quit locking systems, I would rather route out my corts body to give more range to my vintage 6 screw ancient bridge.
You can float a top mount also. Correct neck angle and all, it can be a few millimeters above the body and voila a floating bridge.
If you're going to use a tremolo you must use the very best available, everything else will be a headache, and a Floyd is the only system to guarantee a stable tuning. I've been around the tremolo block so to speak. Locking at the nut is a pain, because you can't finetune it like your normal nut, but nothing will give you that dramatic dive a locking nut does. IMO. The locking saddles are the major point of tuning stability, every other system suffers from G-string tuning issues, even the new Wilkinson saddles are not there 100%. I like a Floyd combined with a "normal" neck with locking tuners alá Guthrie Govan, that's the best of both worlds and easy to make small on the fly adjustments. I 100% agree that beginners should be nowhere near a tremolo system, including Floyds while learning to play. I have my eye on the Tom Anderson Baby Floyd as it has a thinner/traditional arm which I prefer, but I'm in no hurry to buy a Tom Anderson guitar at the moment 😉 $$$
I think floating bridges naturally give you better action. They are a shredder's best friend
i have floyds on 80% of my players.. i have floyd teles.. floyd les pauls.. floyd everything.. what i cant buy.. i make.. retro.. create.. i have a floyd martin acoustic... yeah.. i dig my floyds..
Floyd Martin Acoustic???
The radius stock no shims should be 16 or 20, then they have shims stock to bring it to 12 and you can double shim it to 9.5-10.
Hell yes it is love mine! Its a 1984 original 🤘🏻💯🎸
Are Floyds still worth it? HELL YES!
I own 14 guitars, 3 of which are Les Pauls. And 2 of those also have FloydRose trems. I feel lost without a trem...
Stumbled on your channel. Very informative, well done. Sub'd
Much appreciated! Thanks for subscribing
What are your thoughts on using whammy pedals (like DigiTech Whammy) instead of FR?
Anything that helps keep a guitar in tune is good in my books. Install a Floyd and locking nut and then throw away the bar.
If you like tinkering with your guitar as an amateur, it is technically impposible not to like this video! You can tell right away when someone knows his shit! Thanks for all this wisdom.
18:14 what are the better systems? i am building some custom 8 strings with high tuning and low tension because of my tuning system the high strings are lower and the lower strings are higher, and a few each in 6 string and 7 string to use for myself i am have most of the materials except hardware and a few fretboards.. i am was going to go with Floyd systems on all of them, except now i am only want the best possible setup. Looked at original floyds for the sixes and the one 7. And the other 7 and 8's the 1000 series. The main six string is an RG that i am replacing the tremelo and the body for any bridge i am decide and all of the other guitars are completely from scratch. However there is anRG8 i am considering converting with a new body as well. The scratch build guitars can use and do absolutely anything money is no object there. How should i am build them. i am have many hundreds and possible thousands of aggressive designs as far as shapefullness. Thanks for any whom read this and can add sense or cents to this to help, thank you for your informative video.
99% of the BS goes away once you block it so that it’s dive only which is what I’ve done to all of my locking trems. I have the Gotoh 1996 on my Charvel and the Floyd 1500 on my Schecter and both are great. The locking system on my Strandberg is excellent as well and I actually prefer it over the Floyds.
I bought a synyster gates guitar and didn’t know what a floyd rose was before hand
Good luck soldier 🫡
Man very in-depth history of the Floyd Rose, great job! And subscribed. I disagree with the main premise of your critique however. I haven't broken a string in over a decade lol. That should maybe be 5% of your worry. Everything else is DEAD on brother!
Maybe I need to switch string brands haha, I pop strings at the bridge all the time! Especially when pulling back on the trem
@@colt.thrower NO NO NO, lol, you have friction in the saddle, it's not your strings! Like SERIOUS friction...
I've had good luck with fr specials. I don't think I have seen a "licensed" that is as good
Great video…you covered everything…I don’t know why, but covid destroyed Floyds availability…you use to go to the website and get anything you needed…now there’s hardly anything available…I had to buy a floyd from stew mac (I’m an idiot)…it was the only place I could find what I needed….great stuff👍
that crackle jackson is damn fine!
Remember, you can and should adjust the string height at full tension
Anyone telling you otherwise is wrong, and it's an urban myth that doing so will ruin the knife edges
1 second ago
Just my two cents: no arguing that the Floyd Rose vibrato system is a wonder to behold. having said that, for a gigging musician is quite problematic: for a start, it is quite cumbersome and it just doesn't feel right when the picking hand rests on it. Then, if you break a string mid-song you'd better have the fastest string -changing roadie on the planet or a good comedian in the band, otherwise you are condemned to a ten-minute break while messing around with screwdrivers, Allan keys and the likes. There are ways to keep a Fender -type average vibrato system in tune while dive-bombing. And, if done correctly and all together, they work. It just takes some research and perseverance. If the Floyd Rose rocks your world, good on you! Personally, I'd pass on it....
awosome info. how many Spring is best for flatter?
I like 3. It depends on your tuning!
@@colt.thrower i do E standard
@@Saeedhashemi1994 3 would be perfect. Lighter systems like the Gotoh also do a great job of fluttering
I own 3-4 OFRs, the only one that turns really really smooth (fine tuners) is the original I got on a NJ Kramer. The build quality has gone down even on the originals
You just couldn't say touchyacoochie without laughing could ya.?yeah I know...lol
But you know,when my Floyd breaks strings,which is almost never,but they always only break the 5,or 6 smallest strings and always break where they go into the lockingclamp near the strumming end.of the neck..so I leave my last few strings long and never cut the excess at the tuning knobs?when they break ,I just loosen slack loosen all Allen bolts,nuts and reuse the string.no need to buy an entire set.or even leave the house to buy more...but it can be a bitch on restraints.even when you block it off.shims and wedges can be lost,fall out without noticing.intonation etc.
FUTone Floyd Rose is the ultimate 😊
Plus I forgot the say titanium
with the downtunings it always depends on the springs, Iam on cis tuning standard with 11-52. 2 red springs in everything is fine. And you can adjust the radius with shims. Biggest problem is that in germany I cant get these at the moment but I have to fit it .
Most people who avoid or say they don't need Floyd Roses is because they have no clue how to use it as an extra tool in the bag. Otherwise, why not to have and extra trick in the hat ?
Love the FR trem, still a great system
Kahler can do pulloffs an divebombs flush mounted no bs like a floyd
They are only worth about a hundred dollars in my opinion Floyd Rose 1000 and original bridge are the best but Floyd Rose special aren't bad worth about fifty or sixty dollars for the special Wilkinson is a good locking bridge also 45$ for a new one in some retailers, oh yeah, Floyd Rose special is a decent locking trem.
Floyd's all day long!!!!!!
They might be a pain in the ass to set up, but not that much and you should not be changing tuning on them anyway. That's not what they're for.
1. Once set up, make sure its the string gauge and tuning you want and leave it there. Changing them will change the way the bridge is set up. Most people will have more than 1 guitar anyway. Set each guitar up differently. Always up and down tuning just sucks anyway. Pick the right tool for the job to start with.
2. Stay away from licensed floyds. Only buy the ones that say Floyd Rose. Cheapos suck! They wear out very fast in comparison.
Floyd Rose guitars rule and I have always found the people who don; like them just cannot play them very well. Like anything, it takes practice. Yes they have a small quirk in them of strings diving. Nothing is perfect. Even a regular bridge has its flaws of not being perfectly intonated. You will always find a few chords that sound out of tune no matter the guitar. So learned to deal with what a Floyd does and you will be fine once you learn them. They're freaking awesome, and not having to tune every 5 seconds just gives you more time for playing.
Ibanez has truly been improving the system over the past 20 years. FR is stuck to the same old design :(
If by improving you mean redesigning the edge bridges originally with the intent of avoiding to pay royalties for Floyd Rose Patents, then yes they have been “improving” the system.
Imo, The Lo-Pro Edge, Ibanez ZR, and the ZPS system was the last real “improvement” of the original edge design, every other bridge or system created besides those were made either as a lower cost option to place on budget guitars, eliminate any elements covered by the remaining floyd rose patents at the time, or both.
Also, Floyd D Rose HAS actually been trying to improve his design, look up the Floyd Rose Pro, it’s a low profile version of the Original design
It just never really caught on, to the point that it has been discontinued but with an OEM 1000 series version still being made
We'll just say that it's entirely subjective. Yes, Floyds come with their own set of problems. That said, let's not pretend that the guitar isn't a heavily flawed instrument. It's the major love of my life, but guitars in general have inherent issues just based on the way it's designed.
My Floyd guitars sit proudly alongside my non-Floyd guitars. I love them all.
A _Floyd Rose Original?!_ those start at like $350… a Gotoh GE1996T
I despise these things. Have for about 30 years.
I don't agree the original inventors products are not worth the money. They are. Stability and reliability. Still prefer Levi Strauss jeans too. Can't beat the original.
Kahaler (how is this spelt). These had roller bridges right? Totally we wrong. Those rollers totally diminish notes. Trash
My issue with the Floyd Rose is the preset 12" saddle radius. Just three saddle heights 123321 which forces you to tilt the bridge and this makes the knife edges wear quicker among other issues. Ideally, the bridge should be level on any 2-point trem. There used to be a shim kit on Stew Mac to tweak the saddle heights but it wasn't cheap. I currently have the B saddle swapped with the G which helps a bit but it's still tilted.
Any time you break a string while recording it's a do-over situation.
AS FAR AS TUNINGS GO, THATS why I have multiple guitars! Bahahahah I’m sorry being a jerk but in a comical way. I hear everything everyone is saying and I have NO experience with any other floating tremolo bridges but would like to see what’s there. Didn’t Kerry and Jeff of Slayer use something called a Kohler bridge? A lot like a Floyd Rose but less headaches? You can substitute a whammy for a Digitech pedal, but it’s better to have both!!!!!
jeff beck used a standard strat trem and made all this crazy wonderful music. He stayed in tune. Nuff said
Totally. It can be done!
He's guitars were constantly adjusted, monitored, lubricated by the best techs in the world, and he was a master of playing them with precise control. You can be sure worked on the pitch at all times, cause no guitar holds tuning when you work them like he did. I bet studio outtakes would show what he was dealing with FWIW
i think its not that complicated. the man built hotrods, i am sure he could take care of a guitar. Anyhow, with the LSR nut ant the locking tuners, a floating trem you should be ok. I played squier strats with cheap pot metal trems, regular nuts and they stayed in tune well@@christianboddum8783
Is having pickups in a guitar worth it? Floyd is an indispensable part of a guitar. It will always be worth it.
I grew up on floyds. Now I only play stop bars in my old age :D Rock on.
I absolutely won’t buy a guitar without one. With 2 exceptions.
I don't use backplate in floyd hehe
Wow cool video bruther I'm not a dive bomb guy at all lol...I started seriously (trying to play)😝 one year ago as I entered being single from a three year relationship... At this moment I have quite the collection all within one year....I've got 2 mitchell ms450's ,, ( love em both) ... Epiphone Les Paul traditional pro ( love it also plays great) ,, Harley Benton explorer ( impulse buy at guitar center ) I think it looks really cool but a piece of shit with huge neck dive weight straight to the floor issues) fuck EMG'S BTW 🖕😋.... 2 nice acoustics ( Epiphone classic 1 and a nylon Lucero L1 that's sounds beautiful for a cheapie).... but I've got 5 Ibanez's 🤟 all range from 150 dollar to 350 dollar range and I am and always will be an Ibanez guy for life even tho there's other brands and body styles I love and will hopefully have in my future collection of madness lol .... The two GRGgio 120's I got from guitar center are for a beginner type guitar are super sweet for just everything I need as a intermediate player they sound amazing and feel beyond exceptional ( I'm sure you know what I mean) !!!! But through the years ( I'm 59 years old btw ) and have been listening to death metal since around 87-88 many decades later I'm still if not way more into extreme music I think because now I'm actually trying to learn as much as I can about GUITARS IN GENERAL not just playing it but knowing the wood it's made from the electrical aspects the type of string guages, standard tuning down to drop C# (😋😝🖕for those black SABBATH MOMENTS) ..... so watching videos from luthiers and techs that know a shitload about guitars are the people lately I seem to really be 🧲 magnetically drawn towards in my journey through this beautiful world of GUITAR !!!! it's weird that you have the same exact painting prints on your wall behind you next to the morbid angel flag I've got those exact prints also lol😝😝😝🤟🤟🤟so we're kind of seduced by the same demons man mentally haha 😅😅😝😝😝😝🤯🤯🤯Im not ready for a Floyd rose right now but maybe 6 months from now I still need some practice but thanks for the info REGARDLESS 🎉🎉🎉🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟
Algo😊
Schaller LockMeister... made at same factory in Germany. Less expensive. Stay away from the Korean junk...
Kahler so much easier to setup and dtune and tune
Garbage
Jackson players hiding in the corner
I did install a floyd rose in a 200 bucks squier. For my first atempt endend quiet well. Had to file the bottom of the locking nut to acomodate the tross rod , that was my only trouble. I only did this becuse i had parts laying arround from other guitars and the squier was cheap, but over all, turned into a nice guitar with a floyd, single emg 81, grover tuners, killswich, and some stickers to make it look like the kids thrash metal machine hahaa. i play it very often.
Too much work! I have many Floyd and Ibanez edge, Get get a Mexican strat with 2 point trem. Meaning with 2 screws bridge, replace with fender locked tuners and using fender bullet string and that’s it!! Will save you money and headache! Oh don’t forget to vessaline your nuts lol when put in new strings, If you want to go further replace your trem to gotho 510 remember kids stretch your strings is crucial
There is a lot missing from this, just saying.
Easier to fix also
Kahler
4:20 Wrong!
Really? Explain why Kahler moved to a floyd style locknut (see late stage charvel model series, some class axe era BCR, the original Fender HM Strats….) and why arguably their most notable users today (Kerry King and Jerry Cantrell) BOTH dont use that nut system.
I mean maybe you’ve got a good one but it is objectively a worse design and theres a reason it didn’t last.
I can’t think of too many guitars coming out today with Kahlers, except for the new “legacy series” from BCR. Their Ironbird is still getting a (you guessed it) floyd rose nut.
Boat anchors