Floyd Rose Trems are Awful

A few things. ..

A decent Floyd costs $200 by itself. Unless you get a great deal on a used guitar, stay away from $300 guitars with Floyds.

Secondly, they just take practice. I can set up and change strings on my Floyds quicker than I can my Bigsby, and in about the same amount of time.
 
smurfco said:
I will agree that the music typically made on guitars equipped with these is sinister, execrable garbage. That's not the Floyd's fault.
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So what you're saying is...Floyd is just following orders?

You sound like a Nazi!
 
A Bigsby is all the vibrato I need, and I only use mine about once month. A Floyd is total overkill for me. But when they're used well Floyds do amazing things.
 
jp_nyc said:
A Bigsby is all the vibrato I need, and I only use mine about once month. A Floyd is total overkill for me. But when they're used well Floyds do amazing things.
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Agreed. I'm not a fan of anything that can't bend chords, honestly.
 
As a piece of engineering that solves a problem, I like the Floyd Rose.

What I don't like is how most guitar makers route a giant hunk of wood behind them for Vai/Gillis pull-ups.

I just don't like floating trems. If I'm bending a B string, I would like the low E to stay close to pitch. I'm sure some guys have developed a technique to hold the bridge more-or-less in place but I haven't been able to get that to work.

Plus I have a whammy pedal that lets me bend the whole chord in tune anyway. Oh sure, it destroys the guitar's tone and responsiveness but I can turn it off when I don't want it.
 
Kelly said:
Please explain how you can ensure that all of the strings retain both their tension relative to each other and their angle on a floyd, sir?
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Don't press down so hard. Floyd is good for a little wobble or a massive divebomb. Get to know Floyd, and Floyd will love you long time.
 
Most Floyds are not set up correctly.

For that matter, most Floyds are routed with a recess underneath.

#fuqafloat, to paraphrase @Help!I'maRock!.

I've got four guitars with non-recessed, non-floating Floyds and I'm building another one. I've found I really gravitate towards them for my needs.
 
smurfco said:
I will agree that the music typically made on guitars equipped with these is sinister, execrable garbage. That's not the Floyd's fault.
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Recorded with:

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GilmourD said:
Most Floyds are not set up correctly.

For that matter, most Floyds are routed with a recess underneath.

#fuqafloat, to paraphrase @Help!I'maRock!.

I've got four guitars with non-recessed, non-floating Floyds and I'm building another one. I've found I really gravitate towards them for my needs.
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I like the float. I float my PRS vibrato too. Or I use a Tremol-No (should be called a Vibrat-No) if I want to clamp it down.
 
Prages said:
A few things. ..

A decent Floyd costs $200 by itself. Unless you get a great deal on a used guitar, stay away from $300 guitars with Floyds.

Secondly, they just take practice. I can set up and change strings on my Floyds quicker than I can my Bigsby, and in about the same amount of time.
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I got that EBMM Sterling SUB AX4, which normally goes for $329. I had a FR Special laying around with a FR branded big block that I dropped on it.

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Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk
 
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I love the Wilkinson. It's a good mid-point between a standard Fender trem and a Floyd, and can do divebombs and still stay in tune (provided a proper setup).
 
@Kelly - That is how I feel about Kahlers!

Give me a Floyd any day. Don't use them much today - only one guitar equipped - but I am doing pull harmonics, dive bombs and/or random note abuse, give me Floyd!
 
I owned a Satriani ( JS 1000 I think.)
I gave it the Mystix treatment after 2 weeks because of the wiggle stick.
 
So.

Much.

Hate.


I'm not a big fan of Floyds mainly because they are overly busy, and there are just too many variations between all of the licensed pot metal cheap shit and the actual Floyd built models. However, a proper Floyd as mentioned earlier is an engineering marvel. They are also purpose built for the extreme. Probably not the best choice for a surf green strat used in a Beach Boys tribute band, on a Telecaster used for chicken pickin'.

Then again, your Dokken tribute is going to be pretty shitty if your lead guitarist is playing a Standard SSS strat with a six screw bridge.

Don't need one? Don't get one.

I prefer a classic Kahler over a Floyd, but they can be an even bigger mountain to climb when it comes to fully understanding how to properly set them up.

And here it comes...

My love for the MIJ Fender System 1 locking trems is unyielding. They are beautifully built, rock solid stable, multitudes less complex every bit as functional as either of the above.
 
I don't mind Floyd's but I haven't had a guitar with one for almost 25 years and would prefer that any guitar I buy not have one. I find the PRS set up not only easier to deal with, but I can go crazy on it and maintain my tuning. Even my Am Std Strat with graphite in the nut maintains it's tuning remarkably well even when visiting Jeff Beck land.
 
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