Floyd Rose Bridge Tremolo

[AbadMonster]

Who out there actually uses one of these?

 

Or, if you don't use one of these, or don't like it... what do you use?

[Zethlosa]

I have one in my JS and personally i love them, when i get my new guitar Ibanez RG2228 (prestige) i'm going to take the bolted in bridge out of it and add a Floyd people call me crazy, but restringing an 8 string floyd rose sound like a fun challenge :)

[jman64]

I have an EVH wolfgang with a floyd rose in it, but it's not floating ( only pulls notes down not up). I love a floyd in this configuration as I can still dive bomb, but I can also rest the edge of my hand on the bridge at times ( palm mutes and such) with out affecting the pitch. It also has a "D-tuna" which allows me to go from standard tuning to drop D tunning at the pull of a knob, and back again instantly. I find this to be the most comfortable and versatile bridge setup I've played on.

[ReiRo]

I' ve got an original Floyd Rose in my B.C. Rich  Mockingbird. I upgraded it with a black box.

 

It is always nice to pick it up and mess around with the Floyd. If I had to choose though, i would go for a fixed bridge.

I actually blocked the Floyd on my Jackson Dinky after a while.

[noahfence]

I think it sucks.  Could be my cheap $300 guitar, but after about 5 minutes of use the post is far too loose for the tremolo arm to be of any real use.

[ReiRo]

I think it sucks.  Could be my cheap $300 guitar, but after about 5 minutes of use the post is far too loose for the tremolo arm to be of any real use.

 

If you want to have fun with a Floyd you need an original one or at least a decent Edge Pro from Ibanez.

You also have to set it up properly. it can be a pain in the ass...

I blocked my licensed Floyd after I got the real deal which made the guitar so much better...

[snowdog]

I've got one and think they're marvelous. Great using the whammy bar and not having the thing go out of tune, and if I want to change the tuning or play a Hardtail then I have a Tremol-No to give me the best of both worlds.

[Attitude]

I have had several guitars with Floyds on em. I like them well enough that my next guitar MAY have one. I've been stuck on this headless guitar thing for a long time now and , well, my Steinberger designed trems are easier to deal with, but a bitch to replace ( parts are hard to find and pricey if you can find them ) I used to have an Aria Pro II from way back in the 80's, man I could beat the snot out of that Floyd Rose ( Doing my best Steve Via impression ) and it would stay in tune.

[buddybutch]

It's fub for the first month, and then you try to block it because it isn't usefull that much... so I would say having one guitar with it is OK, but that's all.

[piepesado]

I've got one and think they're marvelous. Great using the whammy bar and not having the thing go out of tune, and if I want to change the tuning or play a Hardtail then I have a Tremol-No to give me the best of both worlds.

 

Tremol-No, never heard of such a thing. I checked it out and it seems like a great solution to have. I have a guitar with floyd that's great for metal but I'm limited to E standard so I have a Les Paul to downtune, its an awesome guitar but it does not have the high output and heaviness of my Jackson with active Emgs.

[snowdog]

Yup, it's a great invention. I love clever little gadgets like that.

[Kasnitch]

I used to have an Ibanez RGT42DX with an FR style trem back in 2007. Up here it cost me $700 after haggling with several mom/pop "music" stores. 

For a beginner not a bad guitar to learn on.  Set neck, net lock, jumbo frets, thin U neck, fine tuning adjustors.  Needed tuning up about every hour or so...... if you never used the trem, even for a bit of vibrato. One dive bomb and you were re tuning instantly.

 

I'm a firm believer that serious commitment into learning a skill requires good or great tools.  IE  a passion for playing music.  Once I knew that I was on the road to playing the rest of my life, after struggling for several years and making slow but enjoyable progress, then it was time to get proper instruments and gear.

 

I did over a year of research and bought an ESP Horizon with Original FR trem, in early 2010.  It cost me $2500.00 and believe me when I say, they are f'ing amazing.  The guitar was setup perfect out of the box, and the trem is still perfect to this day. 

 

I've been using the same set of Elixir nanoweb strings for over a year.  Once the strings were broken in and stretched out, which was very little time, compared to other brands, I rarely have had to tune the strings at all.

 

I sit down to practice and check the tuning with my Snark. I check it. It rarely needs fine adjustment, except when the inside humidity changes, since its been a long and bitter winter up here.

 

This is a vid of Chappers on Utube back in 2009 playing the style of Horizon that I ended up purchasing, largely based on videos of him playing the hell of them them and loving it.

 

http://youtu.be/17HoA2HPgU4 

 

The only guitars IMHO that are better than the Japanese ESP's, are PRS. I had a 2011 Studio for 6 months, then had to sell because of life stuff.  That one cost $3500.00, and was clearly a superb instrument, and honestly, beyond my ability to play at its potential.  PRS designed and makes all the guitar and hardware electronics, or at least used to.

 

Once you determine that guitar is now part of your life, and the commitment is there, do your research and buy quality that will last you a lifetime.  You will never regret it.

[wynterwolf]

I got an Ibanez with an Edge III for my second guitar.  Beautiful instrument for the money, but I had tons of problems with the bridge early on.  If I hit that bar, the damn thing was out of tune.  Frustrating.  Additionally, a real pain if you need to set alternate tunings.

 

One day, I got a hair up my rear and decided that I was going to figure the damn thing out.  Intonation wasn't quite right and I didn't think it would be too hard to set a guitar up right with the proper research.  After all that, I figured out how to set up a guitar properly.

 

The thing is a real pain to set up, but once it is, it's pretty sweet.  Now, it stays in tune properly no matter how hard I wail on it.  Though, I really only use it to get nice fast vebrato or a dive bomb here and there.  In the end, I would say that a beginner should avoid it until they have a few guitars laying around.  Then maybe get one with it.  The pain in tuning the guitar really makes me avoid it if you only have one guitar.

 

I'm also intrigued by the tremol-no...

[thlunasa]

I've got an Ibanez with the Gotoh Licensed FR.

I've got an Ibanez with a genuine FR.

I've got an Ibanez with the Ibanez spin-off ZR tremolo.

I've got a fake Chinese guitar with the Ibanez spin-off Edge Pro tremolo.

[Billkwando]

I also have a JS model Ibanez with an original Edge, and zero tuning issues.

 

I recently put Gotoh Magnum Lock tuners on my wife's Ibanez SA160, and it was just about the best upgrade ever. Her guitar doesn't having a locking nut, naturally. The tuners (model SG381) are nearly indistinguishable from regular tuners, except the posts pop down into the headstock when it locks. Tuning is completely normal, with no extra steps required for the tuners. They're also a drop-in replacement in Ibanez (or likely any) guitars with Gotoh-style tuners, no drilling required.

 

I also lubricated her nut with Master Lock lock lubricant, which is basically Teflon oil, which ensures the strings don't bind in the nut. Anyplace the strings bind or making pinging sounds (try divebombing without actually playing any notes and listen for it) you're going to have tuning issues. The stuff is $5 from amazon and they give you such a big tube, it'll last the rest of your life.

 

This is perfect for Rocksmith, because of all the retuning required. I'm not detuning my quitar to drop D and messing up the trem angle, so I just play hers on songs like that.

[mjmiller1824]

For RS I prefer to switch guitars. I finally cracked and got a tremel-no even though I really hate them (Mostly because I hated the guitar I used for Alt tunings even more).  They are flimsy pieces of junk that if you are going to switch back and forth between hardtail and trem function you will have to replace yearly as grooves get worn into the post and start affecting the fluidity of the trem. It's not a bad idea just poorly implemented IMO. Eventually I hope to offer an improved version of this but I need to engineer it better and make sure it's not violating the All-parts patent. But anyway. I like FRO but only if I'm not changing tuning. And only if I'm using light strings. 9-42 is my prefered on my trem guitars. 13-56 on my hard tails. If you need any help with your FR let me know. I can fix, build, or repair almost anything. Slightly less useful over the internet.

[dalenichol]

I got a new guitar from a colleague today. It has a floyd rose and the first thing I'm doing is blocking it.

 

Doesn't really seem to have any real use for me, and the uses it does have seem to be far too much faffing about for a little payoff

[Billkwando]

If it's an Ibanez Edge trem, I'd leave it alone. I have one and it's super stable, all the time.