FMT Tele Trem

4on6

I’ve just bought an FMT Tele (the Korean 2 Humbucker fixed neck one) to take over main duties in the pub rock (dad rock?) band/s that I do and occasionally use as backup. 

I’ve used it for one gig so far and it seems great.... but!!!...
Ideally I had the idea of getting a Trem put in it.... and I notice the body depth is pretty shallow. Anyone out there already tried it with this model? Any ideas? Modifications? Mill the Trem block down and redrill the holes? Build up the back of the guitar with a laminate?? How easy or difficult?? 

Regards

Sassafras

Stick a Bigsby on it.

4on6

Sassafras said:

Stick a Bigsby on it.

I thought someone might say that.. to me that would be completely wrong aesthetically and we all know bigsbys aren’t always the most practical. 

Thanks for the suggestion. 

tanihhiavlt

lemmy get this straight... you don't like the idea of a bigsby as it's not practical but you're okay routing for a strat tremolo and the routing for the springs on the back? 

I think the Master Vee Telecaster Trem and the Trem King all interfere with the body and the Tele Stets bar doesn't

DrBob

Kahler would work 

ICBM

DrBob said:

Kahler would work 

Beat me to it .

Kahler. Very easy install with a top rout only, completely covers the footprint of the old bridge, and you don’t need to fit the locking nut if you don’t want to - with a straight string pull like a Tele, locking tuners are nearly as good.

Fitting a through-body trem is an enormous job to get right. I wouldn’t even consider it. Better to get a different guitar with one if you want that.

Or just buy a Whammy pedal…

4on6

tanihhiavlt said:

lemmy get this straight... you don't like the idea of a bigsby as it's not practical but you're okay routing for a strat tremolo and the routing for the springs on the back? 

I think the Master Vee Telecaster Trem and the Trem King all interfere with the body and the Tele Stets bar doesn't

Yea fair play, I’m being picky and concentrating on the aesthetics. 
I don’t mind bigsbys on some guitars but I really don’t see this guitar that way. I’d really like to be able to get my inner Jeff Beck/Alan Murphy on with it. That ain’t gonna happen with a Bigsby me thinks. 

The bridge is like a hard tail Strat rather than a traditional Tele. 

If there was a non invasive way of doing it, I’d much prefer that. I’ve been dreaming up ways to fit a plate to attach a duesenberg Les Trem to... maybe if I had a workshop at my disposal I could make it work?? 

4on6

Thanks @DrBob and the ever present @ICBM. I didn’t even know Kahlers were still available. Did I dream it or did they develop one that was purely top mount? .. or was that the Washburn thing that looked huge. 

Maybe it is time to start using a whammy pedal indeed!!

Jeremiah

Doesn't a Bigsby or Stetsbar require you to shim the neck to get enough break angle at the bridge? I don't think that's possible on a FMT Tele as it's a glued in neck not a bolt-on.

ICBM

4on6 said:

Thanks @DrBob and the ever present @ICBM. I didn’t even know Kahlers were still available. Did I dream it or did they develop one that was purely top mount? .. or was that the Washburn thing that looked huge.

There's a Floyd Rose like that - the FRX - but it's designed for Les Paul/SG etc bridge and tailpiece mounting studs only. It still uses a locking nut which has to be screwed to the headstock too, which is a bit daft - and leaving it off is unlikely to work well on a Gibson-type headstock, even with locking tuners.

There is also the Washburn Wonderbar/Shift 2001 too - less invasive to fit than the Kahler, but still needs two screw holes outside the footprint of the old bridge. Obviously that only matters if you want to take it off again! But it's also a massive faff to set up, ungainly and extremely ugly, so you probably will...

I agree that this guitar wouldn't suit a Bigsby, even though they're fine on traditional Teles.

tanihhiavlt

Every couple of years I wonder about swapping the freeflyte trem on my 84 strat for a Kahler, it's top mounted with very little routing. 

Philly_Q

4on6 said:

Thanks @DrBob and the ever present @ICBM. I didn’t even know Kahlers were still available. Did I dream it or did they develop one that was purely top mount? .. or was that the Washburn thing that looked huge. 

Maybe it is time to start using a whammy pedal indeed!!

There's a Floyd Rose, the FRX, which is top mount, no major routing needed.  But it's designed for Les Paul/Gibson types, I don't think it would really work on a Tele.  And it looks terrible.

https://floydrose.com/products/frtx

ICBM

tanihhiavlt said:

Every couple of years I wonder about swapping the freeflyte trem on my 84 strat for a Kahler, it's top mounted with very little routing. 

It makes a great job of them - you do need to fill a small amount of the existing rout first to take the front screws of the Kahler, but it's not too difficult, from memory it's just a couple of small pieces either side of the central channel.

4on6

Think we might be leaving “Foolish Game”” out of the set then. 

Loobs

So much f*cking around. Just buy a different guitar?

4on6

I have about 10 different guitars. I really need to bring them all to each gig and have a guitar tech to pass me the right guitar for each song. Can’t see that happening any time soon.