Educate me on Floyd Rose Super Strats

Jez6345789

my Old Wood Les Paul project has hit the wall for a number of reason mostly as my existing piece of 50's Honduras Mahogany was simply not thick enough to repurpose from a junior to a full fat les Paul. Or it could be but it would be les Paul lite which was not what I was after. So now the search is back on for another piece of old growth Honduras. 

In in the mean time I have the fancy for another Partscaster but rather than go vintage again I fancied a single humbucker and may be p90 in the neck, rock machine. I have only owned one Floyd style guitar which was an ibanez S type which I regret selling for the odd time I felt the need to let rip.

My question is are the various Floyd licensed trems and I am thinking from Northwest Guitars here any good or do you have to splash out on a full fat US one and what are the main Differences I presume durability but as its an occasional use guitar it does not have to stand up to a hi work schedule.

any advice gladly received  thanks 

William Williamson

I've never had the pleasure of using a real Floyd, but I've used a Kahler Sypder and an Ibanez ZR and found no issues with either - I think the people who are turned off by them are those experiencing the bottom end of the market i.e. bargain bin BC-Rich, etc.

Makes me laugh, I was listening to a conversation with Vic Johnson (Sammy Hagar band) and he was saying that even among the US-built Floyds he only gets those done in the guy's garage because there's a tone difference.

Oh well, I can't hear it when I'm playing on my Line6 Insanity setting...

DLM

Suhr and Ruokangas use the Gotoh Floyd. Recommendation enough.

Brad Gillis also buys up the very first Floyds from the garage years where he can for tone reasons. His No Guitar Is Safe interview goes into detail.

Avoid ping metal like the plague!

Bidley

My advice would be to go with a Schaller, Gotoh, original FR or an Ibanez Edge (original) Edge Pro or Lo-Pro. The only thing you need to watch out for is the Edge Pro and Lo-Pro are different dimensions to the rest, and will need different routing.

I'd also recommend getting a big block for whichever trem you go for.

In reality, as long as you don't cheap out, and you set it up correctly, you shouldn't have any problems. The stock floating trems on my Charvel and Jackson (both Japanese made) are stable and good quality.

The problems with cheap floaters is that they will always go out of tune, no matter how well you set them up or how lightly you use them.

In fact I'm pretty sure I have an original Ibanez Edge sat in my parts box if you're interested. PM me if you fancy.

Maynehead

Floyd Original (German), Floyd Series 1000 (Korean) and Gotoh are all good enough quality wise.

Cheaper licensed Floyds have saddles and base plates made from softer material so they do not last as long, and they have zinc sustain blocks rather than brass/steel which have an inferior tone and sustain.

Putting a brass block on a cheap Floyd though is a cheap way to noticeably improve their tone, if you're not a heavy user.

Marshall_stax

I have a fleet of Floyd equipped guitars.

In my humble opinion after trying many, the best ones are either the Schaller floyds (I believe they actually make Floyds for Floyd Rose anyway) or Ibanez Lo Pro Edge.

You'll find it easier to put the Schaller on to a strat type body - But Ibby ones can be done if you fancy it.

I personally favour the Ibby ones. In fact I'm having a Lo Pro put in my long awaited Daemoness.  

Maynehead

Also, in my experience, a lot (if not most) of the times when Floyd guitars have trouble staying in tune, it's down to the nut being unstable, rather than the bridge. Not the clamps either, but the actual nut moving against the neck wood its screwed into.

Most Ibanez guitars have locking nuts that are bolted through the back of the neck, which is a lot more stable than most Floyd nuts, which are affixed by two tiny little screws. Maybe that's why some prefer Ibanez bridges for stability.

However, a decent Floyd with a solidly fixed nut is capable of staying in tune perfectly, in my experience.

Gizmo

If your not going to be abusing it to death a floyd rose special might be a cheaper option,these are Korean made and are the floyds you'll find on most sub £500 guitars they go for about £90

Yes they have Zinc base plates but with hardened steel edges and intonation points

http://www.floydrose.com/catalog/tremolos/6:special-series/special

As i recall @Jaden has some FRS for sale @ £60 each

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/86376/

http://www.jadenroseguitars.com/pages/43 ; (bottom of the list)

One major problem with other licensed (or cheap chinese floyds) is that the Arm Colet's are utter shit,they will not choke down to the base plate and leave the arm either swinging madly &/or leave enough space so that the arm moves side to side within the collar,that said ive also had the above happen with on OFR's (both my 80/90 carvins had this issue) and Ibanez trems
so now i almost always replace the arm/collars with Schaller Trem Arm replacements when i can.



 

Jez6345789

Hi thanks thats really helpful as I said my only experience was the Ibanez and that was good will check out some of the others mentioned here.