Are Floyd Rose worth the hassle.

MattKid

Looking at ordering my first strat (Tyler Burning Water) part of me thinks it would be fun to have one with a Floyd and part of me just thinks it will be a hassle .

What are your experiences with them?

Vim Fuego

First guitar as in you're just learning how to play?

I would avoid. Any reasonably-priced beginner guitar with a floyd will have a crappy licensed version and they can be a serious pain in the nuts to deal with if you're not used to them. Just my opinion of course, if you have your heart set on a floyd, go for it. Just take into account the additional effort when changing strings, moving up or down a string gauge etc.

Read the instrument stickies at the top of this forum to get an idea of what you're in for.

A7X

I have an Ibanez 320fm which has a floating trem and as with anything its become easy to deal with over time and practice but at the start it can be difficult to deal with! I was lucky to have friends and a teacher who are experts with them but if you dont and it is your very first guitar I wouldnt recomend it! Learn how to play first then bring the gimmicks in

MattKid

Vim Fuego wrote: »

First guitar as in you're just learning how to play?

I would avoid. Any reasonably-priced beginner guitar with a floyd will have a crappy licensed version and they can be a serious pain in the nuts to deal with if you're not used to them. Just my opinion of course, if you have your heart set on a floyd, go for it. Just take into account the additional effort when changing strings, moving up or down a string gauge etc.

Read the instrument stickies at the top of this forum to get an idea of what you're in for.

No as in first Strat style guitar (a Tyler is a little much for a first guitar!).

-=al=-

yes they are wirth the hassle... msot of the time

but only get one if u have another electric guitar that is not a floating trem

Karl Hungus

Definitely worth it in my humble opinion.

Voodu Child

For me, yes. They are.

The advantages (rock solid stability, range) outweight the disadvantages (goes out of tune if string breaks, needs to be balanced , takes a little longer to change strings, can't suddenly change tuning).

Not all my guitars are floyd (or floyd style), I certainly don't 'need' a locking trem, im usually happy enough with a fixed bridge or decent two-pointer. But like I say, for me, yes, they're worth the hassle. Love 'em :pac:

boycey

I suppose you have to ask yourself do you really need a Floyd Rose? Are you a whammy abuser or just a recreational user?
Theyre are fantastic when set up right and when you know how to keep them that way, theyre fiddly things though and 'some' would say tone suckers. Those 'some' might be talking out their ass though:D

-=al=-

i use mine so much on my rg it broke

now ive a right trem arm in my rg... and a right trem arm is also stuck in my strats trem....


cant find lefty trem arms anywhere, wasnt arsed gettin one on the net

Demeyes

They aren't really much hassle. All you have to do is learn what your doing when changing strings and you can't go wrong. I have them on a few on my guitars and they pretty much never go out of tune.

MattKid

I'm not sure how often I'd use it to be honest. I think the hassle of detuning the other strings when doing bends puts me off a bit.

I think I may go hardtail or non locking trem instead.

fguihen

unless its a genuine floyd rose, or a schaller floydrose avoid ( there are one or two other decent makes but they are the most popular).

Most Ibanes trems are good, except the Low TRS II on some lower end RG's.

I got an RGT42 with a Low TRS II trem and it sucked so bad. do a few whammys and everything was out of tune. SOB to set up also for the first few times, and still takes me about an hour.

I replaced that godawful low TRS II with a Schaller floyd rose and its rock solid. I mean it never goes out of tune. its unreal.

that was a few years ago, and im out of my metal phase so now i have simply blocked off the trem wtih a big chunk of mahogany. i just tune it like a fixed bridge guitar now.

unless you are really into the kind of music that requires them mean to learn to use the whammy correctly ( it sounds terrible when not used correctly) and also want to spend ages setting it up, id avoid it.

my next guitar, whenever that is will be a fixed bridge, or at most a strat with one of those basic wilkson floating trems.

MattKid

Yeah, Jim uses Wilkinson Vs100 or Vs50v with locking sperzel tuners, for standard trems. I think that would be safest.

Tremking trems look interesting though

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fyJNvY4MlFg

darrenw5094

Changing strings and tuning up can be a nightmare for beginners. Only change one string at a time. Taking off all strings at once to replace them is a painfull process to tune up if you have little experience with Floyd Roses.
I suppose if you are after one with a Floyd Rose, you will have to learn sometime.

It takes a while to learn and can be frustrating, but like everything else, you probably will pick it up.

punchdrunk

never felt the appeal myself...
then again i'm not a metaller :pac:

Voodu Child

fguihen wrote: »

unless its a genuine floyd rose, or a schaller floydrose avoid ( there are one or two other decent makes but they are the most popular).

Most Ibanes trems are good, except the Low TRS II on some lower end RG's.

The Ibanez Edge and LoPro are as good (or better) than an OFR. (imo)
The Edge Pro is also an awesome trem, with some great useability improvements.

The main problem with Ibanez trems is that most guys get their only experience with the Korean ones, which are pretty substandard like you say. The Jap ones mentioned are as good as floating trems get.

-=al=-

the jap edge pros are the bees knees

Patricide

I dont think there worth the hastle personaly. Its my opinion that they kill tone, you cant get a good a palm mute and it makes tuning up and down as well as restringing a pain in the backside.

Not saying they arent good, but there not my thing for sure. Bought a guitar with one before and the novelty wore off fast for me and i ended up selling it quite fast. Some people love em though as u can see, and its always fun to do the odd dime squeal.

MattKid

I've put my order in for my guitar with a normal 2 point trem.

Now I just have to wait 12-16 weeks or so.

SirLemonhead

Patricide wrote: »

you cant get a good a palm mute

You're doing something wrong then.

I don't really use them much, but all my guitars have them. Don't find them a hassle at all at this stage and it's really handy to be able to just slack and relock the same string if it happens to break down near the bridge.

If you have one where the bridge can only be dropped rather than pulled up, the downtuning issue isn't really there.

Patricide

Ok let me rephrase that , u can obviously get a palm mute but i feel that it doest have the same chug as what youd get on a fixed bridge.

As for the tuning thing, if you use the fine tuners to tune up and down constantly then it can unstablise your floyd rose, you mightnt notice it in regular playin but you might notice when your hitting harmonics and open chords and stuff. This isnt so much an issue on the real deal but it does happen still the odd time, and tbh its already enough hastle restringing the yolk never mind doing a full setup again.

A7X

I had a big problem with doing a full setup and I had to get my guitar teacher to do it for me so now I dont even try to do a full set up, but unfortunatly that means I cant clean it properly =/

Patricide

Same as a guy i know actually, his teacher was charging him 50 euro for a string change, never mind a setup :O. Thankfully now he gives it to me everytime he needs it sorted.

Its a balls of a job but if theres a pint in it for me

BarryCreed

strats with floyd rose = :cool:

fguihen

voodoo_child wrote: »

The Ibanez Edge and LoPro are as good (or better) than an OFR. (imo)
The Edge Pro is also an awesome trem, with some great useability improvements.

The main problem with Ibanez trems is that most guys get their only experience with the Korean ones, which are pretty substandard like you say. The Jap ones mentioned are as good as floating trems get.

yea, considered one of the higher end ibanez trems but getting an edge pro meant routing up the trem cavity on the guitar to a size that would fit the larger trem. the Schaller FL just dropped right in.

ball ox

I had a Jackson with a floyd rose and I can safely say that I will never go near a floyd rose again. They are a lot more hassle than they are worth and after you get one you quickly realize that, other than jamming along to van halen, you will never use it. I think its a huge compromise to make unless you plan on using it a lot. To me it's basically buying a guitar with a built in effect, I suppose it comes down to how often you would use that effect.

munkydanny

I'm not sure I agree, I've had a Floyd Rose on every guitar I ever owned (until I get my lovely Les Paul Custom that is!) and I love them!

It is a LOT of hassel at the start, but all it takes is a bit of practise to get a feel for them and you'll find it more useful than anything else! Also gives you a lot of freedom to raise and lower your action.

Never did like the Edge Pro though, always prefered the Lo Pro or the genuine FR!

Then again I'm just a big mad Steve Vai head, so what would I know?