Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

[marty_the_westie]

I'm thinking about buying another Ibanez to Hot Rod up. But the one I like has the Floyd Rose lic. bridge. I have never played a guitar with one. I do not really use the bar that much at all, so I'm wonering if it would be too much of a pain in the ass to maintain. Thoughts?

 

[Grandor]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

Yes

they are a godsend

 

[nuntius]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

To quote myself (must be 3rd or fouth time I've said this )

If you're gonna use it, nothings works like one. If you're not, nothings gonna pi$$ you off like one.


Simple as really.

You have to take all the drawbacks -

-Tone
-Sustain
(if its floating)

-Very awkward to change tuning
-When you rest hand on bridge heavily pitch rises

and the pro's

- It'll stay in tune pretty much no matter what you do.

Depends which is more important to you.

If you want to do any kind of crazy trem work get a FLOYD!!!!

 

[marty_the_westie]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

If you get one and lock it down, will you still have the afore mentioned issues?

 

[guitarshredder]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

If you want to do any kind of crazy trem work get a FLOYD!!!!

+1

 

[nuntius]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

If you get one and lock it down, will you still have the afore mentioned issues?

Well, it'll sound better as you're not losing "sound energy"(for lack of a better term) through the trem vibrating when you play a note. (this is assuming its floating)

But, you still have a huge chunk of wood (where your springs are) missing out of the guitar so it wont sound the same as a guitar which is made as a hardtail (with no trem route).

You'll also still need allen keys to change strings which is a pain :smack:

I don't see much point in getting a floyd axe to lock down the trem, you'd be better off with a hardtail if you're not going to use it.

 

[B2D]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

Based on my extensive experience, REAL Floyd's (not that licensed sh*t) and Ibanez Edges are the only ones really worth playing on.

Nothing else stays in tune that well - period. Plus OFRs have a LOT more sustain. Seriously with a properly set up, top-of-the-line Floyd the impact on sustain is minimal.

The only downside is that you need more time and a small hardware store to change strings but I'm willing to trade that for the killer performance it gets.

If you don't use a trem that much then i'd just get a hardtail. If you do Eddie-style stuff its worth it. If you do Vai-tricks is essential to get a top-notch bridge.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

My preference these days are usually classic type guitars with no Floyds, but learning to play in the 80's means I've grown to like Floyd Rose Trems.

My opinion is that if you're going to consider yourself a guitar player, you've got to spend the time to learn how to do thorough setups. Floyd setups are much harder than traditional bridges, mostly because of the awkward saddle adjustments.
If you keep with the rule that the baseplate must be flush with the body, and the intonation is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS the last adjustment you do, and is done to perfection, a Floyd tremolo will stay in tune perfectly with minimal adjustments needed afterward. There's no tremolo system on the market that has proven itself to be better than a Floyd Rose system. It was a perfect design.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

Floyds are great if you're really going to use them, not that great if you're not. I agree with GJ, Floyds are perfect as far as trems go, but I still like the Wilkinson VS-100 with Sperzel tuners and a graphite nut. It stays in tune just as well (when properly set up), there's less wood removed from the guitar body, and adjustments and string changes are much, much easier to go through.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

My vote is for the Wilkinson VS-100 with Sperzel tuners/Graphite nut. It stays in tune, doesn't cut so much out of the body, less moving parts, no wrenches, and looks a lot cooler-
<----- check it out!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

I tend to agree with the above posts about the Wilkinson, since they have a more streamlined and classic appearance. I'm not convinced that they can take the same level of abuse and return to perfect pitch, but most guitar players these days aren't doing screaming divebombs and motorcycle noises. The Floyd has always amazed me, in the fact that you can slack the strings till they're lying lifeless, then let go of the bar, and the guitar is in perfect tune.

For people with the licensed 'screw in' type bars that are loose and wobbly, you can now buy the Allparts retrofit bar at almost any music store. For $14, you can have a bar that's the same as the real floyds, with the cuffed 'screw ON' type.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

If you're going to yank on the wang bar, nothing beats a floyd. I can go from full slack to a 2.5 tone bend and back, and it'll return in tune every time.

Unless you break a string....

I which case, you'd better have a backup ready to go.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

If you're gonna use it, nothings works like one. If you're not, nothings gonna pi$$ you off like one.

My thoughts exactly. Since I only use the bar for light vibrato, I sold my one-and-only Floyd guitar and don't miss it a bit.

 

[guitarshredder]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

For people with the licensed 'screw in' type bars that are loose and wobbly, you can now buy the Allparts retrofit bar at almost any music store. For $14, you can have a bar that's the same as the real floyds, with the cuffed 'screw ON' type.

With this "retrofit" bar, will the "Licensed" Floyd work just as/almost as good as a REAL Floyd/Edge??? Or do you guys think I should still buy the Original Floyd Rose??? :fing25: :dance:

 

[B2D]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

You're talking about just the bar... having a different bar will have nothing to do with how well the bridge stays in tune, or not.

Thats like saying a Ford Focus will perform like a Lamborghini Gallardo if you put the Gallardo's tires on the Focus, geddit?

Get the OFR, everything else is poop.

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

They suck bass out don't they?

Personally, I don't use the whammy bar, and if I do, only with very slight movement.
I spend more time working on my finger vibrato, etc. etc.

Marty Friedman plays hardtails - former guitarist for Megadeth, and he proves that you don't need crazy whammy sounds to be a great metal guitarist.

But hell some people do crazy stuff with whammys, it's fantastic.

Bee

 

[B2D]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

They suck bass out don't they?

Like I said, a good OFR will have minimal impact on the tone but it will still have an impact. I don't have any problems getting nice smooth deep bass tones out of my Floyd-equipped Strat. Everythings a compromise, you know.

Personally, I don't use the whammy bar, and if I do, only with very slight movement.
I spend more time working on my finger vibrato, etc. etc.

Marty Friedman plays hardtails - former guitarist for Megadeth, and he proves that you don't need crazy whammy sounds to be a great metal guitarist.

But hell some people do crazy stuff with whammys, it's fantastic.

Bee

I've begun using the whammy bar more and more but mainly for things that are not physically possible just using your hands and sound that are geared more towards a progressive rock sound. I could play a Les Paul an still sound just as good.

I know what you mean about Marty... he's an awesome metal guitarist and for his sound he really doesn't need one.

Zakk Wylde is the same way in that he's developed a powerful bending/vibrato/slide technique that actually makes it sound as it hes got a whammy bar at times. Check out the start of the solo to "Hellraiser" if you wanna see what I mean.

However I love playin with stuff and there ain't no other way to get that Joe Satriani scream! :smoker: It's all personal preference and how you utilize what you've got.

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

mmm very insightful B2D. I love Satch's bar abuse, as well as Vai's... I'm gonna check out Hellraiser soon. (thumbs up)

I was always under the impression that a good FR unit would not affect sustain, but would in someway or another affect tone in more ways then it affects sustain.

Bee

 

[B2D]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

I get great tone out of my OFR and I have no complaints. Sustain is excellent, and all the bass is intact as well.

I'll admit I did try to get a Hipshot tremsetter to solve that problem of the bridge dipping down when you bend a string but that thing caused more problems than it solved so i had to junk it :blackeye:

 

[Grandor]

Re: Are Floyd's worth the money and effort.

To quote myself (must be 3rd or fouth time I've said this )

If you're gonna use it, nothings works like one. If you're not, nothings gonna pi$$ you off like one.


Simple as really.

You have to take all the drawbacks -

-Tone
-Sustain
(if its floating)

-Very awkward to change tuning
-When you rest hand on bridge heavily pitch rises

and the pro's

- It'll stay in tune pretty much no matter what you do.

Depends which is more important to you.

If you want to do any kind of crazy trem work get a FLOYD!!!!

I cant see why floyd guitars have worse tone?
Sustain wouldn't be an issue, cause only fags/pros have floating bridges. My wolfie sustains very well.
If you wanna change tuning, change guitars.
If the floyd isnt floating, the hand on bridge isn't an issue.

The worst Issues I see are:

- When you break a string on stage, may as well change guitars cause it throws the pitch of all the strings out even if it isnt floating (unless if your trem is so damn tight that u cant even use your trem bar).
- Changing strings is a bitch, also stretching them in.

PROS

- As long as you have fresh strings on (that are all stretched in) you'll be as sound as a pound till your next change/breakage