Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

[jmh151]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

one thing to consider when looking at big blocks for FRs. there are a few different metals out there to choose from. I have a lot of brass on mine and I like it, but I've not tried out titanium or tungsten. the different metals will have different tonal characteristics. check out 'ebayguitarupgrades' on ebay, as he's worked with many metals and will work with people on exacts specs. he's the only guy I'm buying my blocks from.

I would stay away from Tungsten, I tried it and hated it.

With a Big Block, you double the size and mass of the block, giving you a fuller, warmer tone. Unfortunately the large size tends to prevent you from having the trem floating, and you must settle for dive bombs (though many like this)

Hypothetically, since it's double the mass and weight of Brass, a Tungsten block is half the size of a Big Block, but the same weight, so you are supposed to still be able to have your bridge float whicle getting the benefits of a Big Block.

The Brass Big Block tremendously improved the tone and sustain on my Charvel, making it sound like a hard tail, though the bridge was not floating.

I tried the Tungsten Block, and it had none of the warmth of the brass. It was very brittle and harsh sounding, and I can't wait to take it off and put the Big Block back on. The tone was IMO unuseable, it was worse than the original thin brass Floyd block (which is actually nickel or zinc plated)

Titanium I haven't tried, but I think I'm sticking with big blocks of brass.

In comparison, on both Kahler tremolos and the stop tail on my PRS there is a big difference in tone amongst metals where you can fine tune your tone. I installed TonePros studs on my PRS stoptail. The original brass ones are mellow, the hardened steel ones give you more harmonics- and this is just from changing the studs

 

[uOpt]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

There's a youtube video of Mark Knopfler playing one of his famous songs (probably Sultans of Swing) on a Suhr with a Floyd. Sounds like he always does.

Having said that, there are lots of options about Floyds, in particular when it comes to blocks, but also saddles. You can probably thicken it back up to where a 6-point trem is sound-wise.

In my opinion, Strat guitars with sustain block tremolos have their sound more dependent on the neck than anything else anyway. I am always more concerned about the heavy locking nut and the heavy tuners people usually mount behind it, along with what often is a "modern" neck with a truss rod rivaling a space elevator. I do not recall offhand whether Knopfler's Suhr had a locking nut.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

There's a youtube video of Mark Knopfler playing one of his famous songs (probably Sultans of Swing) on a Suhr with a Floyd. Sounds like he always does.

.

Well there's a few things about that Suhr. It's a Mahogany body, maple top, maple neck with a Schaller Floyd and EMG SA and 85 pickups- the mahogany body warms up the tone. The Schaller Floyd has a die cast base, which warms up the tone. The SA pickup tend to be fatter sounding single coil tone. So it's a fat sounding guitar that he probably EQ's to sound more like a strat in the video.

Lastly, and most of all, he picks with his fingers, which will always sound totally different than picking with a plastic pic- it gives a much smoother, controllable tone, but is harder to play fast with. Jeff Beck and Lindsey Buckingham fingerpic as well.

Probably due to the fingerpicking he'll sound the same on a strat or Floyded Pensa Suhr

 

[Varg]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

I use a guitar with a Floyd to gig with and the tone and sustain is better than any of my hardtail guitars (Gibson LP included). I dont buy these arguments Floyds ruin tone, its crap.

 

[youngthrasher9]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

I use a guitar with a Floyd to gig with and the tone and sustain is better than any of my hardtail guitars (Gibson LP included). I dont buy these arguments Floyds ruin tone, its crap.

I agree, total crock of crap.

 

[lex666]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

I've got 2 guitars equipped with Floyd's and they're anything but thin.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

I use a guitar with a Floyd to gig with and the tone and sustain is better than any of my hardtail guitars (Gibson LP included). I dont buy these arguments Floyds ruin tone, its crap.

A guitar with a sustain block tremolo will always sound so different from a hardtail that you can't possibly say "better" or "worse".

Other factors being identical a Floyd can be substantially thinner sounding then a 6-point trem. And as I said Floyd guitars often carry other soundchangers.

 

[GalliaEst]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

I recently blocked the floating trem on my Charvel Model 6 with some wood pieces. The tone difference was very subtle. So subtle that maybe a 1/2 a notch higher on my amp's treble knob brought it back to normal. I didn't notice any increase in sustain, but the guitar/pickups sustained a lot to begin with. The most noticeable difference was that the strings had less tension and the other strings stayed in tune while bending.

Most importantly, I can mess around with tunings easier.

 

[Grindspine]

Re: Do floyd roses have thin, bright tones for cleans?

one thing to consider when looking at big blocks for FRs. there are a few different metals out there to choose from. I have a lot of brass on mine and I like it, but I've not tried out titanium or tungsten. the different metals will have different tonal characteristics. check out 'ebayguitarupgrades' on ebay, as he's worked with many metals and will work with people on exacts specs. he's the only guy I'm buying my blocks from.

I've gotten two brass blocks and one copper block from that guy; they're very good blocks. The brass definitely added some punch and fullness to my mohogany body Washburn and my maple/alder B.C. Rich. The copper block added a lot of pleasant weight and low-mids back to my bolt-on B.C. Rich Virgin.

A stock Floyd style guitar won't sound the same as a hardtail. But, for me, adding heavier blocks and using a trem stabilizer definitely helped compensate.