Floyd's

JamesPaul

Well-known member
After 30 years of restringing Kahlers, this seems a little work. Do not get me wrong, I wanted this HM Strat, but man, it seems like a LOT of work to restring a Floyd.
 
take your time and set it up right, then restrings are easy as long as you use the same gauge, tuning, and do it once string at a time. it's more work than basically any other bridge, but it isn't too bad once you're used to it.
 
Once I get the fretwork of a Floyded guitar perfect, I grab a set of Elixir's and set up the guitar with those. Yeah it's twice the work but those elixir's stay good for years.
 
Take old high E off, put new high E on,,,,,,,,,repeat for each string.
Don't take all the strings off at once unless you are doing work on the guitar, and even then it's usually best to pop the springs out and lay the still-strung bridge over to the side until the work is done, then just replace the bridge and springs and your still setup close to perfect(provided it was to begin with).
Then change the strings one at a time after all other work is complete.
 
I don't remember the restrining on mine being such a problem, but I recall bringing it up to tune took 2-3 times as long as hard tails.

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Isn’t a Kahler a floating bridge? I’ve never restrung one, but aside from cutting off the end and clamping, a Floyd is basically like any other floating trem.
 
Block the bridge where you want it to sit (block it on both sides), bring all the strings up to tune, then remove the block. The strings will all go out of tune. Now you just adjust the trem claw until the low E is correct and you're done.

Easy peasy.
 
Isn't Kahler a floating bridge? I've never restrung one, but aside from cutting off the end and clamping, a Floyd is basically like any other floating trem.

Yup. But they make a part for it to make it not float if you wish. It's a little screw that goes underneath the whammy that rests on the floor of the rout..

I charge double to restring a Floyd because they are such a pain in the ass.
 
I take off all the strings (no other way to clean the fretboard and frets) but block the trem in the middle floating position before I do it. You get good at it..it isn't that hard. But it is amazing to me that a better system hasn't been invented yet. The Speedloader was a good idea but looked terrible. But it really needs to be re-designed.
 
Dave - the Floyd was designed by a jeweler..... Did you know that Floyd Rose was a jeweler? That's why the Floyd is such a clunky-ass POS hardware. It's not elegant like the Kahler - designed by an engineer who played guitar (Gary Kahler). It ROLLS instead of GRINDS.
 
I didn't know that. But I think a good engineer should have a crack at it. Ned Steinberger did a TransTrem but the guitar had to be designed around it. There should be some kind of competition to design a better Floyd by a bunch of guitar playing engineering teams. We gotta come up with something better. It is archaic.
 
Once you learn how to work on them they are stupid simple. I always pull all the strings at once no matter floating or decked. I can just do it faster and easier that way.
 
My Kahler Hybrid 7200 is one of the best trems I own and I own Floyds, Babicz, Bixbys, and Ibanez Edges.
 
I take off all the strings (no other way to clean the fretboard and frets) but block the trem in the middle floating position before I do it. You get good at it..it isn't that hard. But it is amazing to me that a better system hasn't been invented yet. The Speedloader was a good idea but looked terrible. But it really needs to be re-designed.

What killed the speedloader was the damned strings. Nobody wants to be limited to a single brand of strings. What if they stop selling them (like they actually did).
 
I have never had the occasion to work on a guitar equipped with a Speedloader. I remember some of the Kramers had a Schaller-made Floyd with these square tubes on the back end of the unit, and you could use ball end strings.
 
It is like the Steinberger system, which uses double ball strings. It is a brilliant idea until you realize strings are only made by a few companies (all have since stopped) and cost 3x as much. It really is a great system, though. The ball fits in a slot at either end, and half of a turn, you are in tune.

I never examined a Speedloader up close, but the Floyd Rose-branded guitars were hideous.
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I take off all the strings (no other way to clean the fretboard and frets)

Well, rhere actually is...;) As dave74 has said: pop the whole unit out ehile strung up, pull it to the side, do the work, pop it back in and change strings one at a time.
 
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