Gotoh Locking Nuts - Quality OK?

Drak

New member
I've got a few Floyd builds coming to completion soon and need a few locking nuts.

Gotoh's are priced reasonably well below OFR's, any quality issues I need to know before buying?
 
I have 2 guitars with Gotoh GE1996T and the build quality and finish is above the Floyd 1000 Series I have. But on both I'm still using the locking nuts that came with the guitars and I haven't got any tuning issues. If you start from scratch with yours, just go with Gotoh hardware, you won't regret.
 
I'm finding Gotoh to be better than OFR by a significant margin. The locking nuts are at least similar but the trem units are better.
 
Are all the critical dimensions the same on a Gotoh Floyd Rose as a Schaller made original Floyd Rose?

Pretty much. The low to high E distance is 54mm on the Gotoh compared to 53 on the Floyd Rose. And the Gotoh studs are larger, if you swap an OFR for a Gotoh you'll have to pull out your drill bits set. Some people are reusing the Floyd studs, though I don't know what the long term results are. I wouldn't do that, especially since the Gotoh studs can be locked into place once you've adjusted the trem height, this and the tremolo arm are very well designed.
 
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Pretty much. The low to high E distance is 54mm on the Gotoh compared to 53 on the Floyd Rose. And the Gotoh studs are larger, if you swap an OFR for a Gotoh you'll have to pull out your drill bits set. Some people are reusing the Floyd studs, though I don't know what the long term results are. I wouldn't do that, especially since the Gotoh studs can be locked into place once you've adjusted the trem height, this and the tremolo arm are very well designed.

I see. So my OFR guitars may or may not like a swap, and my Warmoth body routed for OFR with studs installed also may not be happy.
 
I see. So my OFR guitars may or may not like a swap, and my Warmoth body routed for OFR with studs installed also may not be happy.

The only real difference is the studs width. I've widened the stud holes on 2 of my guitars that came with Floyds for the Gotoh studs and can't be happier with the outcome, if you're careful with picking up the right drill bit size and cautious when drilling you should be fine. I'm not a professional guitar player, nor a luthier, but a computer guy who likes fiddling with things and it didn't really look like a difficult job, took me more time to balance the bridge and intonate the bloody things :) But once set up they're both playing really well, the Gotoh trem is a really fine piece of engineering, they basically took an already great design and made it better. Side by side, the GE1996T is just another level.
 
So does anyone know if the Gotoh is a direct drop-in replacement for any of the Ibanez bridges? (specifically the edge-pro)
 
So does anyone know if the Gotoh is a direct drop-in replacement for any of the Ibanez bridges? (specifically the edge-pro)

From what I've read, some dremel/router action may be required for a perfect fit. The Gotoh baseplate is wider on the treble side because of the arm mount.
 

Thanks! I've wanted to see a chart like this for years, although looking at it I just learned everything I had not hoped for.
Looks like if you have an edge-pro you are basically stuck with it unless you do some routing. (no easy upgrades, only downgrades)
Edge-pro isn't really bad at all, it's just that I prefer the OG Edge and OFR(and probably the LO-pro too) over the EP.

I'm glad they included the OFR in the chart too. Very helpful chart.
 
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I already had the trems (OFR's) but needed two locking nuts for two projects underway.

But I have another third build underway that needed the whole thing (Floyd) too.
So I just ordered a full Gotoh GE-1996-T Trem kit based on your glowing reviews here.
 
Allparts used to offer an excellent behind the nut string lock - 3 screw holes for attachment, and 6 allen set screws to pinch the strings. Too bad they don't carry it anymore.
 
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