Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

[Lux84]

I am thinking of buying a new guitar for metal, and it's jackson kvx10d king v,
here is the link with specifications: http://www.jacksonguitars.com/products/specSheet.php?product=2911300303. the question is if this licensed floyd rose is made in germany, by schaller? because if it's not, i wll buy another guitar with no floyd rose at all... i heard that this is the only floyd rose system, that works fine with tunnings and other stuff. i like dive bombing and that king of stuff, but not always.. i was looking around for that perfect combination, but no information.. i heard that edge pro tremolo is very cool system too, as well as kahler.. the thing is that if it's not good floyd system on that guitar, i'll buy after a few years one that is, and now some metal guitar without t-o-m string thru. today i was experimenting with standard tremolo bars on some cheap guitars... i like the sound of this. once again, the question is: is licensed jackson floyd rose made in germany, by schaller? and the guitar i am thinking about is mid-price jackson kvx10 king v... how does it works?

 

[jmh151]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

No, they are not made by Schaller. I hear the JT580's aren't that good

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

The licensed Floyd Rose trems on those guitars are made somewhere in Asia, and they are not the best quality. A German-made Original Floyd Rose (OFR), a good Kahler, or an Ibanez Edge would slaughter it. My biggest beef with it was that it sounded soft and mushy. The OFR was a drop-in upgrade on my SL3; it rings like a bell, stays in tune, and it is just a great all-around rock-n-roll bridge.

 

[Lux84]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

Is it worth to change the licensed floyd rose with original schaller on that guitar?

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

Yes. I've done that on several import Jacksons, and it's definitely worth it.

 

[Varg]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

Why don't you just buy a higher end Jackson to start with. They come with OFRs and real Seymour Duncans so you'll be starting from a better foundation without changing a lot of things.

The JT580 are decent trems and will be fine unless possibly you are in a band that plays a lot of gigs. For home and rehearsal, those are good trems.

All of that said, I think you would be better with a hardtail, they're just better!

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

No, hardtails are not "better", they're "different".


But yes, if you can find a KV5FR for a decent price, you can get a neckthrough with OFR.

You are not likely to find a KV2 for a low price.


However, there's nothing wrong with the KVX10 as it is. The trem is not going to fall apart in a week, even if you're doing Vai-style whammy abuse. You'll have about 2 years of daily service from it before it needs replacing due to worn knife edges. In that time it's easy to save up enough to buy a Schaller-made OFR.

 

[Lux84]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

i think i'll buy a V guitar with t-o-m and string thru body bridge. some dean v or ltd v series. and some mid price fender statocaster, because of tremolo whammy arm... and i'll later buy some higher priced ibanez with edge tremolo for dive bombs, and that kind of stuff... i just don't want to upgrade, it's to expensive... and i don't want no ****ing problems with detuning on that japan licensed floyd roses, so i will not buy that kvx10d.. thanks for answers anyway. one more answer: do fender stratocaster tremolo stays in tune, i just wanna use it for the beggining for some hendrix or brian may stuff... and maybe later in metal, if necessary ... i can wait for better guitar, or i will just search for a guitar player with one pro floyd rose style guitar, and the divebombs will be his thing in the bend... i even didn't have a band, so i can search that way... i am into speed/thrash stuff mainly, but also to some classic/hard rock music on the other way. i just heard that replacing floyd rose isn't realy recommended and i don't have that much money for the guitar with pro floyd rose, or kahler or edge... i heard that ibanez edge stuff is really good, so if anyone can tell me the name of ibanez, worth to buy i'll be aprechiate... and there are many sorts of edge on different series of ibanez guitars. edge zero, edge III, edge II etc. which one is worth money? sory for my english, i am from slovenia.

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

I'm going to spout off at the mouth a bit here, and I tend to get on my soap box here, so don't mind me if I'm off too far.

The bridge on that guitar will be fine as long as you're not jumping up and down on it constantly like Vai does. Even an OFR, Edge, Gotoh, etc... will go out of tune at times while doing that stuff.

The thing I'd have to stop to think about if I were you is, are you going to change tunings alot? If so, get a hard tail bridge. Unless you make a floating Floyd type bridge dive only, you're going to have issues with doing that. Normally, you can only go down a half step before a floating bridge will start getting wonky on you. Really, IMO, every guitar should be set up for a particular tuning and left that way. Some guitars can cover a lot of ground with pickups, but when you start messing with different tunings, the intonation comes into play.

Too expensive to upgrade is a load of crap. There are several top notch bridges out there that don't cost a lot. The Floyd Rose Special is less than a $100, will drop right in, and a few steps up from what is on it now. The Gotoh double locking trem is about $130 and I actually prefer them to their OFR counterparts. Floyd's patents ran out a few years ago and now there's several really good quality bridges on the market for not a lot of money. IMO, you'd be better served by swapping the pickups out and ditching those Duncan Designs than messing with the bridge.

Last thing, the proper function of ANY double locking trem is completely based on it's proper setup. Get that part right and don't worry about the rest. All knife edged floating trems are going to wear out. It's just something you're going to have to own up and deal with if that's the kind of bridge you want on your guitar.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

i have a 1994-ish imported Jackson that i love... it has pretty much been my go-to Floyd guitar since i bought it... but i messed it up... i had won a few grand on a lottery and it was burning a hole thru my pocket... so instead of buying a better made better quality guitar i was into customizing cheaper guitars until nothing but the wood was left.... this is not a bad thing in some cases but it is often better to get the real guitar you want over trying to make a lesser version into it...

when that guitar was brand new i had a tech under great protest rip the frets out, re-radius the board, refret it to 6105's, add a JB, and add a FRO.... at the time i could of bought say a Les Paul Standard or even a USA Jackson with what the guitar cost me including the extra work ontop of it's retail!

saddly the tech never moved the bridge posts as it was drilled for Schaller spacing and not FRO... the guitar never intonated right on the Low E as the saddle could not go far enough back... i ended up using it that way as my main guitar for many years... i still have it and still play it quite often... I ended up buying a second example of this model used for $300 a few years back and have pretty much kept it stock... other then changing the crappy Floyd posts as they are made awful and move around too much to hold in tune... i installed some Hardened inserts and posts from Stewmac...

about 5 years ago i put the original trem back on it as at least it would intonate... then i bought a schaller soft base trem and installed that.... it works perfect now... but i have spent a load on this thing and most likely could never sell it for more then $250 even with all the added parts...

because of this experience i've decided that instead of modding the hell out of cheaper axes, i'll buy better quality whenever i can, or use a cheap axe as is...

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Licensed Jackson Floyd Rose

The Schaller-made Jackson-logoed JT590 and OFR post spacing is the same. The only difference between the bridge designs is the Schaller uses inserts for the knife edges and shorter barrel screws to lock the string blocks in place, and thus required a shorter recess for pullups than an OFR.



And while those other trems are "only" $100-$130 here in America, they're about double that in some European countries, if you can find them locally. And not everyone ships to all parts of Europe.


The Strat trem will stay in tune if you first learn a few tricks to make it happen, such as winding the strings around the posts a certain way, rubbing graphite on the nut slots, and some other things.
A double-locking licensed Floyd takes about the same amount of effort as all that, maybe less.

The one flaw in the design is, as was stated, changing tunings for the different CDs you play along to.

If you're just going to detune it once and leave it, either have the dealer you order from do it (if they offer that service - don't buy from Musician's Friend), or simply find a tutorial online. There's hundreds out there.

Basically you just unlock the nut, detune the strings about a 3rd of the way toward your target, then loosen the two spring claw screws until the bridge is almost level again. This should take you below the tuning you were going for, then you just tune the strings up and they should level the bridge. Tighten the nut and you're ready.