Ways to tell Schaller/Floyd vs Licensed vs. UNlicensed knockoff... SADDLES?

[Adieu]

Set of saddles on my OFR doesn't look too bad but is chewed to hell where it counts, wondering if maybe somebody had put on aftermarkets...or are genuine 90's Germany Floyd parts a bit on the disappointing side?

Managed to destroy one, with a couple others looking like they might soon follow

After a few doubts, ended up ordering one supposedly-Schaller saddle and one super cheapo licensed trem to strip for parts or tide me over until the Schaller saddle arrives

ALMOST jumped on a Floyd Special on sale for $49 instead, but it had said their saddles were zinc... IS there any affordable source of steel saddles??? Only one I saw on Amazon was what appeared to be a Chinese knockoff of a Gotoh Floyd, but who knows if theyre not lying

 

[greekdude]

Re: Ways to tell Schaller/Floyd vs Licensed vs. UNlicensed knockoff... SADDLES?

I recently bought a floyd-like trem from aliexpress. It didn't fit the routing of the OFR without mods (which I didn't do), it had some design flaws, but the metalurgy was spot on. Really hard, plate, saddles, everything is solid.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Ways to tell Schaller/Floyd vs Licensed vs. UNlicensed knockoff... SADDLES?

Im returning the stopgap Floyd knockoff I got from amazon while I wait for the sloooooow shipping on a supposedly-real Schaller saddle

It didnt fit the rout. And had some weirdo issues, like much too tall saddles and seemingly being radiused to 7" or something similarly bizarre....as well as having a presumably-fake Ibanez stamp on it, lol.

That said, it DID survive full teardown (too lazy to post pics right now) and reassembly without anything binding or stripping. Even the knives seemed pretty good.

All in all, after tearing down 3 Floyds in as many days, I must say I have renewed respect for the Jackson/Takeuchi JT580LP...and lost some respect for OFR. The OFR was late 90s, maybe 5 years older than the Takeuchi, but seemed less neglected...yet had a bunch more corrosion and peeling finish.

In the past I'd once blown a saddle on a different JT580LP and since thought it to be much inferior... but now OFR and JT580LP are 1:1 in destroyed saddles...sadface.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Ways to tell Schaller/Floyd vs Licensed vs. UNlicensed knockoff... SADDLES?

Wish I could find Gotoh 1996 saddles sold separately.... somewhere other than ebay, because those are most likely knockoffs.

Reaaaaally don't wanna pay $100 for new Schaller saddles...