Floyd Rose

Once upon a time, I was on a popular internet auction site and saw this BC Rich ASM in what I call the "Swimming Pool Blue" finish. Great-looking guitar, but something about the picture was just a little... off. I looked and looked, and couldn't figure out what was bugging me. I then turned to the brains of the operation (my wife) and she said, "There's no tuning pegs on the headstock." Enter the Floyd Rose Speedloader. I purchased the guitar and have never been happier. The guitar itself is rock-solid, but the Floyd Rose Speedloader (FRS--I'm gonna get sick of typing that out) is truly remarkable. It feels just like an OFR, but stays in tune through mega-punishing tremolo dive-bombs, flutters, squeals--whatever you throw at the FRS, it returns to pitch and then laughs at you for even TRYING to make it go out of tune. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still the fine-tuners on the bridge, and every now and again when there's an extreme temperature change or something you'll need to turn a fine tuner 1/4 turn, but that's about it. The FRS is set up for a specific gauge of strings and scale length, then you just buy that gauge/scale of Speedloader strings. Mine are set up for .009s and it's just bliss. Like any other Floyd, string gauge can be changed or the bridge can be set up for drop tunings via small adjustment screws in the bridge, but all these operations are MUCH easier on the FRS than on an OFR or any other licensed model. String changes take about 60 seconds start-to-finish, and the new strings are usually within .005 cents of being in tune, because they're made for the exact scale and gauge of your guitar and bridge. I've got a 25 1/2 scale with .009s, so I buy those strings. If you have a 24 3/4 scale guitar set up with .010s, you buy those strings. SIMPLE!!! The bridge saddle has a quick-release lever that raises the saddle, slacking the string to the point that you can remove it from the bridge and the nut, then seat the new string, snap the saddle back into place, lather, rinse, repeat. The strings have special brass cylinders clamped onto either end that slide both into the special nut and the FRS bridge. It takes a little getting used to the visual of not having tuning keys on your headstock, but the trade-off of being able to dive-bomb with impunity is worth the trade-off. You can also check out videos of the FRS in action via Troy Grady's now-famous amp shopping excursion at Ultrasound Rehearsal in NY--the QuickTime video is HUGE (484.61 MB) but you get to hear a lot of cool amps, and you get to see his Washburn Nuno (or Face Eraser... not sure) that has been retro-fitted with the FRS--the holes are still in the headstock where the tuning keys were removed and the new nut holds the top ends of the Speedloader strings. You can sort of see the picture without downloading the file, but it's a good listen if you've got the time and the bandwidth. Bottom line--the only reason I can see that these haven't become the "tremolo of choice" for any heavy tremolo player is the difficulty of finding the strings. Most often, I just order them directly from the Floyd Rose web site because not every large Center that sells a Guitar (naming any one explicitly would be irresponsible) has the strings just hanging on the wall.

I got this on a guitar I bought used. Took it off and put it on one of my better guitars. Luckily it was a direct replacement so I didn't need to do any retrofitting. Only problem is the nut is much taller than other brands so I'd either have to shave down the neck shelf or use a different nut. I went from a cheap licensed one that the knife edges had dulled out resulting in not returning to "zero" so it wouldn't stay in tune. This was a great upgrade. Now I can dive bomb, squeal, and flutter without it ever going out of tune. The trem bar sit in and has a thumb collar that screws on, personally I like it a lot. Allows me to loosen or tighten it just buy turning the collar, I don't have to spin the bar around 20 times like other trems. Another great feature is it comes with a brass block. Brass has been used in instruments for a long time for it's great musical qualities. It transfers vibrations and resonates very well so it's much preferred over other metals. There are upgrades for it such as a brass “big block” which just has more mass to make more resonance. There are also titanium blocks but I have no experience with them. I have nothing bad to say about it but there are a few companies who do. Recently Suhr and Tom Anderson guitars have stopped using the Original floyd rose in favor if the Gotoh floyd rose. Stating the Original has severely dropped in quality in recent years. Also stating that on average every few pieces they get in have to be machined and ground to take off little bumps and edges that would mess up intonation and a good contact point. I haven't experienced any problems so I won't comment. I do own a 1990 schaller and new gotohs so I'll do reviews on those as well.