To Floyd or not to Floyd?

GrandmaShreds

GrandmaShreds

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The Floyd Rose Trem system gets a lot of hate from players everywhere, but is it justified? Sure, it's a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it's relatively easy to maintain and work on. I see a lot of players complain about the tuning stability but that usually has to do with the nut about 95% of the time, and also having a level float helps too. Once they are set up and tuned in, they stay in tune really well. It all depends on the quality of the unit too, a cheap Trem isn't going to work as well as a higher end one. Even if you have a FR Special, you can easily upgrade the parts to higher quality ones. This is all just a matter of opinion though.

Thoughts?
Screenshot 2024-08-05 3.36.56 PM.png
 
Metalhead here. I've probably had a dozen shredders with locking trems over the years. I recently got into Strats and now I've got a few PRSs as well and I can pretty much do as much wanking as I want on the bars and the guitars don't go out of tune, and no locks at the nut.

To me now a FR is just an unnecessary PITA. You break a string and you're hopelessly out of tune. Restringing is a PITA. I used to always have issues with my fine tuners sticking in spots. Give me a 2 or 6 point Strat-type trem and I'm fine. The only thing you lose is the ability to bend notes way the heck up.

Funny thing is a guy was short on cash just a couple of months ago on a deal and he gave me a Schecter Shredder with a Floyd Rose, so at the moment I've got one.
 
Too Many Notes said:
Metalhead here. I've probably had a dozen shredders with locking trems over the years. I recently got into Strats and now I've got a few PRSs as well and I can pretty much do as much wanking as I want on the bars and the guitars don't go out of tune, and no locks at the nut.

To me now a FR is just an unnecessary PITA. You break a string and you're hopelessly out of tune. Restringing is a PITA. I used to always have issues with my fine tuners sticking in spots. Give me a 2 or 6 point Strat-type trem and I'm fine. The only thing you lose is the ability to bend notes way the heck up.

Funny thing is a guy was short on cash just a couple of months ago on a deal and he gave me a Schecter Shredder with a Floyd Rose, so at the moment I've got one.
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If you install a Vega Trem on a Strat you get basically all the functionality of a FR without the hassle when if and when a string breaks. Although they are expensive.
Vega Trem
 
I've had many FR equipped guitars over the years and it only takes slightly longer to set up and float a FR than it does a Fender style trem. Yes, if you break a string then your guitar will be out of tune but that will happen with a floating Strat trem as well.

That said, I now prefer the feel of a non-locking nut system and tend to avoid FR guitars for that reason. With a well cut nut and locking tuners, tuning issues are pretty minimal even with heavy use.
 
I started playing around 1982 which is right around the time FRs hit the market. They were wildly popular as they really seemed to solve a problem. Today with nuts that are made of varying materials, self lubricating and the knowledge available on the internet of how to properly cut a nut to reduce friction, they seem to have dropped some in popularity.

Maybe those older than I can answer; putting aside nut materials, did few people pre-1980 know how to properly set up their guitars? Other than lubing up the nut with pencil lead or similar I don’t recall any advice regarding cutting the nut to help with tuning. Clearly even Hendrix’s tech (if he even had one) didn’t know this as that guy was often out of tune.
 
Mouse said:
did few people pre-1980 know how to properly set up their guitars?
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Mouse, I'm not sure that people of the here-and-now know how to properly set up their guitars.
Which is strange to me... orchestral string players learn early on the necessity of a good bridge-board-nut relationship and how to achieve it.

When I was introduced to Floyd in 84 or 85, I thought it a solution looking for a problem.

But I came to guitars via orchestral strings, so...
there's that.
 
rolandson said:
Mouse, I'm not sure that people of the here-and-now know how to properly set up their guitars.
Which is strange to me... orchestral string players learn early on the necessity of a good bridge-board-nut relationship and how to achieve it.

When I was introduced to Floyd in 84 or 85, I thought it a solution looking for a problem.

But I came to guitars via orchestral strings, so...
there's that.
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Fair point on here-and-now players. I'd guess it's somehow tied to most players being self taught (likely the wrong way) about most things guitar (present party included).

I'm guessing there isn't much call for a FR in the orchestral world but after EVH dive bombed his way into the music scene, everyone wanted to do that. FR's were IMO a good solution at the time. Still are if I'm honest although they've fallen out of favor with me for the reasons stated above.
 
Mouse said:
Maybe those older than I can answer; putting aside nut materials, did few people pre-1980 know how to properly set up their guitars? Other than lubing up the nut with pencil lead or similar I don’t recall any advice regarding cutting the nut to help with tuning. Clearly even Hendrix’s tech (if he even had one) didn’t know this as that guy was often out of tune.
Click to expand...
Nah, it was all word of mouth or maybe something from your music teacher if you had one. About half of it was bad advice. Up into the '90s I just figured some guitars were magical feeling and the rest weren't. Never heard of a "set up" until the internet was up and running; then it all clicked and made sense. I know I sold/traded a few guitars in my younger days that probably just needed a set up.
 
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