Which Guitar Tremolo To Buy?

[Phont24]

Hi everyone! I'm pretty sure this is my first post and I was wondering which tremolo i should buy. I want to be able to do heavy dives up and down on the tremolo so something like a floyd rose trem, but i don't have the cash for a real one. I'm looking for suggestions or opinions about tremolos which are under about $150, because i don't want to spend more than that. There are floyd licenced bridges for about 100 but i'm suspicious of the quality. I am also interested in the Wilkinson bridges which look nice but i'd like to know if they have the capabilities of a floyd.

[George Brown]

from what you said about what you want the trem to do id say you would definately need a locking trem system, the wilkenson is good but if your doing heavey trem stuff you need a locking system. my recomendation is to save up for a real flyod but some of the other guys around here may be able to suggest an good alternative locking system mabey this one clicky

[Mattia]

If you want to dive-bomb, you want a double-locking trem. Wilkinsons look dead sexy, are great trems, but you can't abuse them like mad and expect the tuning to remain stable.

Gotoh and Schaller floyds are great quality (I'm a bigger fan of Gotoh than Schaller these days), and I'm fairly certain Schaller actually makes the Original Floyd Rose trems these days. Warmoth has great prices on the Schaller Floyd, UniversalJems.com has good prices on the Gotoh Floyd, both around a hair above (5 bucks) or a good bit below (26 bucks) your 150 dollar maximum. Pair it up with a set of decent and cheap gotoh tuning machines (Warmoth, again, has good prices) and you're good to go.

[Mr Alex]

Perhaps I was just lucky, but I paired a Wilkinson trem(mighty mite licensed I think, looks like the vs-100, but doesn't have the collar around where the trem arm goes in) with Ez-lok tuners, and a fibreglass nut, and that thing can take whammy tricks that would make most shredders cry, and stays in tune fine. That coud be partly down to the fibreglass nut though, I work with printed cricuit boards alot, and I get the guys that etch my boards to leave them in large sheets for storage, with all the cnc locator holes around the edges. This leaves me with alot of long strips of fibeglass sheet, I figured that there was no harm in trying it as a nut, so I removed the solder mask sheets, glued up three layers, and filed it into a nut. It had no noticable effect on the sound, reminded me of a zero fret infact. Doesn't seem to wear down, even the .056 string doesn't appear to file through it. And the strings don't pinch at all. First time that's ever happened for me.

Getting a .056 string through the ez-lok tuners is no laughing matter, but those things are great, and cheap too.

Anyway, hopefully something there will be of use to someone.

[George Brown]

fiberglass nut theres an intersting idea do you apply any lube? id presume layers wouldnt brake off in the same way as graphite so it would be intersting to see how it kept friction down

[Mr Alex]

I have no idea how it works as well as it does, but I'm gonna keep using it, I sprayed it with manifold black and cooked it, but in the future I'll use black or white acrathane, once that stuff goes on, it NEVER comes off. I'll have to talk to the guy I built it for again, about his experience with it, but I'm getting the guitar back in a fortnight for a setup, I'll have a look then as to how it's lasted.

Edit : I used no lube of any kind.

Edited June 22, 2006 by Mr Alex

[redwhiteandthemaple]

Look around eBay for a good condition Original Floyd Roses, you would have to spend about $100. It's used, but it's functionality should be perfectly fine. But you do need to look at the knife edges.

If you want to bang around and divebomb like Dime/Satch/Mr.Vai

I'd actually recommend Ibanez Edges

These are rather hard to get direct, but you can from... i think it was ibanezrules.com

But you would most likely go on for eBay. Most of the edges I've seen are in great condition, and believe me, they're lot smoother then the Floyd Roses.

Some people like the Floyd Roses, because it can sound like a vintage trem, but with lot more dive and pulls.

But Edges have a lot more modern feel, smoother, and also with lot more dive and pulls.

For the FloydRoses, if it's not Gotoh or Schaller, other than the original, umm... don't.. buy.. it...

There is a chance you might not regret it.. but personally, I would never take that chance..

Check out this site for the Ibanez Trem systems: http://www.jemsite.com/jem/trems.htm

They don't actually have ALL the models.. I used to have a site for that.. but.. if I find it I'll post it up

There's a *new (or not THAT new) lineup to Ibanez Trems : Zero Resistence.. and also the upgrade of the cheap TRS systems.. forget what they're called now.. think it's like Edge III

Anywho, direct ibanez trems are EXPENSIVE.. so I definitely suggest eBay.

Ciao!

[Batfink]

A vote for Schaller here. Used them for years, i think about a dozen of my guitars have them - the rest have OFR which were made by Schaller anyway- and the only problem has been a couple of stripped intonation threads on guitars from Ebay - not that i've ever stripped one myself and i'm sure the newer ones have hardened inserts or are case hardened.

Jem

[Hoser Rob]

Can you still get those roller nuts like Fender once (and still may) put on the Strat plus?

They're a bodge to install (no worse than a locking nut though I imagine) and will work very, very well with a standard Strat vibrato. Especially with a set of Sperzel tuners.

[George Brown]

yup clicky i read somewhere on the net about nut slots and when they mentioned V profiles they said the LSR roller nut was a good example kind of makes scence kinda looks liek this > oVo but i havent heard complaints about them

[Phont24]

First i would like to thank everyone for their input. Is the knife edge the part of the bridge which rubs against the posts? What should I look for or be careful of when purchasing a used tremolo?

[ihocky2]

Are there any opinions on the Mighty Mite floyds? I know there prices are lower, but I am guessing their quality is as well.

[redwhiteandthemaple]

First i would like to thank everyone for their input. Is the knife edge the part of the bridge which rubs against the posts? What should I look for or be careful of when purchasing a used tremolo?

Yes the knife edges are the ones that rub on the 2 posts. As you bang around with tremolos alot and not give a maintanence on your guitar.. It'll wear out meaning it won't be as sharp any more, and dull edges, if you can imagine, will have more surface area touching to post, meaning more friction and more energy to move them around. So you won't get as smooth bends and so on.

I can't really imagine any other parts wearing out other than the chrome/gold coatings, but those really don't affect the interquality of the tremolos.

Also, make sure they're all original parts. Such as make sure the saddles look all the same, the screws.

What happens is, when people go, "Hey this saddle's chrome coating wore off, I'll just get a new one" They don't really know the radius of their own tremolo, so they might replace a 14"radius saddle of a OFR to a 12"radius saddle of a Schaller. So you want all originals parts intact, which most of them are. But some I've come across haven't been so.