Which Floyd Rose manufacturer?

[aT19er]

Hi all,

I am in the process of restoring an old Kramer (for sentimental reasons, or else I would just get a better guitar)

I see a few makers out there: Schaller Floyd Rose, Original Floyd Rose, Gotoh Floyd Rose, Floyd Upgrades High Performance Floyd Rose, the Floyd Rose Special, Ping Floyd Rose, and of course all the cheap Licensed By Floyd Rose.

My question is, with all of these makers out there, which one comes the closest to the real Original Floyd Roses from back in the day? Which ones are made from the best metals and such?

I plan to get a larger brass block and brass fine tuners also.

Also, the guitar currently has the Screw Type posts for the Floyd Rose to pivot on. Would it be worth putting the newer style posts in? The ones already in there don't seem to wobble, from what I can tell.

Any help is appreciated!

[Pietro]

I hear great things about the current Gotoh Floyds. I think a bunch of the boutique guys are using it, as a matter of fact.

[memiller]

Schaller. There's a reason the Jackson custom shop uses (used? At least they did when I was there) them. They don't freak out even under very heavy use, and are made from heavy-ass steel.

[RedTiger]

The German-made Schaller Original Floyd Rose is basically the Floyd from back in the day.

[aT19er]

Good enough for me. Looks like i'll be getting a Schaller Floyd Rose for this next time I get some cash together. And, of course, to make it looks like it came from the 80's, i'll get the Brass fine tuners and a brass block to put in it.

Thanks for the help guys.

[tone?]

Gotoh by a mile

Second OFR

Very last Schaller


Gotoh dude

[Pietro]

The German-made Schaller Original Floyd Rose is basically the Floyd from back in the day.

I've heard from builders that this is very much NOT the case! iirc, that's why some of them have gone to Gotoh.

[filtersweep]

I'd start with how the body is drilled and let that at least guide your options, unless you were somehow planning to plug it.

[aT19er]

I'd start with how the body is drilled and let that at least guide your options, unless you were somehow planning to plug it.

It came with the wood screw pivots, if that is what you're refering to. As far as the bridge being recessed or not, it looks like it come non-recessed from the factory but someone took a chisel to it in an attempt to make it recessed.

So I should go with Gotoh over Schaller?

[tone?]

Gotoh

suhr
ebmm
anyone worth mentioning

[dspellman]

My understanding (I don't have all THAT many Floyds) is that the Gotoh is generally acknowledged to be the best at the moment (unless you get into a couple of the very good Ibanez "floydalikes" ).

The Schallers were, for a bit, less than wonderful, but I think they've come back up to snuff and would be considered 2nd on the list. These are the OFRs that you find in bubble packs as aftermarket parts and that show up on boutique builders' guitars.

The OFRs used by major manufacturers (Gibson, Fender, etc.) come from two separate production lines in Korea and are, according to Floyd Rose, done to their specs. I'd put them third.

You can buy the same unit from the same Korean production line as an LFR, and it's every bit as good as the OFR (the main difference being the casting with the OFR or LFR information). Cheaper. Also third.

Brass block highly recommended.
Steel blocks not recommended. They sound funny.
Titanium blocks make me giggle. Who would actually pay...?

Brass fine tuners not required.
No, seriously -- I've got a Samick Artist Series guitar with a very cheapo (I'm guessing one of those $29.95) Floydalikes that's been worked like a rented mule since it was born in 1992 and the fine tuners are...uh...fine. For that matter, the knife edges have needed a touch-up exactly once in 19 years.
My suggestion is to keep the money in your bank, compounding interest until you actually need to replace a fine tuner for some reason. THEN replace all of them with unobtanium or whatever you like. No reason to do anything with them before that.

[filtersweep]

That is my point--- you want to measure them carefully, because there are a few subtle variations in the spacing from model to model. Someone can feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but it isn't like the entire world of FR is open to you as options....

It came with the wood screw pivots, if that is what you're refering to. As far as the bridge being recessed or not, it looks like it come non-recessed from the factory but someone took a chisel to it in an attempt to make it recessed.

So I should go with Gotoh over Schaller?

[aT19er]

The spacing, from the center of each post, is roughly 75mm.

It's one of those old Kramer's with the angled humbucker routes, if that helps for sizing it. The 100ST.

And as far as the brass fine tuners... I wanted em cuz they're shiny...

[Rampage]

I like my Schaller bridge, but if I wanted to restore an old Kramer, I'd probably look on eBay for a used German/Schaller built Original Floyd Rose.

[DavidLM]

Gotoh 1996 is the one to get. You can look up the spec sheet to make sure if it will fit the posts. I would put in new posts while I was at it and ditch the screw in type. The screw in can drift a little and not stay in tune as well as the anchored type. The gotoh comes with locking posts I believe which is all the better.

[RedTiger]

I've heard from builders that this is very much NOT the case! iirc, that's why some of them have gone to Gotoh.

I never said that Schallers where the best. The OP's questions was:


My question is, with all of these makers out there, which one comes the closest to the real Original Floyd Roses from back in the day? Which ones are made from the best metals and such? My knowledge of metallurgy is limited, so I decided not to answer that one. :D As for which one is the closest to the real "Original", that would be Schaller. They work and look almost exactly the same. The others are improvements on the original design, but are noticeably different.

If you want to know my opinion on the best? Ibanez original Edge, hands down. More mass, much better balance. 2nd place? Ibanez Lo Pro. More mass, less balanced but low profile. 3rd? Gotoh.

For the OPs purposes, it will either be Schaller or Gotoh. The Edge is an OEM proprietary part for Ibanez guitars. Ibanez doesn't even use it anymore in anything but Jems and JS because Vai and Satch use them. It might be a drop-in replacement for an OFR, but I forget.

[aT19er]

I was leaning towards the same idea, as far as replacing the old wood screws with the locking studs. Do you guys have any ideas of how to go about doing this? Drill out the original holes and put the new ones in?

Oh ya, I checked on the spacing issue, and both the Gotoh and Schaller Floyd Rose have a spacing of 74mm, guess I was off by just a wee bit. So it would appear that both of these would fit on this guitar.

And thanks for the help so far, I never would have had the chance to go out and try all of these different Floyd's myself.

[carbz]

I had a ping floyd on a 5150 replica. If I didn't know any better you could have tricked me into thinking it was an original floyd and looked identical. In fact the chrome plating was better. Not sure if the block was the same material but it was a great trem. I know John Suhr prefers the Gotoh which is probably a better unit but if you want as close to the original and save a few bucks the ping is a great option.

[matt5150]

The OFRs used by major manufacturers (Gibson, Fender, etc.) come from two separate production lines in Korea and are, according to Floyd Rose, done to their specs. I'd put them third.



Pretty sure the OFR is still German made fwiw:

from the website:

The Floyd Rose Original is produced in Germany and is our flagship model.

Matt

[IronPaws]

I have all three and the Gotoh is the best by far

[aT19er]

I have all three and the Gotoh is the best by far

Just being curious, but what sets the Gotoh apart from the others?

[EADGBE]

The German made Floyd Rose original is what you want. It's made by Schaller. I don't believe the Gotoh will fit your Kramer. Warmoth has the original. Other places do too.


http://www.vintagekramer.com/parts/floydblkorg.jpg

The regular Schaller Floyd Rose may fit, but I'm not sure.

[aT19er]

So how does the Original Floyd Rose compare to the one that Gotoh makes?

[geetarman]

The Gotoh on my EB Axis is great very well made.

[JDouglee]

Just being curious, but what sets the Gotoh apart from the others?
Better materials used, and it sounds better. The quality of the OFR has gone downhill for many years. Last one I bought was horrible, the knife edges were toast after about a week. That was the 'flagship' German one too. The radius of the saddles are so messed up, I got tired of shimming them on all my OFRs.

I have 3 Gotohs, on 2 Suhrs and 1 Tyler. No shims needed for the radius, they stay in tune, and sound really balanced. The arm housing is really great too, adjustable with a set screw and no play.

[EADGBE]

Better materials used, and it sounds better. The quality of the OFR has gone downhill for many years. Last one I bought was horrible, the knife edges were toast after about a week. That was the 'flagship' German one too. The radius of the saddles are so messed up, I got tired of shimming them on all my OFRs.

I have 3 Gotohs, on 2 Suhrs and 1 Tyler. No shims needed for the radius, they stay in tune, and sound really balanced. The arm housing is really great too, adjustable with a set screw and no play.

The radius was 10. The saddles had different heights to correspond to this.

[aT19er]

Aren't the bases for the bridges at Floyd Upgrades made by Gotoh? If I could just buy a titanium baseplate, that'd be cool. My main concern is the knife edge wearing out. Maybe just the bad experience I had with the cheap licensed one I got, but I don't want another cheap Floyd again.

[JDouglee]

The radius was 10. The saddles had different heights to correspond to this.
Yes. Wildly different heights. 10 would be 'approximate' :messedup

[dspellman]

Pretty sure the OFR is still German made fwiw:

from the website:

The Floyd Rose Original is produced in Germany and is our flagship model.

Matt

I have an email from Floyd Rose (the company) stating the information about the two Korean production lines and the apportionment of Korean OFRs to large manufacturers and German OFRs to aftermarket bubble packs and boutique builders. The question came up when we compared the OFR from a Gibson custom shop Axcess Custom to an Agile that was equipped with a Korean LFR. We found that both came from the same production line in Korea and asked Floyd Rose to confirm that fact. They did. Email is dated 2009, FWIW.

[dspellman]

The radius was 10. The saddles had different heights to correspond to this.

I've got at least one OFR whose native radius was 16", and which required shims to get the radius to 12".

[aT19er]

Speaking if radiuses, does anyone know what the radius of a Kramer 100ST would be?

[dvilla76]

OFR FTW!

[Drew816]

Find an old Stryker with the 80's OFR and use it. When I put a Charvel Partsocaster together this is what I did; grabbed a Stryker that was a mess, missing parts, needed a refin and stole the Floyd and resold the carcass for not much more than I paid...

Good luck!

[Lex Luthier]

The last new German made OFR I bought was a piece of junk. The saddles were machined incorrectly so the back swivel part of the saddle was immobilized on 3 of the strings. I couldn't even use the fine tuners. I had to disassemble the saddles and re machine some extra clearance into the bottom of the tounge part that the pin goes through so it had enough clearance to move. What a pain in the ass.