Do I reallllllllly need Floyds on my guitars going forward?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Matt300ZXT
  • Start date Start date
I am a floyd guy lol. I do have a few hard tails though.

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Matt300ZXT said:
I've always been a Floyd dude; not because I do all that cool stuff all those 80s guys did, even though from time to time I'll slap the end of the bar for the flutter or do a little vibrato, but nothing more than a Wilkinson could easily handle. I think I buy them because of a "keeping up with the Jones's" kind of thing. They're sort of a status symbol of 80s rock and almost necessary to be "cool". I don't have a problem restringing them, setting them up, maintaining them, etc, I've just always bought guitars (for the most part) with Floyds.

Some of my recent purchases in the past few years have been a basic run of the mill Tele build with a few upgrades over an off the line guitar. Another would be a Von K relic'ed Tele. Both have compensated brass saddles so they're a little upgraded there, but still a basic Tele style bridge and pickup configuration. I've bought 2 Warriors, both the same body style and have string through bodies with tune-o-matic bridges. And then I inherited that Epiphone Les Paul I made a post about a few days ago. I think once some 9s are put on it and I tweak it for my tastes, it'll play better....damn those 10s are STIFF and hard to play; but then again, I'm also having to rebuild my calluses from really not having played for about 3-4 months.

I have also bought one of those 90s Grover era Washburns with a Schaller Floyd on it. Also, my Chubtone "Reb Beach" inspired guitar has a Floyd as well. So 5 out of my last 7 purchases have been non trem guitars.

I want a hotrodded relic Tele that'll lend itself a little better to solos and hotter tones than the Von K can do, because it has those tall thin vintagey type frets (which I can overcome and still play on) and only 21 frets. I think I need to be talked out of my compulsion to buy Floyd guitars because of a look or image, and instead just buy guitars that kick ass. Is anyone here a licensed hypnotist and can reprogram me? lol I think it'd be a LOT easier for me to find a slick hotrodded relic Tele with more of a traditional style bridge than a Floyd or Wilkinson, unless I wanna pay Luxxtone money.
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Therapist - "You can have many variants and it'll be ok".

Seriously, I have Les Pauls, PRS Tremonti's, Ibanez, Chubtones - from hard tail to PRS non locking trems to Floyds. All work fine so yes you can have the gamut of tailpieces and be cool. Variety bro.
 
I was hardcore into Floyds again for a bit the last few years after being primarily a Gibson or tuneomatic/stoptail guy for many years. But I've been slowly selling them off. I will keep a few but I tend to prefer fixed bridges.. and the last two Les Paul's I bought are fantastic, which is only making me want to sell more Floyds off. You really only need em if you want em.
 
Briman24 said:
There is zero difference in sustain between my superstrats and lp's. All my superstrats have big blocks and authentic german floyds.
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I went a step further and bought titanium and brass locking nuts for each of my two Floyd equipped guitars. Each increased sustain and imparted a nice tonal improvement over the (already good quality) stock hardened steel German nuts.
 
thegame said:
I went a step further and bought titanium and brass locking nuts for each of my two Floyd equipped guitars. Each increased sustain and imparted a nice tonal improvement over the (already good quality) stock hardened steel German nuts.
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I have never tried titanium saddles or nuts yet. I will have to try them! I assume FU tone is good place to get them?
 
Briman24 said:
I have never tried titanium saddles or nuts yet. I will have to try them! I assume FU tone is good place to get them?
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Yes but wait for their 20% off sales which happen 2 or 3 times a year. Usually around Black Friday, Memorial day, etc.
 
Briman24 said:
I have never tried titanium saddles or nuts yet. I will have to try them! I assume FU tone is good place to get them?
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Actually i just remembered i have a floyd with titanium saddle screws in my parts drawer! Completely forgot about it. Will just need saddles and blocks and nut now.
 
Greazygeo said:
Guess I should tell my Floyd guitars they don’t have any sustain.
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I forgot about one thing that probably helps with sustain with my floyds......
I block them so they only dive. They are not floating. I imagine this would help.
 
Briman24 said:
Actually i just remembered i have a floyd with titanium saddle screws in my parts drawer! Completely forgot about it. Will just need saddles and blocks and nut now.
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The titanium stuff is nice and akin to adding spice to a recipe. Best to start small and see how much each addition changes the tone. It's definitely possible to add too much. Hardened steel is actually slightly stronger than titanium but titanium is much lighter. So, titanium has a higher strength to weight ratio, though as I said, hardened steel is ultimately slightly stronger.
 
Briman24 said:
I forgot about one thing that probably helps with sustain with my floyds......
I block them so they only dive. They are not floating. I imagine this would help.
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Most of mine are rear routed and float. Also have an Anderson and Ibanez with two point traditional trems that are set up to float. They don’t seem to have any issues with sustain.
I have all kinds of setups trem and hardtail, doesn’t matter much to me.
 
I like Floyd’s because of the rock steady tuning. I don’t even use the Floyds. I hate the sound of guys modifying notes with the Floyd unless it’s feedback. But, I also feel like guitars with a Floyd sound tighter with a touch more clarity, or that could just be my imagination as it runs wild occasionally and I convince myself that things are one way, when in fact they are not, and I once again deduce that I am teeter tottering on the abyss, the abyss of berserker madness.
 
thegame said:
I went a step further and bought titanium and brass locking nuts for each of my two Floyd equipped guitars. Each increased sustain and imparted a nice tonal improvement over the (already good quality) stock hardened steel German nuts.
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I have a titanium nut on my Stratocaster with the Vega Trem, as well as an Anodized pickguard and locking tuners but didn't notice an increase an increase or decrease in the sustain. I did notice a push in the bass and mids frequencies though!
 
tallcoolone said:
Floyds kill sustain--if for no other reason than that you should have some non trem guitars. A tele, a LP, a Firebird or 2...
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If you're loud enough, a cardboard box will sustain. Just sayin. That said, my CS '57 Custom sustains for days. Noticeably more than any other guitar I own.
 
The Vega Trem does everything a Floyd can but doesn't you to install the shit bracinf hardware on the neck or route your guitar. The Vega Trem enables superior tuning and even deeper dive-dombs for both forward and backwards pacing.

 
Floyds have a certain sound & feel that's unique to them. It's certainly worth having a couple.

If you're going to have a stable of guitars though, I don't feel like they're necessary across the board. If you're not heavy on the trem use, I like the Wilkinson or PRS floating tremolos quite a bit. It took some time to get used to the one on my CE24, but over time I came to really love it.
 
Briman24 said:
I have never tried titanium saddles or nuts yet. I will have to try them! I assume FU tone is good place to get them?
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Get a Ti block and thank me later. Sustain for days to rival ANY guitar I've had..LP, String through Soloists, etc.

I do think a Floyded guitar will be less resonant in general vs a HT simply for the wood being removed for the trem; same for a Kahler. But I've never had a 'dead' Floyd guitar with a lack of sustain; Kahlers can be more of a sustain sucker.
As a former 35 year weekend warrior the Floyd is a must have for me, for the unrivaled tuning stability. Set and forget. Unlike the LP players that are trying to tune their 10k Custom's G string after EVERY song lol. I know, some LPs hold their tuning well but I've watched so many single cut player friends just struggle to keep their LP in tune, night after night.
Floyds also add a bright 'snap' to the tone that I like...I've also used only OFRs for a while now as well. That definitely helps the sustain over some of the cheaper clones.
 
Racerxrated said:
Get a Ti block and thank me later. Sustain for days to rival ANY guitar I've had..LP, String through Soloists, etc.

I do think a Floyded guitar will be less resonant in general vs a HT simply for the wood being removed for the trem; same for a Kahler. But I've never had a 'dead' Floyd guitar with a lack of sustain; Kahlers can be more of a sustain sucker.
As a former 35 year weekend warrior the Floyd is a must have for me, for the unrivaled tuning stability. Set and forget. Unlike the LP players that are trying to tune their 10k Custom's G string after EVERY song lol. I know, some LPs hold their tuning well but I've watched so many single cut player friends just struggle to keep their LP in tune, night after night.
Floyds also add a bright 'snap' to the tone that I like...I've also used only OFRs for a while now as well. That definitely helps the sustain over some of the cheaper clones.
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I love your outlooks man. You are one of the opinions here that i respect alot. About the not much wood attached to trem, i block all my floyds up against the body. So the block is right up against the body route. I do have a couple guitars that this wasn't possible due to route and post positioning so i have a metal trem stop blocking the bridge instead of the side of body route out. But the trem stop is screwed into wood and is pressed up against wood so how much energy is lost in that compared to block up against the body? I am curious ...is there much difference?

Another thing i like about floyds besides insane tuning stability is that when it ever does go out a hair......you can adjust quickly with picking hand and not miss a note as left hand can cover for a split second or 2. Much easier than reaching up for headstock with picking hand OR fret hand.
 
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