Floyd Rose Special?

[MrDan666]

Has anybody here had any experience with the Floyd Rose Special trem?

I was looking for an Original Floyd Rose on eBay and saw several sellers who had the Special model for sale. Not being familiar with that trem, i looked up some info about it on the official Floyd Rose website...

http://www.floydrose.com/bridges/index.php

"The Floyd Rose Special is our Authentic version of a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo system manufactured in Korea exclusively for Floyd Rose. The Floyd Rose Special maintains the construction parameters and features of an Original Floyd Rose, while utilizing zinc alloy saddles in place of steel and a zinc alloy sustain block in place of brass. The design specifications and high quality materials of the Special Series Floyd Rose bridge will hold up to the demands of today's performers."

Now if i understand that correctly, other than being made in Korea rather than Germany... the only two differences are the Zinc alloy block and saddles? Everything else on the trem is still made from the same German steel they use on the OFR?

 

[Lord Toneking]

garbage imo

 

[snowdog]

I'd skip it and go with the proven OFR.

 

[dstroud]

I actually just put one on my main guitar. Works fine for me - fine tuners are not super smooth but I have no issues getting it in tune. It stays in tune and it sounds as good as any of my other guitars with the nicer FR's.

 

[MrDan666]

I actually just put one on my main guitar. Works fine for me - fine tuners are not super smooth but I have no issues getting it in tune. It stays in tune and it sounds as good as any of my other guitars with the nicer FR's.

Very interesting!

The price of these FR Special's is less than half the price of an OFR, so i never expected it to be as good as the OFR.. But if it stays in tune and sounds good, then it seems like a decent deal. I'm not a whammy abuser, so it's not going to be getting hammered 'Vai-Style' on a daily basis or anything like that..

 

[rcm78]

I doubt the base plate or knife edges are as hard as the German made units. So if you do get one just realize it wont last as long as the real thing...

 

[luxxtone]

These are good for the money, but nowhere near as nice as the German made. The plate is steel (and maybe fine tuners), that's it. The main problem I've noticed with these (other than a different tone than the originals) is the saddles eventually snap. It doesn't take much when changing strings to make those saddles crack under some pressure.

Good for a decent guitar, no good for a great guitar in my opinion.

 

[SFW]

Why not look at a Gotoh?

 

[MrDan666]

Why not look at a Gotoh?

Believe it or not, the Gotoh is pretty much the same price as the OFR here in the UK. Around £200 GBP from most stores (approx $315 dollars). And I really wasn't planning on spending that much on a trem right now.

I'll look into what it costs to get one from the USA and have it shipped over. Maybe that will workout cheaper..

 

[MrDan666]

These are good for the money, but nowhere near as nice as the German made. The plate is steel (and maybe fine tuners), that's it. The main problem I've noticed with these (other than a different tone than the originals) is the saddles eventually snap. It doesn't take much when changing strings to make those saddles crack under some pressure.

Good for a decent guitar, no good for a great guitar in my opinion.

Thanks for chiming in Jerry, always good to get opinions from a pro builder!

Just out of curiosity, whats your thoughts on the Schaller Floyds, like these :

I ask because i had one from the late 80's and the original base plate was made from.. zinc? Anyway, the screws that hold the saddle against the plate ended up stripped in no time.
I found that Rockinger in Germany sell the baseplates for those Schallers, made from steel. Since i still have all the parts left over from that old Schaller trem, I could always buy a new baseplate and rebuild the thing.. If it's worth doing?

 

[luxxtone]

These are good for the money, but nowhere near as nice as the German made. The plate is steel (and maybe fine tuners), that's it. The main problem I've noticed with these (other than a different tone than the originals) is the saddles eventually snap. It doesn't take much when changing strings to make those saddles crack under some pressure.

Good for a decent guitar, no good for a great guitar in my opinion.

Thanks for chiming in Jerry, always good to get opinions from a pro builder!

Just out of curiosity, whats your thoughts on the Schaller Floyds, like these :

I ask because i had one from the late 80's and the original base plate was made from.. zinc? Anyway, the screws that hold the saddle against the plate ended up stripped in no time.
I found that Rockinger in Germany sell the baseplates for those Schallers, made from steel. Since i still have all the parts left over from that old Schaller trem, I could always buy a new baseplate and rebuild the thing.. If it's worth doing?

Not all Schaller's are like the true German Schallers. Which makes them basically like a Floyd Rose Special. I suppose if the saddles and block were steel or brass, then a replacement plate may be worth it, depending on the price. But the german Schallers are awesome.

 

[Chris6870]

Look for an older Schaller. I picked one up for $80 off one of the forums. It looks identical to a FR except it says Schaller where the FR logo would be. It is stamped made in Germany on the back.

 

[Dave L]

I´ve refurbished a load of Schallers with those new baseplates from Rockinger. It works like a charm.

I don´t think I´ve seen something branded Schaller that didn´t have Made in Germany or Made in West Germany on it, but I´ve seen a lot of licensed no-name crap with the same basic look.

 

[rottingcorpse]

the floyd rose special is good if you dont super abuse it. the knife edges are not as good as the german ones, and dont last very long if you use heavy gauge strings and a lot of tension.

the fine tuners are not as smooth and can sometimes jump too much at certain points making tuning difficult. i had a bunch of them on my import guitars, but when i switched to usa stuff with good hardware the difference was very obvious.

 

[racerevlon]

An OFR that breaks easily...

 

[Ayrton]

The OFR made in Germany and the Floyd "1000" OEM (eg USA Charvel Pro Mods) are made to the same standard (steel/brass).

The special has a steel base plate, but zinc saddles and block.

 

[leib10]

So the 1000 series are made in Korea, but to the same tolerances as the German made ones?

 

[Ayrton]

So the 1000 series are made in Korea, but to the same tolerances as the German made ones?

Correct, same metal, same die (although newer)

 

[Sox-Guitars]

I think they're great. I have OFR/Gotoh/Schaller Floyds in most of my guitars but I bought a Special & replacde an OFR in my import Hamer Cali Deluxe & it's brilliant. I rated the Specials that much, I started importing them & have sold around 30 from eBay & my website. I only stiopped selling them due to too much competition & profit margins became virtually non-existant.

Even though I have OFRs/Schallers in my main guitars at this time, I wouldn't hesitate to bang a Special in if I needed a replacement. I've even kept 2 Specials for my parts drawer for spares/projects etc in the future...

 

[King Crimson]

Not being familiar with that trem, i looked up some info about it on the official Floyd Rose website...

I read back in the day that the original Floyd Rose was manufactured in Israel.