Thinking about going ham upgrading my Floyd Roses

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Matt300ZXT

Matt300ZXT

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I've been watching vids the past day or so on brass blocks, new claws, trem setting, etc and I kinda wanna buy a bunch of toys.

How many of you guys have upgraded your Floyd's and can give me your .02 on brass blocks, titanium saddle inserts (sadly I can't afford titanium saddles too), brass blows, Floyd Rose trem-endus trem blocks, brass fine tuner screws, etc? Also may as well throw some EVH D Tunas on the few I wanna upgrade.

Also, is it worth hotrodding the Floyd 1000 on my 08 USA Charvel or swap it to an OFR I've had sitting around?
 
Brass blocks are good the titanium is a waste of money as are noiseless springs. The noiseless springs actually introduce noise and the kill the ground between the bridge and where the class is grounded. You have to scrape away the coating on the loop and prong side to resolve that. Pulling medium size rubber bands through the springs works better anyway. As for the brass fine tuners, that is an upgrade for the 1000 series but not for the OFR as they’re already either brass or coated brass. Claw contrary to the snake oil salesmen is also a waste
 
i have FU brass big blocks in both of my Floyd guitars. Springs I couldn't tell any difference, but I have dive only setup on both.
 
I’ve been down that rabbit hole with Floyds. I find the bigger brass block actually kills the tone a little, I prefer the regular one. Only reason I would use the big block is if you are blocking it off to hard tail it, or dive bomb only, or for a Dtuna etc.. Also the noiseless springs as the previous poster mentioned, they actually break the grounding because of the coating. Again I went back to regular springs. You can stuff some foam or use rubber bands to kill the spring rattling if you are getting it. I tried the hollow point intonation thingies and found it wasn’t any easier to intonate than the regular way. Back to stock again.

The best upgrade you can do if you have a standard Korean Floyd Rose that is stock on most guitars these days, is to get the Original Floyd Rose that is German made. The parts are better, and the trem arm actually stays tight and not loose which is my biggest hate with the standard Floyds. So yeah just use your OFR instead.
 
Six Stringer said:
Save yourself some $$$ and buy original Floyd Fat blocks from Amazon or ebay versus FU stuff.
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This. I would disagree with the Titanium block being a waste; just buy the one on eBay for 60-70. Definitely more resonance and clarity; not dark like a Brass block. I swapped my 1000s on both my USA Charvels for OFRs and it didn’t really change much; easier flutter but I hardly use it. 1000s are decent and mine held up fine over the last few years of gigging. If you already have an OFR then use it but I wouldn’t spend the stupid amounts people want for OFRs these days to swap out the 1000. But the blocks are a nice upgrade and worth the mod. I have a brass one on my 84 Maple Charvel and a titanium on my 08 SD, and another brass on my 09 SoCal.
 
I have been upgrading all of my bars to the Floyd Push-In style. This is a good upgrade, especially if you bar is wobbly, or comes unscrewed all the time.
 
I have done all of the upgrades. I currently have full Titanium Floyd bridges from TiSonix on 2 of my Jacksons and a thrid Titanium bridge sitting in my closet.

I like the Titanium bridges first and foremost because they are are tough. They don’t corrode, swell, gunk up, or crack.

Sustain blocks. I use Tungsten or Titanium and match the block to the needs of the guitar.

I have a mahogany body Dinky that was dark sounding. Used a Titanium block on the Titanium bridge to brighten it up a bit.

On my alder body Dinky, I used a Tungsten block on the Titanium bridge. They are warm like brass but more articulate IMO. The Tungsten block also has a very aggressive snarl when overdriven that I really like.

I have been using the noiseless springs for several years. Have tried all the “weights”. I think they take some of the liveliness out of the guitar. I am seriously contemplating a return to plain ‘ol tremolo springs. If you use them make sure to verif your bridge is grounded as others have noted.

Tried Titanium inserts before getting my Titanium bridges. Again IMO this is durability/cosmetic upgrade.

Titanium saddles, again a great durability upgrade. The TiSonix saddles have pretty sharp edges. They took some getting used to. They do impact tone, but I liked them for their durability.

Titanium and brass nuts. Tried both. First and foremost, it only affects tone for open strings. The brass was too muddy to my ears. The titanium added a nice zing to open strings. Again a titanium nut is appealing to me more as a durability upgrade.

Finally, brass and titanium tremolo claws. I could swear that I heard some difference. May have been confirmation bias. If it was real it was a minor difference... or possibly due to fresh strings. Again a nice durability upgrade more than anything in my opinion.

As for FU Tone. They market all their parts as “drop in replacements”. Let the buyer beware. I know this is not accurate for their nuts. The nuts are indeed the correct width, however the height of the R3 nut is wrong. They are produced at the height of an R2 nut… which is not the spec for an R3.

In all fairness Adam was apologetic and issued a full refund without hesitation. So while some parts may be out of spec, he was 100% a class act with me.

Most of these upgrade did impact the tone in some often very slight way. Only you can decided if it is worth the money to you for the tonality. I find it much easier to justify the cost of these upgrades based on durability.
 
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I was going to spend a pile of cash with GC as they have the Floyd brand upgrades and I could use my GC card, but only wanted to give me 6 months same as cash, whereas when I was in the store the other day getting a strap, strap locks, and a 3 pack of strings, I got 12 months on that. Anywho, I whittled my basket down to parts for just 1 guitar. I'm going to upgrade just my Warmoth with an OFR, I got titanium block inserts, stainless saddle screws, stainless saddle locking screws, both of which are going to be just cosmetic. I also got a 42mm brass l block as the guitar has a 42mm on it now. And an EVH D Tuna. I forgot to get a brass claw (hey, they're only like $10) and they didn't have brass fine tuners in stock. I know mine has brass fine tuners but they're painted black and I want the contrast.
 
Matt300ZXT said:
I was going to spend a pile of cash with GC as they have the Floyd brand upgrades and I could use my GC card, but only wanted to give me 6 months same as cash, whereas when I was in the store the other day getting a strap, strap locks, and a 3 pack of strings, I got 12 months on that. Anywho, I whittled my basket down to parts for just 1 guitar. I'm going to upgrade just my Warmoth with an OFR, I got titanium block inserts, stainless saddle screws, stainless saddle locking screws, both of which are going to be just cosmetic. I also got a 42mm brass l block as the guitar has a 42mm on it now. And an EVH D Tuna. I forgot to get a brass claw (hey, they're only like $10) and they didn't have brass fine tuners in stock. I know mine has brass fine tuners but they're painted black and I want the contrast.
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You can go with the 'manufactured wear' look on the brass tuners by taking a cotton swab with acetone and taking some of that black paint off. Works great.
 
GG4211 said:
I have done all of the upgrades. I currently have full Titanium Floyd bridges from TiSonix on 2 of my Jacksons and a thrid Titanium bridge sitting in my closet.

I like the Titanium bridges first and foremost because they are are tough. They don’t corrode, swell, gunk up, or crack.

Sustain blocks. I use Tungsten or Titanium and match the block to the needs of the guitar.

I have a mahogany body Dinky that was dark sounding. Used a Titanium block on the Titanium bridge to brighten it up a bit.

On my alder body Dinky, I used a Tungsten block on the Titanium bridge. They are warm like brass but more articulate IMO. The Tungsten block also has a very aggressive snarl when overdriven that I really like.

I have been using the noiseless springs for several years. Have tried all the “weights”. I think they take some of the liveliness out of the guitar. I am seriously contemplating a return to plain ‘ol tremolo springs. If you use them make sure to verif your bridge is grounded as others have noted.

Tried Titanium inserts before getting my Titanium bridges. Again IMO this is durability/cosmetic upgrade.

Titanium saddles, again a great durability upgrade. The TiSonix saddles have pretty sharp edges. They took some getting used to. They do impact tone, but I liked them for their durability.

Titanium and brass nuts. Tried both. First and foremost, it only affects tone for open strings. The brass was too muddy to my ears. The titanium added a nice zing to open strings. Again a titanium nut is appealing to me more as a durability upgrade.

Finally, brass and titanium tremolo claws. I could swear that I heard some difference. May have been confirmation bias. If it was real it was a minor difference... or possibly due to fresh strings. Again a nice durability upgrade more than anything in my opinion.

As for FU Tone. They market all their parts as “drop in replacements”. Let the buyer beware. I know this is not accurate for their nuts. The nuts are indeed the correct width, however the height of the R3 nut is wrong. They are produced at the height of an R2 nut… which is not the spec for an R3.

In all fairness Adam was apologetic and issued a full refund without hesitation. So while some parts may be out of spec, he was 100% a class act with me.

Most of these upgrade did impact the tone in some often very slight way. Only you can decided if it is worth the money to you for the tonality. I find it much easier to justify the cost of these upgrades based on durability.
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This. Only upgrade what you think the guitar needs; unless you want to experiment which we all do. If you tend to flip your guitars often (I flip amps much more) then I'd hold off on going crazy with these upgrades....but if you love it and want to brighten up the tone go with Titanium/Steel...too bright? Roll with a brass block.
Or in his case, durability/longevity is a concern and the upgrades solve this. I had only 1 issue in 31 years of gigging; back in 2008 my USA Hamer Schaller Floyd knife edge broke....Bought the guitar new back in 1990. Lots of playtime with that one.
 
As long as you don't "go ham" buying from FU-Tone. There are equally good products for a much better value elsewhere. For example "Hoockey" on eBay CNC's his own custom brass blocks and sells them for between $20-$25 depending on the model. The fit and finish are superb! As far as your Charvel is concerned, I would keep the FRT-1000 and mod it.
 
The titanium saddle inserts are actually nice because they will retain their shape over time (very hard material) while in my experience the stock ones do get deformed after a while and don't make as good contact with the string. I also upgraded the block a large brass one (from floyd rose website), hard to say if actually changed the sound though as I also changed pickups etc at the same time unfortunately...
 
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