Current Main Floyd Pattern Trems

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tekbow

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Seeing as it's a minor discussion on the American series Jackson thread, its maybe worth going over the main current production types for clarity.

The OFR:

UK price: £359, 1984 version: £500. (Andertons)

The Original German made by Schaller Floyd. The Sean Connery of Floyds. The Original but IMO, not necessarily the best.

The FR Special

Uk price: £159 (Andertons)

made in Korea and considered a "budget" Floyd.


FR 1XXX series.

UK price: £329 (Andertons, 1000 series. 1500 appears to be non retail at present)

The 1000 is made in Korea to Schaller made specs in terms of materials and design. Note that this doesn't mean that they're necessarily buying materials from the same suppliers as Schaller. The 1500 series seems to substitute stainless steel for some parts.


Here's where it gets interesting.

Gotoh 1996T and 1988T

UK price: £140 (axesRus)

Japanese made. Gotoh also make the Original Edge and the EBMM branded trems on the EVH (1988T) and Axis (initially 1988T on the earliest, then the 1996T) up until 5-10 years ago when EBMM switched to a new unit more closely resembling the Floyd. Suhr also switced from OFR to Gotoh about 10 years back. Has since resumed offering Floyd alongside the 1996T.

My personal favourite.

The Schaller Tremolo

UK price: can't find one, but from Euro pricing, seems to be in line with the Gotoh

Effectively a non OFR branded OFR. May even have the specs of the 1984. Nuff said.

The Schaller Lockmeister

UK price: £175 (DV247)

Schaller's premium Double locking trem with design refinements over the Schaller Tremolo.
 
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One point of clarification, The Schaller Trem is the same stud spacing but the base plate has insert knife edges and the base plate is a different shape baseplate. For recessed trems they are not interchangeable but they are fine on non-recessed trems.

A couple more floyd sized things, EVH branded Floyd is a 1000 series Floyd, Eddie liked the sound of them over the OFRs. There are also cheaper OFR shaped trems on the Jackson JS series guitars.

Then you have the Non Fine Tuner Floyds. These are the same stud spacing but the baseplate is not the same shape as an OFR (why I have no idea but its not). The Schaller "Vintage Trems" are also Floyd studs and are the same sized baseplate as the OFR.
 
supertruper1988 said:
One point of clarification, The Schaller Trem is the same stud spacing but the base plate has insert knife edges and the base plate is a different shape baseplate. For recessed trems they are not interchangeable but they are fine on non-recessed trems.

A couple more floyd sized things, EVH branded Floyd is a 1000 series Floyd, Eddie liked the sound of them over the OFRs. There are also cheaper OFR shaped trems on the Jackson JS series guitars.

Then you have the Non Fine Tuner Floyds. These are the same stud spacing but the baseplate is not the same shape as an OFR (why I have no idea but its not). The Schaller "Vintage Trems" are also Floyd studs and are the same sized baseplate as the OFR.
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Great point, so in fact the Lockmeister is a drop in replacement for the OFR?
 
Those gotoh 1996t trems are hands down the best deal going on a replacement trem. I've installed them on multiple guitars. Superb quality, great push in bar design, comes with brass block, and very affordable....only trems I like better are the original Ibanez edge, edge pro, and low pro edge.
 
Justincase said:
Those gotoh 1996t trems are hands down the best deal going on a replacement trem. I've installed them on multiple guitars. Superb quality, great push in bar design, comes with brass block, and very affordable....only trems I like better are the original Ibanez edge, edge pro, and low pro edge.
Click to expand...
being that the Edge trems are made by Gotoh, that is not surprising haha
 
tekbow said:
Great point, so in fact the Lockmeister is a drop in replacement for the OFR?
Click to expand...
Justincase said:
Those gotoh 1996t trems are hands down the best deal going on a replacement trem. I've installed them on multiple guitars. Superb quality, great push in bar design, comes with brass block, and very affordable....only trems I like better are the original Ibanez edge, edge pro, and low pro edge.
Click to expand...
I can confirm the Lockmeister - it's exactly the same size as an OFR. The only fiddly difference (besides screw alloys) is that the "whale tail" where the fine tuners go is a bit thicker, which doesn't effect fit in guitars but DOES make the D-Tuna difficult to use.
The 1996T is the best bargain out there right now, although UK Floyd prices are INSANE. A black Floyd 100 (Original, Schaller-made) is $234, although they're now selling the locknut separately, so that takes it to $270. The chrome 1984 is the same price.

A Floyd Special is $99 in black, plus another $30 for the lock nut. However, I think the dodge now is the Special is designated FRTS1000. I wonder if this is now the "1000 Series", and the plate just doesn't say "Special" for the OEM version? Because if so it's markedly inferior to an OFR.

The other non-OEM "1000 Series" you can buy is the Pro, with the wider string spacing and low profile saddles. Not an OFR replacement. It's $249, I guess because the market is more limited?

The Lockmeister is, on average, the same price as an OFR.

A chrome 1996T is $165 in black with an R2 nut from The Stratosphere - and that's new, in the blister pack. Of course, I usually need an R3, but such is life. :rofl
 
I routed out what was a perfectly good brand new ESP so I could put a Pro in, since only the pro was available in Oil Slick for 7 string. The pro is more expensive than the Original, but the fine tuners are absolutely HORRIBLE. What's up with that?
 
does the gotoh 1996T have the spring retainer thing in the sustain block? Does anyone sell blocks like that for other floyds?
 
Not holes, a bar that retains the springs that you screw down after you put the springs in. It was a common feature on many gotoh made trems
 
pipelineaudio said:
Not holes, a bar that retains the springs that you screw down after you put the springs in. It was a common feature on many gotoh made trems
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Im pretty sure that was only on the Ibanez Edge and Lo-Pro Edge that are made by Gotoh but that feature is not found on any modern non-Ibanez Gotoh trems
 
have you seen a clear pic of the gotoh 1996t's bottom of the sustain block? Its hard to find one, but from the blurry pics I've seen ,they seem to have three screw holes down there, but no retainer bar
 
pipelineaudio said:
have you seen a clear pic of the gotoh 1996t's bottom of the sustain block? Its hard to find one, but from the blurry pics I've seen ,they seem to have three screw holes down there, but no retainer bar
Click to expand...
I have actually seen one just today and there are 3 screws but no retainer bar.
 
Allparts sells the bar but the Gotoh 510 series and Gotoh Wilkinson bars also fit ( shorter and no tip.)
 
The Schaller Lockmiester is the exact same as an original floyd.
The Korean frt 1000 has two different versions and neither are the same materials or construction as the German one.
The 1984 is identical to the regular version but with brass fine tuners a fat 37mm block and the original arm mech.
 
Other useful information is the 1996 is now the exact same footprint as the OFR.
The new CNC saddles version of the OFR has it’s baseplate knife edge cutouts a mm or so deeper and it’s causing a few fit issues.
Gotoh and OFR lock nuts are not a direct substitute but they are the exact same as Ibanez Edge and low pro edge.
 
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