Kahler USA is open for business!

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

what is strange for me is I really don't use the bar that much, I just became so used to the feel and how my picking hand rests on them.

Kahlers work fine for what I do with the bar but my issues with it is that it has too many moving parts and its ugly as shiot to my eyes -- that ugliness affects the look of any guitar that it goes on.

[noodlesatf]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

[ QUOTE ]
I have $100 that says I can meet any kahler fan, let him 'properly set up' his trem, I'll set up one of my floyded guitars, and playing the same licks and whammy tricks the floyd will stay in tune longer than the kahler. Too bad I live in oklahoma, the only JCF guys I know here hate Kahlers, and I could always use another $100.

[/ QUOTE ]

Usually, these have factors have nothing to do with preference. I flat out hate the feel of fulcrum trems, they do not have a linear feel at all, and the string height changes as you dive or pull up, causing you to stick the strings to the magnets. You rest your hand to heavily on a Floyd while playing, and it moves. All of your vibration transfer happens through two knife edges riding on two posts, so the sound is thin and limp to me. Intonating the bridge is a pain, because when you loosen the saddle, the whole thing is yanked forward by string tension. You route a huge chunk of wood out of the middle of the guitar to install the thing, and it takes another large chunk of your tone with it. The radius and string spacing on the bridges are both fixed in one position, so you can't simply take it off of one guitar and drop it on another, unless the necks are the exact same specs.

Now, compare that to a minimal route, a solid brass plate with a much larger surface area of contact with the body, a smooth linear feel of a cam and roller bearings, the ability to adjust the saddles any way for any application, the ability to rest your hand on the bridge as heavily as you want, and you can adjust for different string gauges without having to add/remove springs, or open up a back cavity and pull out a screwdriver.

Sure, you can't do some of the bar tricks on them, but I'm not trying to be Eddie or Vai with insect noises and bar slaps. For me, it gives me many of the tonal and stability benifits of a fixed bridge, with a silky smooth bar action when I need it. I know most won't agree with me, but a Floyd Rose feels like someone made band aid fixes to a 1955 design. I can't stand fulcrum trems.

[Matt Crooks]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

[ QUOTE ]
Why play a Kahler?

[/ QUOTE ]

Why play a Jackson?

[Grandturk]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

I like Khalers and Floyds equally. I have one of each. I like the bounce and warble sounds I can get from the Floyd, and I like the smoth pitch changes I can get from the Khaler.

For me, the only detraction to the Khaler has been parts availability, but hopefully that will be rectified with Khaler being back in production.

[Flatpicker]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

I only had one Khaler and that was in 89-90 on a parts mutt.
Smaller 7/8's body, rounded body sides,3 singles on a singleply pickguard and 3 minitoggles, Unfinished maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and a Guild unlogoed headstock.
The trem was the best I ever felt and wish I still had that guitar. We had a apartment fire and it did not make it.

I would get a Kahler again for a J/C custom piece no problem.

[Deneb]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

Matt, your comparison sucked. I know a hell of a lot about Jacksons, Floyds, stop bars, hard tails, just not about Kahlers. Hence I ask. I've asked on several occasions, and it always comes out to someone bringing something else up, and the Floyd Kahler argument.

[Matt Crooks]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

[ QUOTE ]
Matt, your comparison sucked. I know a hell of a lot about Jacksons, Floyds, stop bars, hard tails, just not about Kahlers. Hence I ask. I've asked on several occasions, and it always comes out to someone bringing something else up, and the Floyd Kahler argument.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry... I thought you were just bashing Kahlers.... so I'll answer your question...

Personal preference. The same reason we play Jackson guitars. For the sound, features and performance that we want we choose Jackson guitars.

Kahlers feel much different than any other trem, much more tune-a-matic feeling to me. They also sound different than, say, a floyd rose. I also like the smoother feel of the Kahler to the stiffer feel of the FR. Does that make them better? No, I don't think so. It just makes them preferable to me.

For years I've heard that "Kahlers suck tone" out of a guitar. Which is B.S. They affect the tone, just like any bridge will. If you like the way the change the tone, then they are enhancing the tone, not sucking it out. I personally do not like the sound of floyded guitars as much as similar guitars with a kahler or TOM. That's my opinion, not a fact.

The one thing I can say as a long time kahler user is that I never had any tuning issues that I didn't have with a floyded guitar. BUT, I don't abuse the trem, so if that's your bag the kahler may not work as well as a floyd.

There are also some sounds that you can't do on a FR that you can on a Kahler.... try doing a Kerry King type whammy effect with a FR... MUCH easier on a kahler. Of course that sounds like noise to me so I don't do it.... but you get the point.

Still, I'll answer your question the same way: Why play a Jackson? The reasons you pick a Jackson are the same reasons you pick a bridge. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Accept2]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

Deneb, if you stopped playing with yourself for a minute, you might discover why we play Kahlers..........

[necrotechno]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

I used to agree with the Floyd slams, until three things happened: 1- I started paying attention to the advice more experienced people had about dealing with the Floyd's, uh... idiosyncracies; 2- I finally got a Floyd that wasn't butted down; and 3 - I discovered the miracle that is the Tremsetter.

I haven't had a Kahler trem in probably over ten years. Even my two 3300's went bye-bye quite a while ago (although I still have those guitars with different bridges). Ehhh... I may have to try another one just to see what I think of it now.

[Deneb]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

Accept, if I stop beating it, my balls will explode.

Thanks for the info Matt.

[pro-fusion]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

I agree with the idea about a double-locking Kahler. If you could lock the strings in at the ball ends, you'd virtually eliminate *any* tuning issues with the Kahler.

I like the overall idea of the Kahler, but they are a little too fussy in the maintenance dept. for me. Yeah, you have to clip the ball ends on a Floyd and do some serious work if you want to change tunings. But Kahlers seem to require a lot of regular maintenance, which Floyds do not. I just really don't have a desire to do that, even though I do like the tone that you get on a Kahlered guitar--though I wouldn't call it better or worse than the tone on a Floyded guitar, just different.

[Accept2]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

If you use SIT strings for Kahler bridges, you wont need double locks...............

[noodlesatf]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

What's special about the SIT strings?

I use GHS Boomers, which seem to have the strongest ball end windings. I never have a problem with tunings, but still have occational string breakage problems.

[peedenmark7]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

give em 5 years they'll go under again...

[Accept2]

Re: Kahler USA is open for business!

[ QUOTE ]
What's special about the SIT strings?

I use GHS Boomers, which seem to have the strongest ball end windings. I never have a problem with tunings, but still have occational string breakage problems.

[/ QUOTE ]

SITs have a special pack for Kahler that have soldered balls, and plastic wraps on the thin strings. This prevents the strings from moving in the saddles............