bill is a very old friend of mine from back around 1982. i used to hang out at his shop, and was there during this whole saga.
the FTLN "finger tite locking nut" is the best floyd style locking nut ever made. i had a couple of them on my guitars back then, and they work REALLY well.
the problems happened when Kramer licensed the design, and then tried to "cheap out" on the manufacturing. their version of Bill's nut was HORRIBLE, and did not have the threaded inserts that allow you to dial it in for different string gauges. it was a horrible failure.
and while Kramer was dicking around with trying to get it right, all the other companies like Kahler were busy making copies of the design, and those were horrible too.
the original FTLN is made of stainless steel to very exacting tolerances. they were expensive to make. and when adjusted properly, work VERY well.
i have been trying to talk Bill into releasing the FTLN again, and working with Adam from floydupgrades.com -- Adam is the guy who invented the D-tuna, and is a GREAT guy who makes some VERY cool stainless steel replacement parts for floyd trems.
but Bill is still REALLY butthurt about what happened to him back in the 80s.
Bill went on to write guitar books called "Fretboard Logic", and that series of books has continued on to be one of the most successful guitar instructional series ever published.
he's a great guy, i spent MANY days back in the 80s hanging out with him and working on guitars, he and i built a couple of my guitars together....
Bill's a totally class act, and one of the nicest guys i have known in the biz. He is still experimenting, and tells me he has a new tremolo design that is better than anything on the market....i haven't seen it yet, maybe next time i am in his area i will have to stop by and see him to see what he's up to.
very nice soloist you got there sorry to drop in on your thread, but i wanted to give Bill Edwards some love, and fill in the blanks about the FTLN....
the FTLN "finger tite locking nut" is the best floyd style locking nut ever made. i had a couple of them on my guitars back then, and they work REALLY well.
the problems happened when Kramer licensed the design, and then tried to "cheap out" on the manufacturing. their version of Bill's nut was HORRIBLE, and did not have the threaded inserts that allow you to dial it in for different string gauges. it was a horrible failure.
and while Kramer was dicking around with trying to get it right, all the other companies like Kahler were busy making copies of the design, and those were horrible too.
the original FTLN is made of stainless steel to very exacting tolerances. they were expensive to make. and when adjusted properly, work VERY well.
i have been trying to talk Bill into releasing the FTLN again, and working with Adam from floydupgrades.com -- Adam is the guy who invented the D-tuna, and is a GREAT guy who makes some VERY cool stainless steel replacement parts for floyd trems.
but Bill is still REALLY butthurt about what happened to him back in the 80s.
Bill went on to write guitar books called "Fretboard Logic", and that series of books has continued on to be one of the most successful guitar instructional series ever published.
he's a great guy, i spent MANY days back in the 80s hanging out with him and working on guitars, he and i built a couple of my guitars together....
Bill's a totally class act, and one of the nicest guys i have known in the biz. He is still experimenting, and tells me he has a new tremolo design that is better than anything on the market....i haven't seen it yet, maybe next time i am in his area i will have to stop by and see him to see what he's up to.
very nice soloist you got there sorry to drop in on your thread, but i wanted to give Bill Edwards some love, and fill in the blanks about the FTLN....
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