Tremolo myth's or facts?

[racnis]

I was reading around other forums on trems and what not and found some info that startled me but i'm skeptical on it. one guy says that basswood is not a good wood for trems because as you use it (pulling up and down) it creates an oval shape in the wood which would send your guitar out of tune. he claims the solution is gotoh or ibanez trems since they have locking studs. another guy bashed a floyd rose special because it was made it china and its not as good as the korean FRT02000 or the original. i have a dxmg and while the trem is giving me problems i haven't given up on it, i did buy it second hand and i would like to know before i upgrade the parts if any of this is even true.

[Grandturk]

Basswood is a softer wood. It is softer than maple, ash, alder and mahagony.

Early Floyds were mounted with wood screw pivots - i.e. not bushing/stud combinations. Under continued heavy use, these did indeed deform their mounting position in the wood - be it basswood, alder, ash, etc. That's just the result of putting pressure on something screwed into wood.

Using a bushing/stud mount provides a more secure and long lasting mount for a bridge in the body of the guitar - the bushing is wider and deeper than the old wood screw mounts.

I don't see a Floyd under normal use exerting any more pressure on the bushings in the body than say, a TOM bridge mount. Additional pressure is exerted when you pull up, but I don't think its of a magnitude great enough to deform the wood.

Under abusive use, however, I'm sure you could find a away to damage the wood. Also - improperly installed bushing/studs - i.e. loose - will move within their hole and that will deform the wood around it.

There's a lot of myths about basswood. I don't think its a bad wood - certainly not for tone or durability.

[Axewielder]

Yeah so all those early JEM's are junk. Sell them to MEEEEEEEEE

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Basswood is fine if there are bushing inserts in it. The oval holes happened in alder bodies, too, lots of Kramers got that way from years of tremolo use/abuse.

The bushings CAN get loose and that's a maintenance thing, but it's not specific to Basswood. I've seen Alder bodies develop loose tremolo bushings, too - sometimes the wood dries out and shrinks and the bushings get loose. A little wood glue will fix it right up.

Locking studs won't hurt anything. I am not convinced they're necessary. As far as the FR2000 and Floyd Special I don't really know if they're any good. :dunno:

[Scooter]

The key word here is 'abuse' of the trem. I have a Model series Charvel with a recessed OFR, and it has the wood screw posts. I feel I don't abuse the trem like some do though. I play some Slayer, Pantera, Iron Maiden, VH, etc. (songs that use the bar.) Sometimes I'll dive until the strings go slack, sometimes I give a pull until it nearly goes to the wood. But the posts on my guitar are still solid. Granted also I have a few other guitars and the Charvel doesn't get as used much anymore, I still have no complaints about the posts in it. AMOF I think I'm going to plug it up for a few.

[racnis]

hmmm interesting thanks for the replies guys, so basically thats a load of crap. now another question if i may. is the FR special a "bad" tremolo, as in should i just look into a schaller OFR or gotoh? would it be as good with a new bass block installed or does the hardened steel plates matter?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

The Original Floyd is the one I would get, personally, just because I *know* I can count on it.

Some guys like the Gotoh and I don't see anything wrong with it.

The Schaller I think is overpriced (typically, it costs $10+ more than an Original Floyd Rose in the same finish!) and the intonation adjustment screws for the saddles can get stripped due to the soft baseplate material.

The stock blocks on the Original Floyd Rose are brass. The aftermarket ones are just larger.

[DonP]

In certain years, oversized bushings were used (on imports at least). I think this was a solution for soft basswood.

I have a Peavey where the body is busted at the trem posts. I bought it used (cheap USA, and for the Kahler Killer), so I'm not sure how easy or hard it was to bust.

My HM Strat is basswood and doesn't have any issues for it's age.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Don, my 275 and Model 2 bodies have the oversized bushings, and the treble side has still worked a little loose over the years.

Still I think you're right that is what it was intended for, and it works WAY better than the wood screw posts.

I put a little wood glue in there and installed the bushing and it swelled up so much it pushed glue out the top & they're in good and tight now.

[racnis]

hmmm so the routing on jacksons with jt580lp's would they accept other varients of floyd rose such as the original or gotoh without any mods?

[racnis]

Don, my 275 and Model 2 bodies have the oversized bushings, and the treble side has still worked a little loose over the years.

Still I think you're right that is what it was intended for, and it works WAY better than the wood screw posts.

I put a little wood glue in there and installed the bushing and it swelled up so much it pushed glue out the top & they're in good and tight now.

so would you recommend gluing down new bushings if i were to replace my trem or should i glue mine in for saftey.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I don't use glue when I install them new, just if they become loose.

It's hard to tell on the 580. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Especially no idea if the Gotoh will work. The OFR typically does.

[Tmoran]

I think the gotoh floyd is the best. The casting on the OFR has been inconsistent these days. Ive had great ones and ive had poor ones. The gotohs seem to be alot more consistent. With the gotoh I dont get zinging noises if im not meticulous with the way I lock the string into the block. Plus I like the locking studs and the push in arm with no play. As far as the ofr goes, I really only like the black ones. The chrome and gold ive always had issues with. They are both great systems but if I had to choose only one, for right now I just feel the gotoh is the better one as of right now.