Floyd Rose vs. sophia tremelo systems?

[uglijimus]

So I did a video on my licensed/special FR on how much i hate it a while back and someone posted a comment on my video saying, once you go sophia you won't go back. I"ve only seen number of the priest mention it. It seems to be better than a FR? anyone have any experience with it here?? I am very interested in this...

[CaptNasty]

My $0.02.

The Sophia is expensive! Like I could buy an OFR. And a Tungsten block. And a Tremel-no. And still have spent less money.

for something that expensive they have done a horrible job of explaining their value proposition. Sure there are plenty of specs, but why did they develop this tremolo? What innovations are there that I cannot get wIth an OFR? What is the gear on the sustain block for? Why should I choose a Sophia over an OFR? They need to help people understand why they should get a Sophia. I am sure the specs mean a lot, if you are an engineer or are already familiar with the device but they do not sell this product well.

With that said, what is better? Better is subjective. One mans better is another mans worse. It is still a floating tremolo and will have all the liabilities of any floating tremolo. Sure, it seems to have a tremolo blocker (again they do amshit job of explaining anything)... and so does OFR and they are pretty cheap. At the end of the day, the real innovation of the OFR in my opinion was the Double Locking system. Take away the Double Locking system and the OFR is just another floating tremolo cast of Leo Fenders original design. Has Sophia improved on that? If they have how? Will they be around in 10 years when I need replacement parts?

I know that hating OFRs is the en vogue thing to do these days. For players who are moving between different tunings and do not want (or cannot afford) multiple guitars I get it. But most of the problems experienced by these players are not “OFR” specific, with the exception of needing a tool to unlock the nut; they are true of any floating tremolo. Gotohs are all the rage now with the anti-OFR crowd and what do they do? They install the Gotoh flush mounted and they do not use a locking nut. They could get to the same result as the Gotoh with a flush mounted or tremolo-no equipped OFR.

For the guy who is running a single tuning, I call BS. A properly setup Double Locking floating tremolo offers greater tuning stability than even a flush mount tremolo. My guitars are all Double Locking. My youngest son is in the anything but “OFR” camp and has a Suhr with a non-Locking Gotoh. I will case up my OFR equipped guitars for months and when I pull them out they are still in in tune. Every time he picks his guitar up to play he is tuning it, both before and during playing. But he thinks it is far superior to double locking. I just shake my head at his brand myopicity. While I can use the tremolo with impunity, if he gets aggressive on the tremolo his guitar goes out of tune. While he is retuning he smiles and talks about how it really is better than OFR. I tell him he is a dumb ass. In my opinion that is what it comes down to for these players: they cannot be bothered to take the time to understand and learn to setup and use a double locking tremolo so they accept a whole new set of issues and deem them acceptable in order to avoid a different set issues that occur with floating trems.

[uglijimus]

you kind of hit on someting that I couldn't really put into words. Them explaining their value proposition. That's why I came here. I does look more convenient than a FR, but I am more concerned about it staying in tune when I abuse it period. that is my top priority. I will be getting mine set-up again in the near future by someone who has 5 guitars with FRs on them. I will definitely report back here if I get some stability with it. thanks again!