Floyd Rose Discussion: To recess or not to recess?

[orion451]

What are the advantages of having a non-recessed OFR as opposed to the recessed one? Does it increase sustain? Does it alter tone?

[Adam]

The only advantage I can think of is that if a string breaks and you have the trem flush with the body, the rest of the strings will stay in tune.

I prefer full-floating recessed trems, myself.

[slayer32390]

well i would think with a recessed one you could raise the pitch more than a non recessed? i could be wrong though

[Dreamland_Rebel]

you break a string and the whole thing goes out of tune wether you have it recessed or not. the only way around that is products like tremlo-no, or the tremsetter.

recessed trems are supposed to be able to pull up a little more than non-recessed but that isn't always true.

non recessed trems have more of the feel of a tune-o-matic bridge, being as the strings are around the same hight from the body.

its really just personal preference. do you like to rest your hand on a raised bridge or not?

[toejam]

non recessed trems have more of the feel of a tune-o-matic bridge, being as the strings are around the same height from the body.

Exactly. I prefer non-recessed because I like the neck tilted back more and the feel of the bridge being higher off the body.

[Hellswrath]

same as ToeJam here: strings are higher off the body, so it's close to a fixed bridge feeling with all the fun you can have with a floyd rose!

[Sunbane]

same as ToeJam here: strings are higher off the body, so it's close to a fixed bridge feeling with all the fun you can have with a floyd rose!

+1.

[Carbuff]

+2

[Zerberus]

you break a string and the whole thing goes out of tune wether you have it recessed or not. the only way around that is products like tremlo-no, or the tremsetter.

recessed trems are supposed to be able to pull up a little more than non-recessed but that isn't always true.

non recessed trems have more of the feel of a tune-o-matic bridge, being as the strings are around the same hight from the body.

its really just personal preference. do you like to rest your hand on a raised bridge or not?

And we have a Winnah!!

I prefer non recessed trems for the same reasons as TJ.

[Bengal65]

I originally prefered the non-recessed, because in being a Les Paul player most of my life I like the higher bridge height and neck angle. Since playing the Floyd Rose more and more these days, I actually prefer the recessed Floyd over the non-recessed. To me, it's just a matter in what you get used to. With the recessed Floyd I find the guitar easier to play and less likely to "push" the guitar out of tune if you end up resting your hand on the bridge.

[orion451]

I'd have to say feel-wise, I prefer the recessed--probably because I've played recessed for so long. I was just wondering what the deal was with the popularity of the non-recessed, thinking maybe there was some advantage to it. If it's just a matter of preference, that's perfectly understandable.

[charvelguy]

as mentioned.. bridge height.. neck angle. Many of the original 'hot rodded' guitars were 70's Fender bodies we crudely routed with whatever was available-(stone knives and chisel.) Those were V-trems being converted to Floyd with screw in posts. V trems didn't have recessed mounts.
Recessed is really just a lower profile.. somebody probably didn't like the bridge sitting so high off the body and that started another style.

It all stemmed from wanting to play like Ed or do whammy tricks w/o going out of tune on our trusted Fender.
A lot of Strats went under the knife during the late 70's early 80's.

[Sunbane]

... somebody probably didn't like the bridge sitting so high off the body and that started another style.

Yup, and that someone was none other than Steve Vai!

[guitarsjb]

I prefer recessed.

[charvelguy]

I knew it had to be somebody famous for all the major guitar companies to start doing it...just didn't recall who started that trend...but now that you mention it.. Ibanez was probably the first of those in the JEM series in the late 80's?