Re: FLOYD ROSE vs KAHLER
My main guitar for many years was a San Dimas Rhoads with an aftermarket Kahler Pro Flatmount. The springs were pretty light but since it was such a dramatic improvement over my first el-cheapo guitar which had an impossible-to-tune vintage trem I just got used to it. For the longest time Floyds annoyed me since I often encountered them on well-used guitars (that were probably in need of new posts) and the trem would at certain points slip unexpectedly along the posts.
Steve (GWARGHOUL) mentioned his Kahler a couple of pages back. That one is a 2700 that predates the "crappy Spyder" trems that came after it and it's a FAR superior trem to the Spyders, Floyds, flatmount Kahlers and anything else I've seen in terms of its ability to aid you in getting a killer setup. It's a rear-routed Floyd style setup but it's superior to Floyds in a few areas including: individual string height adjustment (w/o saddle shims), individual string spacing adjustment and its manner of attachement to the pivots which eliminates the annoying Floyd-style slippage. In addition there's an attachment called an "autolatch" that can be attached inside the cavity which allows the trem action to be locked and unlocked via the position of the trem arm. If you're into really dialing in your axe, there's nothing even remotely in the same league as the 2700. (Note to whoever bought Steve's Vandenberg - READ THE SETUP INSTRUCTIONS, THIS IS NOT A FLOYD). [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
It's odd that the only production guitars I know of that came equipped with 2700s were that original run of Vandenbergs. I'd guess that because of all the features they were probably heinously expensive and they definitely take some time and attention to set up which probably didn't make them overly popular with shops looking to move lots of stock quickly. IIRC the Spyders which came later removed the string height and string spacing adjustments along with the ability to use the autolatch system which would have made them essentially Floyd clones and probably pulled their production costs back in line with Floyds. Bleah ... the superior system vanished while the inferior one took over the entire market.
My main guitar for many years was a San Dimas Rhoads with an aftermarket Kahler Pro Flatmount. The springs were pretty light but since it was such a dramatic improvement over my first el-cheapo guitar which had an impossible-to-tune vintage trem I just got used to it. For the longest time Floyds annoyed me since I often encountered them on well-used guitars (that were probably in need of new posts) and the trem would at certain points slip unexpectedly along the posts.
Steve (GWARGHOUL) mentioned his Kahler a couple of pages back. That one is a 2700 that predates the "crappy Spyder" trems that came after it and it's a FAR superior trem to the Spyders, Floyds, flatmount Kahlers and anything else I've seen in terms of its ability to aid you in getting a killer setup. It's a rear-routed Floyd style setup but it's superior to Floyds in a few areas including: individual string height adjustment (w/o saddle shims), individual string spacing adjustment and its manner of attachement to the pivots which eliminates the annoying Floyd-style slippage. In addition there's an attachment called an "autolatch" that can be attached inside the cavity which allows the trem action to be locked and unlocked via the position of the trem arm. If you're into really dialing in your axe, there's nothing even remotely in the same league as the 2700. (Note to whoever bought Steve's Vandenberg - READ THE SETUP INSTRUCTIONS, THIS IS NOT A FLOYD). [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
It's odd that the only production guitars I know of that came equipped with 2700s were that original run of Vandenbergs. I'd guess that because of all the features they were probably heinously expensive and they definitely take some time and attention to set up which probably didn't make them overly popular with shops looking to move lots of stock quickly. IIRC the Spyders which came later removed the string height and string spacing adjustments along with the ability to use the autolatch system which would have made them essentially Floyd clones and probably pulled their production costs back in line with Floyds. Bleah ... the superior system vanished while the inferior one took over the entire market.
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