Get gotoh with rear mount locking nut for maximum tuning stability overtime. The bridge includes: - best arm design, - better sustain with brass block - hard steel saddles that won't crack or wear out. - Lower profile fine tuners that won't bug your picking hand. -rounded edges on saddles for palm comfort - great flutter effect - Finally locking studs with tight tolerance, so the stud won't microscopicly moves under heavy usage. Use the trem with confidence! Gotoh GE1996T serving me for 12 years and counting. Thanks to the Japanese Gotoh team.
This is the one! This is it! This is the trem that is just like my Fernandes one and has the “flat” bass side knife edge that I need. From what I can tell, it’s a near exact copy of the one I have. And it’s cheap!
@@hotmetalslugs i use fernandes floyd before, its similar and comes with blass block too 😁. Gotoh has better arm by far. Maybe the best arm mechanism in the market, zero wiggle. stay at the right tightness for years! I forgot when i readjust the arm torque tention. It just stay there where i left it. No need to replace teflon rings like the ibanez.
My favorite trem is an OFR but I just recently installed the Gotoh on a new axe and I have to say, it is a great trem. When you take into account that the cost is half the price of the OFR it's a no brainer. The Gotoh floyd was actually used on both the EBMM EVH Music Man and the Peavey Wolfgang. If it's good enough for The Man, its good enough for you.
The replaceable knife edges on the Schaller make it the absolute best deal. That and the bridge studs are the failing points on all trems that end up making it lose tuning over time. The second most important part of a trem are the parts that come in contact with strings: the nut, the saddles, and the saddle blocks. I've had trems that skimped on materials that touch the strings, and I kept breaking strings. Whether it be from burrs on the saddles or nut, or the saddle blocks would break or had burrs. So I always look for the aforementioned components being quality materials when buying a trem
I have a guitar with the FRX and one with the Gotoh. The FRX I absolutely enjoy, I love the range and the way it feels to use, also being able to block it to only go forward only is really nice as I don’t like the systems that go out of tune just because you bend without using the bar, though the option to float is still there. The Gotoh though is also really good, I’m not a fan of the fully floating for the reason I stated above but it’s still a good system, much better than the Jackson licensed Floyd I was using before it.
One of my guitars is a Jackson PC1 (Phil Collen) manufactured back in 2000. The floyd rose was made in Germany and has two patent stamps - I've yet to change a part on it.
I've played and abused dozens of full-floating trem systems. The original Ibanez Edge and Lo-Pro Edge are hands down the best out there for full-floating madness. They can withstand decades of abuse and continue to always be reliable. I've never had one fail or become a "string-breaking device". Too bad they are difficult to acquire new without buying a high-end Ibanez guitar.
@@kenminerva Between the Edge and Lo-Pro Edge? They are equally good. One feels a little bit more fluttery than the other, but marginally. The Edge being more fluttery. Still, this is only when you intend it to do that. Both of those are solid and stable. Tuning stability is equally as good with either. I consider the Edge and Lo-Pro Edge trems as equals. At least the original ones.
@@chadwickhurlburt6529 Yes man. My 1st concern is the tuning stability because I haven't that luck in that regard with all my other bridges. And of course, the flutter is always a must as well 😅😅
@@kenminerva Not sure, it may not fit. There are several websites with fitting information that you can reference. A Google search should lead you in the right direction.
Great suggestions for trems on a budget, i personally will go for an original if im not on a budget but if i am then these trems will do it! Its good thing to save money now days especially at this time Try now at looking at other higher end bridges other than Floyd Rose for your Floyd rose equipped guitars. There's a company called FU-Tone,that does upgrades for the Floyds and they have their own trem And believe it or not the company 'Graphtech' has there own trem as well. Great video!
I found a decent FR style bridge but needed the arm replaced and the block. It's. Wilkinson M series FR. Made by Gotoh brands,but the plate is Steel and the saddles also. Got them for $55 bucks shipped.Even with the bad bar and Zinc block,the locking nut is a 42 mm steel top mount. Have 2 of them and all together with a Floyd Rose replacement push I bar and a (Gotoh) brass block found both on line...$$ total for one bridge is just over $100 bucks. Gotta do some looking online but we'll worth it.
The Gotoh 1996T is a great alternative, very accurate and solid. Those locking stud posts have a HUUUGE diameter. Could be a tricky install if you don’t have the room or necessary material to removed for install.
Why show which trem system directly replaces the Floyd Rose original that almost no one wants to change especially not for a cheaper trem, instead of showing trem systems that directly replaces the Floyd Rose special which more people wants to swap out for something good ? Or are guitars with the Floyd Rose special set up to use the Floyd Rose original ?
I Have 3 guitars that i have re-built and replaced the trem's with the Gotoh 1996t for the money you can't ask for more , They are as stable and my Floyd originals 1000's and My Ibanez edge tremolo's . Also as mentioned in this video the price point is great , I recently built a guitar and went with a Floyd special, trying to stay on the cheap side of things , it's a piece of crap , I should have just bought the Gotoh for the extra 45 dollars up front . Anyhow i ended up with a Floyd special that's back in the box and am 100 dollars in the hole .
Thank god because you live in the USA. Here in Brazil, 350$ it's the price of a Gotoh bridge. Yeah, you can buy a new guitar for this price. Absolutely crazy!!! But it's a totally cool tip for everyone looking for a new bridge, the Gotoh bridge is awesome. Some guys say that even after several years, it remains fully functional and in good condition.
1st I want to start with, I absolutely stand with Japanese made Westone guitars & the bendmaster tremelow which was originally, officially branded floyd rose. My original childhood guitar was a Westone Spectrum LX with a bendmaster trem & it 100% held up to 13 Guage strings! I did have one string bucket or hook fail. Secondly, The Bendmaster trem also came on specific years of the Epiphone S-600 but with roller string guides. I appreciate your alternative take on the floyd rose! I dislike how the floyd makes other strings go out of tune when bending other strings. I never had that issue with a bendmaster trem & lock nut! Also, the locking nut on a Westone mounts above the nut up on the headstock, away from your hand & does not get in the way like current lock nuts, proven to be a better design!!!
1)The lockmeister is the original Floyd with a different name. Schaller still makes the original Floyd. Here in Europe the lockmeister is MUCH cheaper. 2)The gotoh has hardened saddles ONLY. The baseplate IS NOT hardened. It's just pot metal
@@ryant3600 I contacted Gotoh and they told me that the baseplate is not hardened steel. That was 2 years ago. Maybe they have hardened steel baseplates now? not sure
Second the schaller trems, I have both the ‘lockmeister” and the schaller locking trem and I gotta say both are well worth the money, each of them are buttery smooth and quality thru and thru. Their locking straps are the best as well IMHO
Recently got my kiesel Theos with the hipshot tremolo. Wow hands down best trem I’ve ever used or I’m just lucky and got a good one not all guitars are created equal, however the feel isn’t stiff like the FR and is full of action without the locking nut so tuning is a breeze and the tuning stability is better than my other guitar with Floyd Rose double locking trems
Good information dude, I've got an edge III equiped RG thats great 90% of the time. my only qualm is in temp/humidity changes when I would jam in resteraunts; the stability could not be trusted I had to do a weird move between songs where i would pull the bar up/back really hard to get the G sting to go back to 0, never figured it out completly. I would like a charvel or evh somday with an OG floyd maybe just set up for dives or without the lock nut so you can tune between songs.
ok i am the odd one i like the floyd specials ive had many of them and no they wont last forever but i am comfortable with them as well as i find it exciting to get a new one when the old gives down a bit and then NEW pickups etc same time its like a Guitar Christmas!!
I have a shift 2001 equivalent to a Washburn Wonderbar on my 1970s El Degas Strat. Absolutely love it❗Wish I had another one for a kit Strat that I built.
It’s still a direct replacement. You can’t really get away from chasing the studs if you switch out your trem. For a few reasons. 1.) if you switch a special for a Gotoh, you will NEED to switch the studs. It’s not good to have zinc allow studs and a hardened steel trem. The studs will grind down. Now direct replacement means the stud poles are the same distance and the cavity will allow the new trem. Bottom line: make sure to never mix your metals, always have the same metal in your studs as you do the trem.
Great Video! I own a older GOTOH that came stock on a hearfield EX1. It’s definitely a solid trem and definitely worth the money. Whether it’s made with the same spec materials, well that would be a topic for discussion. I, not long ago purchased a GOLD SCHALLER (with the thicker base, not the lockmeister) for $150.00 on sale. It’s been a solid trem as far as functionality goes. The gold has slightly started rubbing off. So I put some painters tape over the said areas. I think the original SCHALLERs from back in the day, had brass fine tuners. I think I can honestly say these fine tuners aren’t brass. Which leads to the same question as to whether material specs are better or worse. All that being said, these trems do function very well. I’d give the GOTOH a 2 star edge over the thick based SCHALLER, as the Gotoh has what seems to be a brass block. Not massive like a BIG BLOCK. It also has locking studs for the knife edges. Hope this helps anyone looking to purchase a good Floyd style trem. For reference, the thick based SCHALLER is not a direct swap for the ORIGNAL FLOYD OR THE GOTOH. Take time to research what trem fits your studs. SCHALLER and GOTOH have pdf diagrams on their sites.
I swear by Gotoh. LOVE the GE1996T. I have installed two of them now and wouldn't go with anything else. The price is hard to beat, at half of an OFR. Only downside is that you have the drill the posts larger, which can be daunting if never done before.
Gotoh got to be the best, I was just about to say that Gotoh makes the edge . I think some of the Gotohs have the edge style saddles if you care about that, I think the edge style saddles might make pull ups a little better ?
Honestly I’ve had some cheap guitars with licensed/Chinese Floyd’s and usually they just need a little bit of finishing work with small files to take any burrs or sharp edges off the nut and the bridge where the string blocks are . If u put a tiny amount of oil or wax where the knife edges are it will help avoid wear. But honestly if ur the type of player that wears the knife edges down u probably are playing tons of shows so just buy a legit one.
I replaced a regular Floyd with a Schaller on my EVH Relic Stripe guitar. It's a game changer...much better string separation, less flutter, it's just the better material. The sound and sustain improved dramatically.
@@sirspongadoodleNope. 😉. When the sound improves on a recording significantly it's just a fact. The original Floyd was just eating up parts of a song in which I need sustain and clarity. After the replacement with the Schaller the guitar is back in the game. But ultimately it's everyone's individual choice.
I used both and the Gotoh 1996T is as good as the FR original. Plus the machine gloss finish is awesome on the Gotoh. Gotoh is definitely a go-to if I wanna upgrade my FR1000 or FR Special. And for the info FR1000 & Special is just crap, it gets worn out fast on the knife edge.
I have the gotoh Floyd in the black finish. I will say that it is a better design IMHO. BUT..... The knife edges chipped on mine when using the Floyd original studs. The gotoh studs are designed differently where the knife edge contact points are. Plus in order to use the gotoh studs takes a considerable amount of work to be done well. All of this assuming you don't drill in to the trem cavity as the gotoh studs are much wider and deeper. If I'm dropping in a gotoh, I'm definitely using the locking studs. To me it's just not worth using the gotoh as a drop in replacement. If you're building from scratch the gotoh could be a better option. My only gripe is the finish on the knife edges doesn't hold up . At least not with the Floyd original studs.
I swear by the Lockmeister! I spoke to a Schaller rep and he confirmed that the LM is virtually IDENTICAL to the original German Floyd Rose. The only real difference is the radius, and some people think it has a better tone. I'm from the UK, and the LM costs A LOT less than the FR branded one, so when I built a partcaster, the former was a no-brainer to me! In fact I think if you're not sure how to tell a crappy Floyd from a good one, Schaller is a more reliable brand considering all the stinkers with the FR branding. For anyone wanting to build a Warmoth guitar and put a Lockmeister in it, choose the Floyd Rose routing, not the Schaller routing as the latter is for the one with replaceable knife edges (The LM's dimensions are identical to the Schaller-made Floyd Rose branded one). And order the trem itself directly from Schaller, because they recently started offering multiple radiuses to match a variety of fretboards.
Gotoh ones I like , haven't tried the Schaller ones yet . I think the Edge is better than the original Floyd or at least its equal. Of course costs the same or more
Okay, I might just have the right problem here, but I'd like to know that. Late last year, I got a guitar that has a Floyd that's marked with an official Floyd logo. (Doesn't mean it is, but I don't know how to tell.) Looking for clues as to its composition, I checked each part using a powerful magnet; each part responded with what looked to me like genuine magnetic effect. I had thought, though, that this vibe couldn't be better than a Floyd Special, which I thought to be made of a non-magnetic alloy. Am I right, or are Floyd Specials magnetic? Anyone know?
Hey Nik! I'm in need of baseplate replacement. I've got a Floyd Rose 7 on my Jackson SLAT3-7 and was eyeballing Schaller Lockmeister 7 base plates. Do you think it would be a drop-in replacement? Knife edge slots in these base plate are a bit different.
Well, not only are the original Floyd Rose bridges expensive, they are also currently hard to buy online, Stewmac used to have both the OFR and the Floyd Rose 1000 in stock, but not anymore, even the Schaller Lockmeisters that Stewmac used to stock, arent in stock anymore, everytime I've gone onto the Stewmac website to order any of them it has been saying "Out Of Stock" for months, so, there's obviously supply issues affecting Floyd Rose and his distributors, the only Floyd Rose you can order from Stewmac is the Floyd Rose Special, and to be honest, I'm done with using them cause they just don't perform well.
Got a 2003 dean with original floyd rose then later 2017 Jackson dinky with double lock floyd both great guitars seem to work and sound well are newer but tremolo seems good
The GOTOH GE1996T is NOT a direct replacement if you plan on using the locking posts. You will have to widen the posts if you plan to use the locking posts . You can use original floyd posts with it though
The best trem ever made for guitar is by far the Ibanez ZR. The ball-bearing pivot system just feels great and smooth and you get way more control over the note/s and you are not fighting the springs at all. It's super comfortable, sounds great and holds tune all day. I have many different guitars with different trem systems and after I play the ZR, all the other trems just feel like cheap toys. They are way inferior. None of them can make dive bombing feel so smooth and comfortable as the ZR. The only downside is that it's a threaded tightening system which means in months your arm will eventually need tightening after every song. Really sucks. The work around that is to buy a Floyd Rose mod which replaces the thread socket with a different socket that allows a push in arm, like the Gotoh in this video. That is a way superior design and eliminates arm swing.
After market/Replica Floyd's made within zinc material, True Floyd's made within much better composite. Price slightly higher, longivity, leaves any/all after market floyds within land time forgot. Tune, and-or remain in tune for short lived excursions, True Floyds if set/installed correctly stay in tune 2nd to none. After market floyds stay in tune while tuning, post tuning while playing, hold tuning approx as well as a swap meet special. Example would be Kk, and-or Schon testing a after market Floyd, lucky iif they would continue within playing it any time duration past 5-minutes. They wouldn't even consider a guitar pick made from zinc, let alone a Floyd zinc composite.
NOT a direct swap, the post hole sizes are different. That said, I use them with the floyd posts and its my favorite tremolo, but calling it a direct swap is not really that accurate
What is your suggestion to upgrade JT580 on my Jackson DK2? And also wondering that is it possible to replace with Edge Pro tremolo on my Jackson DK2 if the Edge Pro system is totally compatible with and fit on it? In advance, thanks!
Gotoh is the only Trem I use when replacing cheap FR specials and lic. Floyds. But, I am one of those that thinks the Ibanez original edge is the best trem ever created. So Gotoh is a nice runner up to it. .
To my knowledge all Schaller’s are direct replacements. Gotoh as well. Now keep in mind, you may need to replace the studs as well. Reason being that you never want to have mismatched metals. The stud metal should always match the tree metal. This will prevent wear and promote longevity of the trem. Thanks for stopping by dude!
OFR or Ibanez Edge nothing else can compete, if you are a madman on the trem those are the only ones that hold up. if you never or hardly use the trem then anything will do.
the floyd rose -license- concerns the design only, not the quality. That there's tons of crap quality licensed FR has nothing to do with the license. Gotoh is the best guitar hardware company in the world, period
@@dametalone I'm not a 100% sure. The reason Gotoh's stud holes are 1mm lagrer might be because the holes tend to get wider after use. Therefore a new stud that is 1mm bigger would fit better. But I dont know for sure. We should probaply send Gotoh a email and ask. I know plenty of people who have replaced an old Floyd Rose to Gotoh, but I never asked them about the whole process.
Gotoh use the stud-lock posts which have to be wider than the FR ones. If you really can't get someone to install them for you you could use the OFR steel studs but don't use the ones from the cheaper Floyd Rose trems, the metal is not compatible. Stud spacing is the same
I just bought a Gotoh to replace my Ibane bridge. The edge bridges are not all made the same. Mine was crap and was always hard to level.BTW these prices are inaccurate now in Joe Biden's America.
see "cone head mod" dont cut your balls off your string anymore. new mod screw replaces the un-effective block, and is about 35$ set of screws sets in the hole of the string, not cutting the ball off anymore. 2023 fix the best idea ever 6 cone tip screws no slip
I remember hearing about the Sophia 2:92. Incredibly far from being a budget option but it seems to have completely redesigned the traditional floating trem design. You don't even have to cut off the ball ends if you don't want too. I've been dying to get a guitar with a Floyd solely so i could try it out.
@@nikaxeguitar absolutely dude! Fun fact about the company that makes them (the trems that is, they went under a name change to Sophia Tremolos and were previously called Coherent Sound in Light but i'm not sure if they went under another one recently) is that Ibanez used to license from the CEO; Geoffrey McCabe. Idk if they still do or if they stopped, but after hearing about that i knew that these have to be quality products.
