[plato67]

I rarely buy new. My daily guitar is my '90 MIJ '68 RI strat which I love. I've never had a guitar with a Floyd.

I also never could play Van Halen stuff back in the day; 30 years of practice later, now I can.

I can do the dives on my strat with the regular trem, but the re-tuning is a pain. I've changed strings to NYXL, which helps a lot.

So what do you recommend? Aesthetically, I've never been a fan of the pointy headstock. But for the right deal...

Thx.

 

[sillyak]

Godin Redline's can be a steal on the used market. I bought one for $350 about this time last year. Licensed floyd and EMG pick ups, Made In Canada (some of them might have been made in the USA when they had a shop there, can't remember.)

MIJ Jacksons are cheap on the used market as well.

Lots of deals on high quality floyd equiped guitars. They aren't really in style right now.

 

[knight_yyz]

Look for some mid 80's to 90's MIJ stuff. Fernandes and Tokai in particular. Lots of superstrats with normal headstocks or pointy or banana depending on the year. If you are on a budget, Tokai Limited Edition, or Tokai Custom. Fernandes The function if you have a higher budget.

 

[plato67]

Thx for the replies.

Is there a particular model of Floyd to look for? It seems they are not all made equally...


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[Distortion]

Mim strats with a floyd generally are cheaper than with a regular trem. I have seen them at $400 within the last year. I have a Fender built EVH Wolfgang standard that I really like. $500 to $600 is the going price.

 

[plato67]

I’d like one if those, but they’re hard to find since his passing.


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[GeorgeMich]

The Charvel “Model“ series from the 80s are awesome guitars. 1 to 6, increasing with value and quality as they incline. I’m fairly certain they had Floyd’s or licensed Floyd’s. I had a nice model 4 before I really knew how to play.

 

[Diablo]

Floyd’s are mostly licensed now, iirc.
the ones made by Schaller were particularly desirable, same with ones often referred to as OFR (original Floyd rose)
Chinese ones, less so, as usual.
but imo, there is little difference in playability, more like finish quality.
Ibanez have various names for their versions as well...LoPro etc. the ones I played were no better or worse than Floyd’s.

 

[plato67]

I tried this EVH at the Hunt Club L&M and was not impressed. Characteristically it was not setup properly...

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[hondamatic]

There was a Lado Hawk series HSS, with a Floyd or Kahler trem, for $150 at a local pawn shop recently. It looked like it had lived, not sure about condition.

80s American peavey sometimes pop up for $200-300. I believe the model is ‘tracer’.

Japanese Ibanez RGs are expensive enough, but the earlier Roadstar models are still $300-400.

 

[tdotrob]

I think 1000 series LTD with Floyd 1000’s are great guitars for the used price and can be had well under $1000.

The 1000 series Floyd’s are great bridges/systems. MIJ ESP used with Floyd originals are great value usually for used as well.

If I was looking for a guitar equipped with a Floyd Rose I’d be looking forFloyd 1000’s or original equipped guitars.

 

[Rollin Hand]

Ok, of the newer guitars, basically you are looking for a guitar with a Floyd Rose special, which is a workable bridge, or an Original Floyd Rose. Ibanez also makes some with the Edge Zero II which is workable.

Any Ibanez with an original Edge Bridge or Lo Pro Edge will serve you very well.

Check where a cheaper guitar is made -- some Korean models have bridges made by Sung Il that are decent.

Some troublesome bridges can be improved with higher quality screws and lubricating the knife edges. The other place that causes trouble is the nut -- deep grooves in the locking nut can mean poor tuning stability.

An alternative: Locking tuners and a Tusq XL nut for your guitar.

 

[knight_yyz]

Fernandes Floyd Rose copies are the FRT-* system, the * is a number 1-8. So FRT-1 up to FRT-8 (floyd rose tremolo)
The Tokai Floyd Rose is called Ayers Rocker.

 

[Rollin Hand]

Floyd’s are mostly licensed now, iirc.
the ones made by Schaller were particularly desirable, same with ones often referred to as OFR (original Floyd rose)
Chinese ones, less so, as usual.
but imo, there is little difference in playability, more like finish quality.
Ibanez have various names for their versions as well...LoPro etc. the ones I played were no better or worse than Floyd’s.

They don't even have to be licensed now -- the parents have expired.

FWIW, Chip Ellis said in an EVH factory tour that EVH uses the Korean made OFRs because the base plate is bent steel and Schaller now uses cast steel, and the saddles sit together better -- he called it "attention to detail."

That said others believe the Gotoh locking trem to be superior (including John Suhr. The thing one has to watch for with those is the string lock bolts are longer than on a Floyd, which means it doesn't fit in some Floyd routes.

The one thing that I can't find out about the Floyd Special vs. the OFR: the Special is " spot hardened", which I assume to mean at the knife edges. Is the OFR base plate fully hardened? I know from experience that swappingout the wire-grade steel screws on a cheap Floyd copy makes a huge difference, so this could make a BIG difference.

 

[BlueRocker]

There's this

Gibson Gibson Shred Les Paul Studio Ebony 2019 | james's Gear Depot | Reverb

 

[tomee2]

There's Yamaha too. Mij 80s and 90s had their own version of a locking nut and trem that works really well but it must be complete as parts are non existent. A friend lent me his for a month, in exchange for setting it up, and it was a great guitar. SE600? Can't recall the exact model name, but it was Strat shaped and not pointy.

 

[colchar]

If you can get past the headstocks (are they all pointy?), there are a ton of used Ibanez, Jackson, etc. on the used market.

 

[Alistair6]

The new charvel stuff is very nice. You can get a san Dimas pro mod on the used market for around $800-900 if you look around

 

[plato67]

That's what I've had my sights set on. Those or a Wolfgang.

 

[4Aaron GE]

The ad appears to be gone. Are those arcade buttons?

Look for some mid 80's to 90's MIJ stuff. Fernandes and Tokai in particular. Lots of superstrats with normal headstocks or pointy or banana depending on the year. If you are on a budget, Tokai Limited Edition, or Tokai Custom. Fernandes The function if you have a higher budget.

There's this

Gibson Gibson Shred Les Paul Studio Ebony 2019 | james's Gear Depot | Reverb

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