Floyd-o-fobia

[Mark-NL]

Mark - be VERY careful with prices that are too good to be true. That the owner emails you to outbid somebody? I'd be VERY suspicious.

Thanks for the heads up.

There was a bid of € 200 (moronic bid). I bid € 700 (without prior contact to seller). The seller then contacted me to let me know that I could pick it up for € 750,00.

€ 750 is cheapish, but it does come without a hardcase. Wouldn't call it too good to be true.

I'm probably gonna pass though, not necessarily because of the 'problems' that go with the use of a Floyd, but the fact that the Floyd, somehow, on this guitar seems out of place. On an EVH it just seems right, and I saw a couple of pics of a Pink Y2D with floyd that looked stunning)...

If it were cheaper I'd give it a shot I think, but someone here said "if it doens't float your boat 100%....", and it doesn't... (and there's no more room in my avatar anyway)

 

[Mark-NL]

@MetalMarty Yep, that's where I know him from aswell . And thanks for the offer, I might just take you up on it.

 

[Mark-NL]

[RANT]
US prices (used and new) make me cry..
[/RANT]

 

[Tollywood]

The best way to string a guitar with a Floyd Rose, in my humble opinion, is to feed the cut end through the tuners from the headstock down toward the Floyd, and plug the cut end right into the Floyd. You end up with the ball end and about six inches of string dangling up at the headstock. You can loop the string around itself and end up with a two inch diameter loop and leave it there, or, cut it off.
Please try it my way, you may like it...

 

[Tollywood]

Thanks alot, I really appreciate it...

 

[Jack FFR1846]

I only have one floyd equipped guitar, and rarely use a trem during playing. But when I do want to use it....mostly for subtle effects like a jazz guitarist at the end of a phase, the Axis is my tool of choice. The trem is the best out there. Now, for trouble caused by it......the only thing I have to do is to remember to bring the allen wrench for the locks. But once it's all tuned up, it stays dead on for an entire rehersal (about 3 hours) without touching it. I've found that even bringing it out to the winter cold in the car and back home and back again for performances, it's dead on. If you do a lot of full tone (or double tone) bends, then add springs and tighten that sucker down. You then can totally ignore the FR trem. String changes are slower than a guitar without the FR, but once clamped down, string stretching is easier. I would not now pay extra for a FR guitar but I'd not reject one because it's got the FR.

Cheers....

 

[LegGodt]

STOP!!!

THAT PICTURE YOU POSTED IS A PICTURE OF MY MORSE AND IT IS NOT FOR SALE!!!

Please send me the information for the site that is selling it. This is FRAUD!

The original picture is posted in the Steve Morse Owner's Club SMOC. I posted the pics in Oct when I got the guitar from EBMM.

 

[metalmarty]

STOP!!! ... THAT PICTURE YOU POSTED IS A PICTURE OF MY MORSE AND IT IS NOT FOR SALE!!!

Please send me the information for the site that is selling it. This is FRAUD!

The original picture is posted in the Steve Morse Owner's Club SMOC. I posted the pics in Oct when I got the guitar from EBMM.

I recognized the picture, didn't think a lot of it. It's on marktplaats, not an auction-site but a regular marketplace. Possibly he just used the picture because, frankly, your pictures are awesome . Would have been curteous to mention that his guitar is not the one pictured though . Marktplaats.nl > Musicman Steve morse met koffer en orginele musicman gigbag - Muziek en Instrumenten - Snaarinstrumenten | Gitaren | Elektrisch

 

[LegGodt]

I've already contaced Derek at EBMM. I'm an endorsed artist and want to make sure I handle this professionally. I don't want to go off on the guy selling it and misrepresent EBMM. I will let you guys know what I am advised to do.

Please, please, please ... no one bid on that guitar!!!

@metalmarty .... Thanks for the compliment on the pics

 

[metalmarty]

If you'ld like me to mail te seller to change the picture let me know. Might be he's more then willing to pull/change it. Doing it in dutch might be the easiest way .

 

[Raz]

I'm going to chime in, and I may get the evil eye for what I am about to say, but I do not like the FLoyd at all, first and foremost for the fact that you have to shim the saddles to mimic the radius of the fretboard. The best floater is the JP trem, followed by the vintage trem, for non-floating. I just wish EBMM would equip their floating trem guitars with a similar style to the JP Trem, super easy to re-string, low profile, and the ability to get the action low, and even across the fretboard...

 

[Mark-NL]

I asked (earlier) for additional pictures. Have not heard from him. If I get additional pics I'll be sure to check them against the one you posted
LegGodt. And thanks for chiming in...

@DrKev guess you were right in warning me

@Raz actually, the vintage trem does floating really well. Both my Luke and Silo are set up floating, and are very very stable

 

[Raz]

@Raz actually, the vintage trem does floating really well. Both my Luke and Silo are set up floating, and are very very stable

Weird, is the bridge level?

 

[Mark-NL]

Nope, a few mm's above the body, about 3/4 note on the G string when pulled up. (Lukes are setup from factory with floating trem at about 1,5 note when pulled up on the G, so I have mine set a bit lower)

 

[LegGodt]

Above the 12th fret of the G-string on my Morse I think I have 2 whole steps when I pull up on the floyd. I'll have to check that tonight to verify.

 

[agt]

Personally, I would be concerned about buying from a seller that has misrepresented the actual guitar by providing a pic of a different one.

Regarding the Floyd, it is more high maintenance than other bridge types (e.g. changing strings, setting intonation). That is something to consider if you do not have the need for one. On the plus side, despite the fact that I am not really a Floyd using player, I own one EBMM with such a trem and I love the ability to fine tune the strings using the thumb screws.

 

[fbecir]

Weird, is the bridge level?

The Music Man bridge can be setup for floating action.
Personally, I use the Carl Verheyen technique. A few months ago, I wrote a thread on this topic :
http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-guitars/46427-tremolo-setup.html


I was really surprised how stable was the tremolo. Thus for me the Floyd Rose is not useful unless you need to do huge dive bombs !

 

[Richiesos]

I like that the axis Floyd Rose doesn't raise the pitch. The fact that it sits flush on the body makes it easier to deal with. I don't think Morse is like this though. Every Morse I've played floats. I have a Y2D with a floyd on order now, and I'm planning on having my tech fill the cavity so it doesn't float. Maybe it's something you can consider as well.

Changing strings, is a pain in the neck, but if you do it one string at a time (instead of taking them all off at once) you should be ok. I think my personal record for fastest floyd rose string change is 13 minutes. I'm sure there are people who can do it way faster.

 

[paranoid70]

My biggest problem with Floyded guitars is that it's a pain to do alternate tunings. I had one once and it was my only guitar, I would grimmace everytime someone wanted to tune down a step for a song.

 

[DrKev]

@DrKev guess you were right in warning me

It seems my bull**** detector is still well tuned, my friend!

I'll agree that the "vintage" MM trem is fantastic and stays in tune great. Remember, Petrucci decided he was happier without the Floyd and the Luke was originally offered with a Floyd but Lukather decided he didn't need all the lockin stuff any more because the MM vintage trem did the job so well.

Of course the Floyd will still handle serious abuse better than anything, but ONLY if you have good fresh strings on your guitar. Old or crappy strings just can't do it, no matter what trem you have.

Personally, I adjust the trem springs for a ~3mm (a touch less than 1/8") gap between the back of the bridge plate and the guitar top, when the strings are at whatever tuning you choose. (EDIT: I've added a photo of my trem setup to my profile photo album)

(Verheyen is a better player than I'll ever be, and probably well meaning but in my not-so-humble opinion, the "Verheyen setup" is totally unnecessary and based on a poor understanding of physics. He also totally ignores friction as the most important factor in tuning stability. The very small amount of lubrication in the nut slots and saddles will help. Of course, Verheyen's 'system' won't hurt anything and your trem will still work perfectly well. Why? Because a well set up system will work great no matter how the trem springs are arranged.)