Floyd Rose / Music man axis

[MRM4712]

I am new to all of this so please forgive me. I have a question and hope that someone can help. I was shopping at guitar center and was ready to purchase a music man axis and on the way to the counter I was stoped by a sales person that said "you arent going to buy that are you?" when I asked why? He said that the "floyd rose system was crap and could never be tuned, and that the guitar was nothing more than a paper weight" I was mad, depressed and frusterated. I played several guitars including a PRS, fender, and gibson but personally love the neck and the way that the music man played. My questions are, is there any truth to what he was saying or was the sales person just trying to get more commision by trying to sell me a 700.00 more expensive guitar? Is the floyd rose system that hard to tune? I am a bass player and trying to get into guitar. My 2500.00 budget is counting on you guys, thanks for you input. MRM4712

 

[Lew]

That must be where Van Halen was going wrong,
anyone who has played along to the first 2 albums will know what i mean

a well set up guitar will play well,and it doesnt look like thats the shop where you want the guitar to be set up.

also note that i don't like floyd roses but its down to you and your playing style.

 

[Hookpunch]

I thought the Axis was set up to lower pitch only? If that is the case staying in tune should be no harder than any other type of tremelo bridge - as long as you have enough tension pulling it back. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

I'll grant the Floyd is a pain to tune but once you get there it stays there pretty well.

 

[deadringer]

I am new to all of this so please forgive me. I have a question and hope that someone can help. I was shopping at guitar center and was ready to purchase a music man axis and on the way to the counter I was stoped by a sales person that said "you arent going to buy that are you?" when I asked why? He said that the "floyd rose system was crap and could never be tuned, and that the guitar was nothing more than a paper weight" I was mad, depressed and frusterated. I played several guitars including a PRS, fender, and gibson but personally love the neck and the way that the music man played. My questions are, is there any truth to what he was saying or was the sales person just trying to get more commision by trying to sell me a 700.00 more expensive guitar? Is the floyd rose system that hard to tune? I am a bass player and trying to get into guitar. My 2500.00 budget is counting on you guys, thanks for you input. MRM4712

You just have to hate GC for this kind of ****! A quality Floyd Rose or FR licensed trem, when set up correctly can stay in tune through thick and thin. Ask yourself this, why would he want to warn you about one of their products? Is it because he cares about you? Is it because he's worried about selling a paper weight? No way man! He's trying to get you to buy something else.

I think the best strategy concerning GC is to do your research else where. Then go try guitars out there and see what you think. Then, go do more research outside of GC. Then finally, when you've decided what you want, then go in and get it and ignore them all completely. GC is the closest thing I've ever seen to a used car lot. Just silly really.

 

[deadringer]

Oh, and by the way, there are plenty of Axis users and lovers here that can help you with just about any questions you have!

 

[hbucker]

Many, many, many GC sales people don't have smarts too good. I'm sure his manager would love to know he's on the sales floor actually trying to talk people out of buying gear.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the licensed Floyd on the Axis/EVH. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.

There's a lot of b.s. that flies around about how the only good Floyds are the originals. Where is it said that licensed Floyd's can't use good metal or close tolerances in their manufacturing?

I'll echo what someone else has said: do your research and then go to GC for the prices. Never go to GC expecting to get good info on gear. That's the shortest way I can say it.

Sometime I'll give you the long version that involves a GC employee arguing with me. He was actually stamping the ground and yelling that he's worked there for 15 years and there is no difference what so ever between the EVH and Axis...

 

[GWDavis28]

MRM4712, I've never bought anything from GC, but I get the creeps whenever I talk to one of their sales persons.

EBMM Axis is one of the best made guitars in the world. As for the floyd, well I don't have one, but if the guitars are top notch, then you can be guaretted (spelling) that a licensed Flyod will be too.

Buy the Axis you won't have any regrets. I know that I don't I'm off to mess around with my Blue Dawn Axis Sport right now.

Best of luck, Glenn |B)

 

[dwf1004]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the licensed Floyd on the Axis/EVH. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.

The Floyd on my EVH is the same one that is used on the Axis, with the exception of the saddles not being offset (the saddles on the EVH are offset from the centerpoint, Axis Floyds are dead center)

I have zero issue with tuning, exception being when my hearing isn't right.

I'll echo what someone else has said: do your research and then go to GC for the prices. Never go to GC expecting to get good info on gear. That's the shortest way I can say it.

...and cleanest. Keep it that way on this board.

 

[JDouglee]

Yeah GC rarely knows about the gear they sell. Generally speaking, you probably know more than they do.

A Floyd takes some getting used to, but once you "get it", it's not a pain at all. FWIW, I have Floyd & non Floyd guitars. Restringing & set up time is about the same regardless of the bridge.

 

[jongitarz]

If you have problems with the Floyd Rose...Get a Super Sport. 5 way switch, tone control, and with the MM trem, you can dive bomb all day and it stays in tune..Really

 

[nobozos]

I have owned 3 Axis' with the Floyd Rose Trem. I did not have a problem with any of them. In fact, it is probably the most stable tuning system on any guitar. I've had Les Pauls, and you are lucky to get through 3 songs without having to re-tune the things.

I think it's just the hip thing nowadays to diss the Floyd Rose. I've noticed that a lot of the younger guys that are into nu metal and alternative rock seem to think it's fashionable to say the Floyd Rose is a piece of crap. That seems to be the kind of people that GC likes to hire, and is probably the reason this "salesman" told you that.

The Floyd is actually extremely easy to set up and maintain. I don't understand what is so baffling about the Floyd.

Oh yeah, if you do get the Axis, don't let these guys at guitar center tell you you have to pay for the case. The case comes with the guitar from Ernie Ball. If they don't give you the case, go somewhere else to buy the guitar.

 

[Warg Master]

I bought my Axis and my Petrucci from teh same Guitar Center. When I did, the sales people were actually EXTATIC that someone was actually buying the Music Man guitars finally. Got a decent deal on each because of it. Ignore the sales people. They will bull****tttt you as much as they can if it served their ends.

At the risk of being redundant:
The Axis Floyd is non-recessed, so, as some have said you may only bend the pitch down. This helps notes stay in tune much more then a floating bridge. That being said, the floyd is a very good trem, floating or no, that keeps tuning well. You just gotta know how to set it up. I also don't understand how people are so baffled by them.

On a side note: I think the Trem on the JP Music Man is the best Trem, but that's just my opinion.

 

[spkirby]

My Axis has the floyd on it and it is the best. Plus since it only "pitches down" your guitar will stay in tune even when you break a string PLUS you can fit it out with an EVH d-tuna for instant drop D tuning.

Never had any problems with it, works like a dream, stays in tune and will take a lot more abuse than most other tremelos.

Ignore the GC jerk and get the guitar, you cannot be disappointed with an Axis!

If I was Victor Kiam I'd buy the EBMM company

 

[Doktor Rawk]

Well, I feel your pain with GC. I probably got severely raped on my Axis. I ordered it with a Premium Quilt Top, Tobacco Burst Finish, Matching Head Stock and paid $2,400.00.

Did I get beat???

Either way, when I walk into that store I never and I mean NEVER let any one of them tell me what's good or bad and why things are the way they are. I tell them. There's this one iddiot who was like a whining baby when i auditioned the Axis in another GC. I must have played it for months and he was crying like a little girl....

"You know why do you keep coming here and sitting with this guitar every single day for sometimes three hours a night? If you like it, buy it. But I think you're just here to waste time. You'll never buy it!"

At that I almost literally took the Axis by the neck and beat him to a pulp with it like a bat. Luckily for him I walked out of the store and took my business to another GC location.

It's too bad nobody but them really carries them here in NJ.

After spending well over fifteen grand this year on guitars and a new amp system with me doing the talking about what i know is good for my purposes, they now kiss my ass everytime I walk in the store and that's the way it should be.

Don't listen to the ignoramous idiots over there. Do yourself that one huge favor!

 

[glockaxis]

I've owned my Axis brand new from the first year it was made (96) right after EVH left the company. This is the best guitar you can buy. The floyd rose system is awesome and has never let me down. The neck is what sold me as are the high output pickups---awesome. The quality and craftmanship put into these guitars are second to none. When I go to Guitar Center I ignore all the employees (I have a knack for ignoring people) and do my thing. The only time I talk is if I'm buying something and I'm at the checkout counter.

(as an aside I tried the Peavey Wolfgangs when they came out and just couldn't bring myself to buying one. Now I find out that they have problems w/ the necks shifting too much. EBMM doesn't have this problem. Just a heads up if you're looking in that direction.)

 

[hbucker]

(as an aside I tried the Peavey Wolfgangs when they came out and just couldn't bring myself to buying one. Now I find out that they have problems w/ the necks shifting too much. EBMM doesn't have this problem. Just a heads up if you're looking in that direction.)

Did you hear that from someone who works at GC? I've never had any problems with either of my Wolfgangs and the necks shifting. I've never heard this as a complaint anywhere other than your comment.

And by the way, the trems on the Wolfgangs are fine too...

Sounds like you need to ignore more people than you already do

 

[nobozos]

I believe the "problems" with the neck shifting may be something that he read on the VH Forums posted by me. In that post, I stated that it wasn't really a problem, that you just need to check the tightness on the neck screws when you change the strings to prevent it.

The neck on the Wolfgang will shift, as will the neck on the Axis if you don't check the neck screws occasionally. I have seen it more than once.

Also, I have seen the trem pivot screws on SOME Wolfgangs leaning toward the neck. I saw one Wolf Standard with it so bad that the bottom front corner of the FR was touching the edge of the trem route.

I don't know about anybody elses experience with Wolfgangs, but I have owned 5 Wolfgangs and 3 Axis'. Ignore me if you want to, but I have no reason to post bogus information on this forum about the Wolfgang. My purpose for posting any of this information is to alert any Wolfgang owners of possible problems they can look for on their guitar before it becomes a major problem. How pissed would you be one day if you went to use the trem on your Wolf Standard and you ended up chipping the paint on the front of your guitar because your pivot bolt shifted too far forward? Wouldn't you like to be aware of that being a possiblilty so that maybe you could fix it before it gets to that point?

I have always said that the Wolfgang is a great guitar, and that I would own another one, but personally I would only own a Stop Tail now, because I have seen too many with the trem issue.

 

[hbucker]

Fair enough. You'll never hear me state that there isn't a clunker Wolf put out here or there or the same version of an Axis once in a while. Honestly, I frequent the PV board as much as I frequent this one. In fact, after I posted my last note on this thread defending the Wolfgang, I went to the PV board and defended the Axis which was said by ONE person there (who isn't a regular) to have obviously inferior craftsmanship to the Wolfgang. IMO neither has a leg up on the other in this regard and you won't convince me otherwise. The differences IMO, of which there are many, are all design oriented and not quality oriented. (Besides the tops. I'll give it to EBMM that their tops on average are prettier than the average Wolfgang tops.)

Over on the PV board I've never heard people complain or ask customer service about neck shifting (o.k. fair enough you cleared that one up but you see how someone took that and ran with it?) But I've not even heard of the trem problems you describe. And on a Standard??? That means not only the basswood is flexing but a 1/4"+ of the maple cap (at the carved top) is that soft and flexing too??? I'm not saying you didn't see it but it sounds remarkable for maple to be that soft.

FWIW I don't have any qc issues with my EVH or either of my Wolfgangs. I've got no reason to state anything other than my experiences either. You'll never hear me say "Wolfgangs or EBMM/EVH's are the best guitar ever! They've changed my life!" But I'm always pretty quick to come to both their defense whenever I think any negative points are being over generalized to sound as though every one coming off the line has the same problem...

Such as the original comment on this thread about the Axis trems. Do you suppose one of the Axis trems somewhere was a dog? I have no doubt it could happen. But the guy at GC took that info, put his own spin on it, and now there isn't a good one in the bunch. A bunch of silliness if you ask me.

But you didn't so I'll shut up now...

 

[glockaxis]

Hey Nobozos!! glad to see you over here. I believe you are exactly the person I heard it from at the forum. I have known you at the forum to be a reputable guy and thus took your experience/reputation as legitimate. Maybe I went too far w/o any of my own experience and I apologize if that is the case, but I did want to throw that out there. I agressively use the floyd stick on my axis and have never had to tighten the screws. If posted in eror I or a mod could delete the post.

Dom

 

[nobozos]

tops.) Over on the PV board I've never heard people complain or ask customer service about neck shifting (o.k. fair enough you cleared that one up but you see how someone took that and ran with it?) But I've not even heard of the trem problems you describe. And on a Standard??? That means not only the basswood is flexing but a 1/4"+ of the maple cap (at the carved top) is that soft and flexing too??? I'm not saying you didn't see it but it sounds remarkable for maple to be that soft.

I'm not sure what the deal is with the trems. It does seem to be a bigger problem on the Specials, but I have also seen it on a couple Standards. I don't know if it is the wood, or if it's the pivot screws and anchors themselves. After I brought it up at VH Forums, another guy said he ran into that problem with his, and he replaced the Peavey trem with an Original Floyd Rose trem(pivot screws, anchors and all), and said he has not had a problem since.

My theory is that the anchors and screws are just too small. Look at the pivot screws on a Wolfgang compared to an Axis. I have never seen a similar problem with an Axis trem, and it has the beefier pivot screws.

Maybe it's just the way the trem anchors are pressed in. Like I said, not all of them I've seen have this issue, but I've seen enough of them to surmise that it is a potential issue with any of them. It's kind of hard to see the problem on the Standards since the trem is in a cavity, and the pivot screws are barely visible, but if you look down into the cavity between the anchors and the edge of the cavity, look at the paint. If the paint is cracking, warping or being pushed up, your anchors are pulling forward.