Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: nfe on June 06, 2010, 01:49:39 PM

Title: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: nfe on June 06, 2010, 01:49:39 PM
Right, I have a hankering for a guitar wth a floyd rose on, simply to let me play some daft solos in one of my bands. It will probably only get used in the studio, and it'll only be for a few songs, so I don't want to spend a fortune, but I still want a decent guitar. I've long considered building a warmoth of some kind, so maybe that's teh route to go down?

Somewhere in the region of £500-800 bucks, I think.

Ideas, guys?!
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Zaned on June 06, 2010, 01:56:22 PM
For that money, I'd search for a second had guitar, on which the floyd bridge is a good one. OR, what I would do, buy one of these: http://www.felineguitars.com/shop/shop_guitars.html (http://www.felineguitars.com/shop/shop_guitars.html).

What I've read about Feline's work, you'd certainly get a really well playing axe. They're all ALMOST within your price range  8)

-Zaned



Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: nfe on June 06, 2010, 02:01:25 PM
I've actually spoken to Jonathan a few times about building a guitar, and feel a wee bit bad I've ended up plumping for other things.

If I was buying from a luthier who would build to my own spec though, I'd end up way over budget  :lol:
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Philly Q on June 06, 2010, 02:10:19 PM
Jonathan mentioned on another thread this morning that he'll sell that brown sunburst Gunslinger for £599 if anyone's interested:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=21421.0 (http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=21421.0)



Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: MDV on June 06, 2010, 02:29:15 PM
I think the best thing with a 'floyd' (not really a floyd) you can get for that price, and almost any other price for that matter, is an 80s or early 90s RG.

The guitars were very well made from decent woods and come with Edge 1s, whcih are as good as OFRs/scallers/gotohs, easily.

I have an 89 RG560 and the 21 year old edge on it is still rock solid.

Best part - I got mine for £100. You can normally expect to pay 300 to 400 for a 560/50/70 thats in good nick, but as mine proves, they can be found lower and they're probably the best bang-for-buck metal guitars on the planet.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Zaned on June 06, 2010, 03:52:00 PM
I've actually spoken to Jonathan a few times about building a guitar, and feel a wee bit bad I've ended up plumping for other things.

If I was buying from a luthier who would build to my own spec though, I'd end up way over budget  :lol:


Did you look at the link I posted?
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Dmoney on June 06, 2010, 04:34:01 PM
seems a few of us have been looking at similar things. Gunslingers and tha'.

I've been looking at a few gunslingers and charvels. I don't know much about what is good or not when it comes to these guitars.
What I have found that is interesting, sort of, is the Kramer Pacer Classic. which is a new gibson/kramer pacer.
(http://www.kramerguitars.com/images/Model-Spec-PacerClassic.jpg)

that things is £249
Licensed Floyd and probably cheaper end of electronics.
Body is Mahogany though, which intrigues me.

If you got that, and a floyd rose original to replace the trem, you'd still be under budget.
if you change the pots and BKP it you'll bit at a mid point in your costings i guess.


whats gettin' at me is, is it worth putting a better trem etc on a guitar that only cost £249 to begin with, and how good is the body and neck? I can't find much about these really, and people seem to complain about them being poor set up rather than anything else.

I prefer the body shape to the gunslingers and charvels that are 1H1S with floyds and such.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Transcend on June 06, 2010, 04:47:55 PM
Another good guitar to look for is a secondhand

LTD m350 or m300

they are awesome for the money

mahogany body maple neck thru licenced floyd they sometimes go for as little as 250 but 300ish is the average asking price

theres a white washburn in a local shop which looks decent for about 200 if i remember correctly

it was quite similar to a RG bridge hum neck single

ill take some pics on my way back from work tomorrow and get more details if you want
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: tekbow on June 06, 2010, 05:12:48 PM
One of the new charvels? really can't go wrong at the price. guy over on rigtalk has sanded his down to the wood and is oiling it up, going to look superb
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Dr. Stein on June 06, 2010, 05:31:32 PM
I'll chip in a good word for Maverick F1's - if you shop around on ebay you can get one in good condition for under 200 quid, maybe a bit more if you want a fancy colour. At that you could replace the pickups and trem within budget, though personally I was quite happy with the trem on mine anyway.

Plenty of good options, it probably depends what sort of neck you get on with best as much as anything.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Ratrod on June 06, 2010, 06:54:17 PM
You can't go wrong with a Jackson Dinky IMHO.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Brow on June 06, 2010, 07:54:20 PM
I'm selling my Japanese Charvel for alot less than the lower end of your budget!  :lol:
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Stevepage on June 06, 2010, 09:51:41 PM
This.
(http://machinehead.co.uk/images/sh2-lg.jpg)
http://machinehead.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/38_116/products_id/2290

It's so rare too. I owned one and I really REALLY regret selling it.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Dreichlift on June 06, 2010, 10:00:43 PM
I bought an Ibanez RG320FM to experiment with a locking trem and that has the supposedly dreaded Edge III trem. It's never let me down and cost less than £300.

Alternatively for a little over your budget £900 I believe you could buy a custom job from these fellows.

http://www.stormshadowguitarworks.com/HOME.htm

I've been tempted to try one but I've had other priorities, seems too good to be true but I've not found anyone saying anything bad about them yet.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: dave_mc on June 07, 2010, 01:04:16 PM
i think he means his budget is £500, which converts to 800 bucks (i read it wrongly first time too).

I would say don't cheap out too much on the floyd- you want to make sure you're getting a decent floyd, or it eventually won't hold tuning, and probably won't sound too amazing either (cheap sustain block). you can get guitars with FRT-1000s in your price range (i think they're asian-made OFRS to the same spec, but I could be wrong), you could maybe sneak an ibanez rg1570 if you're lucky, too. Up to you, really.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: nfe on June 07, 2010, 01:20:29 PM
Thanks for the ideas guys. I had an old RG once upon a time and it was a swell guitar, certainly.

I think lots of ebay hunting is afoot.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: avenge the rage on June 07, 2010, 04:18:08 PM
How about get a ibanez xiphos, it has a edge 3 in it and then whip in some BKP, admittedly it will cost more than you would like to spend, but sounds sweet
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: HairyChris on June 08, 2010, 12:23:19 AM
Early/mid 90s Jackson Professional, the Japanese built ones. I have a 92ish Fusion and it's bulletproof. Licensed FR is rock solid, only needed a pickup swap (I stuck a DIMarzio in it in 93, not BKPed yet).

Personally I don't like the 6 string RGs, or rather the necks - the Jackson is a bit fatter & flatter. YMMV, obviously!  :)

Note: I've seen a couple of Concept series on evilbay. These are fantastic too.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Lew on June 08, 2010, 02:11:23 AM
I picked up a 1990 RG560 for 200 recently, shop around bargains are to be had!
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: Johnny Mac on June 08, 2010, 04:43:21 AM
One of the old 80's Charvels? I've got the thru neck HSS one the model 6. It's superb, even better after Feline put bkps in it and re- fretted it.
You should be able to pick one up for under £500. It's a buyers Market now.
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: murraymurray on June 08, 2010, 10:16:05 AM
Another +1 on Jap RG's.
Ive got a 91 RG550, plays mean, original Edge trems are every bit as good as OFR's.
Really want one of the Desert Yellow 20th anniversary ones now though.

also the old kramers are good, can find them pretty cheap sometimes. I have a focus 1000 which is the japanese version of the baretta, single HB and OFR. Stay away from the striker series though, and also the newer gibson made ones are apparently really pox and should be avoided.

I picked up another kramer a while back, George Lynch protoypte from before he swapped to ESP.
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee282/muzz989/DSC04316.jpg)
family shot of my floyds
Title: Re: Fancying a floyd rose equipped guitar, help!
Post by: nfe on June 08, 2010, 10:51:30 PM
I've a possibility floating about which I'll hopefully be able to go for, the details of which will be revealed if it works out...