Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: simonp on July 23, 2007, 01:32:03 AM

Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 23, 2007, 01:32:03 AM
My Les Paul needs to go for a fret dress etc and possibly a re-fret and so I need to get my 15 year old Charvel Fusionup to scratch for whilst the LP is away.
This also needs a fret dress, but also the floating bridge needs replacing as the original has stripped threads in quite a few of the holes that are used to clamp the string holders, hence the intonation cannot be set well as I have to use the wrong holes.
The original spec one is a the Charvel Schaller made Floyd Rosae style one. The ones I have been looking at are the TRS-101 and the Gotoh ones. The TRS-101 I can get fro about £65 and the Gotoh is around £110.
If anyone knows these bridges is the Gotoh one worth the extra, or wil the TRS-101 be OK?
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: gingataff on July 23, 2007, 02:02:32 AM
Will they fit?
I have seen people replace the Schaller with an OFR and although it fits on the studs the routing is different and it looks a bit odd, not to mention the recess for the string locks is much shorter so you might not be able to have the bridge set as low as before without extra routing.
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: WezV on July 23, 2007, 08:56:17 AM
the more expensive floyds are well worth the money, the gotoh and schaller ones are particulalry good.

The cheap ones tend to suffer with more wear to the blades because they are made out of a cheaper grade of metal
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 23, 2007, 10:32:14 AM
Hmm, yes I suppose I should check sizing and fit, hadn't really thought about that. I'd assumed they were fairly standard. What is the risk of finding drawings of these trems though?
The guitar is quite old, and will only get occasional gig use so not wanting to spend too much. Plus I'm not a big user of the trem (got too used to the Les Paul now).
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on July 23, 2007, 12:41:17 PM
It is well worth having a Floyd Original - just for the tone improvement alone

It is also the most reliable IMO
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: WezV on July 23, 2007, 01:36:03 PM
lots of people in the world moan about floyds, i do especially when someone asks me to set one up!!!

but other than being a git to set up most of the problems people have with floyds are down to the fact they are using a cheaper/inferior version. Its one of them things that if you are not going to bother to get a proper one then its not worth having one at all!!
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 23, 2007, 03:22:01 PM
So, I can get a pukka Floyd Rose on ebay for circa £160, or I can get a Schaller one (the original one was Schaller, but only a single locking one) for about £180. What would be best? I suppose the Schaller would definitely fit, I woudl have to chekc the Floyd dimensions.
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: Davey on July 23, 2007, 03:26:50 PM
an OFR or OFR clone will not fit, as the locking posts are too long

you need a Floyd Rose II or Schaller Floyd
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 23, 2007, 04:14:59 PM
Quote from: Davey
an OFR or OFR clone will not fit, as the locking posts are too long

you need a Floyd Rose II or Schaller Floyd


Thanks for that info, certainly narrows my choices down. The Charvel Fusion Custom is still a nice (and easy) guitar to play so, and did cost me around £500 in 1991/2 so I suppose it is worth spending a bit on.
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: dave_mc on July 23, 2007, 07:24:30 PM
Quote from: WezV
Its one of them things that if you are not going to bother to get a proper one then its not worth having one at all!!


I agree.

if you want dimensions, wd music products has the dimensions of the gotoh one, floyd rose has the dimensions on their website, and you can email schaller for theirs.
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 24, 2007, 12:24:30 AM
Having looked at all the dimension info I can find, the Floyd Rose ones won't fit. The routing at the back is not long enough for the original, and the block is too deep. The Pro has narrower string spacing, and again I think the block is too deep.
The Gotoh one has the same issue, the block is too deep at 41mm, which would foul the back cover. The one on the guitar is only 30mm.
It looks at the moment that only a similar Schaller one will fit, providing that is that they haven't changed in the intervening years.
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 24, 2007, 12:27:15 AM
Nope, the Schaller one also has a block that is too deep. I wonder if it is possible to get shallower blocks?
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: Davey on July 24, 2007, 12:45:40 AM
you can specify which block. you need a 32mm one.

and the schaller has the same spacing as the flioyd rose
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 24, 2007, 01:12:17 AM
Quote from: Davey
you can specify which block. you need a 32mm one.

and the schaller has the same spacing as the flioyd rose


The Floyd seem to have the locking screws for the strings extending out of the back more than the Schaller and the quoted routing is about 7mm  more than the Charvel has. The Schaller on the guitar has the locking screws only just extending behind the fine tuners.
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: Davey on July 24, 2007, 01:18:31 AM
Quote from: simonp
Quote from: Davey
you can specify which block. you need a 32mm one.

and the schaller has the same spacing as the flioyd rose


The Floyd seem to have the locking screws for the strings extending out of the back more than the Schaller and the quoted routing is about 7mm  more than the Charvel has. The Schaller on the guitar has the locking screws only just extending behind the fine tuners.

that is true. i ment the post spacing
Title: Which floating bridge?
Post by: simonp on July 24, 2007, 10:45:00 AM
There is quite a lot of clearance behind the current Scaller, almost as if it was routed to take a different bridge, but it is about 5mm less than the recommended routing dimension for the Floyd Rose one, so not sure if it would fit or not. Unfortunately the dimension to the back of the string locking screws is one of the few dimensions I cannot find for teh Floyd Rose.