whammy options when avoiding to rout out guitar top for floyd rose

[rohlfo]

hey guys, a pro guitar mate of mine is looking for a solution for getting a whammy for his explorer. Obv routing out a cavity and sticking in a floyd rose is kinda the best option, but looking to avoid the routing! Until now he had a Khaler, but just didn't hold the tuning enough/is rubbish. He's really quite fussy (although imo one should be) when it comes to tuning, so would have to hold the tuning well! Any ideas?

[WezV]

set the kahler up properly or get it serviced... shouldnt have problems holding tuning - but they do feel different to floyds

[BigB]

Can't comment on kahler and floyds, but having my Vox standard 25 (vintage strat type trem)  properly serviced by a competent luthier made an amazing difference wrt/ tuning problems. As usual, the problem involved both the trem itself (these things are quite picky) and the nut. So I can only second WezV advice here...

[rohlfo]

has been done....more than once....could be the luthier (who isn't that in the know with Khaler perhaps) but otherwise the system really doesn't live up to the constant live gigging/use it needs to.

[Will]

Have a read up about them yourself maybe, just check that you are stringing it up as they advise, and the parts are maintained

[rohlfo]

also done...been fiddling and trying various options...he said it kinda works if you have it dripping with oil lol, obv not practical! maybe it just gave up, although he said it never really was 100%  :?

[gingataff]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to remember Wez saying that Kahlers need to be recessed to work properly.

[WezV]

they dont 'need' to be recessed, but they do need to be the correct height which can be achieved with neck angle or a recess

they 'need' to have the saddles at a certain height to maintain a good downward pressue on the saddle.  sometimes they areput on guitars without enough neck angle or recess and the trem allows you to set-it up so it looks fine - but in reality the bottom half of the action adjustment on the saddles is useless

some pointers on saddle height and set-up here about half way down
http://www.wammiworld.com/Installation.html

if it works when dripping with oil have you considered some vasaline  instead ???



it could also be that its just shot. We dont know what model of kahler you have fitted.   It may be that a new/higher model will be your best bet or some replacement parts needed,  new springs may be needed

[rohlfo]

cool, some good pointers, cheers  :D
The hight thing we tried, but didn't work (with the little play room available without drastic changes to guitar)
the oil thing he said, I've not seen it in practice yet, but worth a try with vaseline!
springs shouldn't really be already dead, but it's something which has crossed our mind and may be a solution
As to model, not sure off by heart...tricky thing is it stops just short and just long of the in tune resting point so hard to know what more to really adjust without undertaking major changes to whole guitar....as said, wondering if there's alternative options out there which work?

[WezV]

yeah, but its the minimal route thing thats difficult or we would just say get a floyd... unless you can track down a wonderbar - they require no route but again have their own quirks which brings lovers and haters just like kahlers, floyds and every other trem

probably not after a stetsbar - check out the varied reviews and see though

[rohlfo]

cool, yeah, I think he should bite the bullet and stick in a floyd -  the one in his les holds perfectly...otherwise maybe try out the odd last trick before given it the final chop  :? will pass on the other options too, thanks guys

[Copperhead]

Routing is not too picky for a dive-only setup. Plus he can get a D-Tuna.