Jacob Poller Week 10: A Defense for the Floyd Rose

A Floyd Rose guitar tremolo system is a tremolo that relies on string and spring tension to keep the guitar in tune. And it's a very delicate system. One of many things can throw the balance off...that includes playing. I currently have two Floyd Rose equipped guitars and I built one of them. This gives me a special look into how aggravating and tedious these things are. Let’s start off with the installation. First of all, you’re going to need one which  will set you back around two hundred for an “original” (there are cheaper alternatives, but may include less tuning stability and QC issues). And if your guitar is built to have one it’s a very simple install. just place in the pegs, put on the springs and intonate. That’s what you would think if you had a vintage style tremolo. Nope! Now you gotta put the strings on while the tremolo itself is pulling down into the recessed cavity in the guitar. Once you have it strung up (which if you’re new should take somewhere from 15 minutes to 6 hours). But that’s it right? We can play now? Think again. Now you have to intonate the entire thing, which entails detuning the entire guitar one string at a time and adjusting little saddles that the strings rest on. If you’re lucky, you get all of them on your first try and then that’s it. But, since no one is that lucky you need to retune it all the way, see how far you need to adjust, detune, adjust, then retune. Just the intonation should take you about an hour if you’re experienced. 

But, this is just a one time thing with each guitar you decide to put one on. And there are some massive upsides to having one. First of all is the massive increase in tuning stability. Even if you buy a lower quality Floyd, you will immediately notice that it's almost impossible to throw out of tune. It’s this reason why Steve Vai, Joe Striani, and Alex Lifeson can do so many amazing things on stage with their guitars. Another massive upside is the amount of trick you can do with it.  You can do divebombs (as seen in Eruption), or harmonic squeals (as seen on any Pantera song), or you can just go crazy on the bar and it’ll sound awesome. The Floyd gives a player a sort of unseen freedom. You can do all sorts of amazing things both on stage and in the studio.