Floyd Rose Special review

[xenophobe]

heard good stuff about the gotoh. heard some prefer it over fr... never tried it though. looking forward to your review (not only about the mechanics but also the tone and playability).

Tone and playability are subjective, but I will give detailed pictures and my impressions and comments. It's a wonderful unit. Excellent sustain.

[Axegrinder87]

Perhaps not a "review". As I said however, I see, feel, hear no differences compared to an OFR. So I implore any interested parties to search for an OFR review


It's been a while now, and she's held up just fine. Played 40+ shows, and she's my main axe.

Edit: I do have one gripe, the arm collar sucks. Can't tighten the arm down and still move the bar. So I have to keep it just loose enough. I'll replace it eventually.

Here she is live vampire dark:
386874_398517443541338_687846795_n.jpg

[dvscool]

Does anyone else have anything more to say about the "special"? I'm considering replacing the trem with a special on a fusion I just bought ... I'm worried I'm going to buy it and hate it. I mean its HALF the price of a floyd which means I have money for pickups or whatever..... I DO already have a sustain block for it. I'm pretty hard on trems though....

Dudes must be using this stuff am I going to regret it?

[straycat]

I like them for the most part and seem to function as well as a German Floyd.
I have used them on some ESP/LTD guitars with no issues.Keep in mind these were guitars in here for set ups so I worked them hard.
My SDX AS Jackson has one and its been fine so far as well.
My only beef on my SDX is the short 34mm zinc sustain block.I replaced the block on my SDX with a 37mm Floyd brass block and it was a huge tone improvement.
I agree with Axe the trem bar does suck but teflon tape cures that problem.
I do have a few O rings around here so I am going to try one over the trem collar stud maybe that will help the collar to stay tighter.
Had a lot of the specials apart and they are solid well made unit.Can't attest to the durability of the zinc saddles but haven't had one break yet.

[moku]

i think only time will tell if the floyd rose special holds up. i have several and upgraded them w/ big brass blocks, and none pose problems so far... but i'm guessing they won't last 20 yrs like my ofr trems. maybe the special will last for 5-10 yrs? of course this depends on how one abuses the trem. but for the money a trem lasting for 5-10 yrs is probably good enough--you would have gotten your money back already. so i'd get them and don't think you'll regret it. however, the length of the saddle screws may be an issue on the fusion (as stated above).

i do feel a slight tone/sustain difference with the specials and the ofr ones though (played unplugged from amp), and i'm guessing the diff comes from the density of the different metal used on the saddles and baseplates of special vs. ofr. this difference, however, is absent when the guitar is played plugged into am amp, esp. if distortion is used. can't really tell then.

[straycat]

If you swapped for a set of German saddles that would only make it better IMO the rest is fine.
the trem arm stud is cast so have a spare OFR stud handy when you break the cast one it should be fine after that.
Thats one part I like to have several of in my tool box.
I did put a set of OFR string locking pads on the nut I switched to along with the OFR allen screws.The stock pads and screws weren't very good.

[dvscool]

"the length of the saddle screws may be an issue on the fusion (as stated above)."

I must be blind where is it stated above? I'm not getting how saddle screw lengths would be an issue on a Jackson Fusion that already has a Shaller floyd on it?

For me its a tough call because, A) I'm hard on trems. B) I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for. Having said that, I have several projects
on the go and I could literally buy 2 specials for the price of one floyd. I don't care so much about the special have a crap sustain block (because thats a typical upgrade),
for me its the saddles that concern me. I bet if you add the cost of upgrading to OFR saddles to the price of the special you might as well have bought an OFR.

Likely, I will never know unless I buy one. I could look at it this way, If I buy a special and hate it, I've wasted alot more money on WAY worse things.

[dvscool]

ok I'm an idiot. I know what was meant by length of the saddle screws.

Yeah its going to be a problem. so I either need to route it (wich I would prefere not to do) or find some shorter screws.

Anyone ever buy shorter saddle screws? I'm going to check a local fasteners store and see if the have something....

[horns666]

I have many Floyd-like floyds..in ALL finishes and whatnots. I had them for years. None take more abuse than my kid's cheap Jackson. Because he is a not a normal human being. I love him dearly but he is a primate with a few too many things in his DNA. His Jackson was crafted in India..or somewhere not from this planet.

He makes Kerry King look like Shirley Temple!

[plon]

The main problem I've been seeing with the Special is that the threads in the saddles for the string lock screws tend to strip out due to the softer alloy, I mean literally pull out. So you don't want to go overboard tightening those up as much as you would on a MIG. Also, as already mentioned, the loose bar. I've replaced a few of those with the German assembly and problem solved. Other than that, with even just a standard size Floyd block, they are decent trems.

[dvscool]

The main problem I've been seeing with the Special is that the threads in the saddles for the string lock screws tend to strip out due to the softer alloy, I mean literally pull out. So you don't want to go overboard tightening those up as much as you would on a MIG. Also, as already mentioned, the loose bar. I've replaced a few of those with the German assembly and problem solved. Other than that, with even just a standard size Floyd block, they are decent trems.

Plon, thanks. I was wondering if that was an issue (striping the threads) with the specials as it is for several other mid/low range bridges.

I won't buy a special if thats the case. Gotoh or OFR are the only trems I would buy.

[moku]

well, dvscool, you could settle for the jt-590 that originally came on the fusion; it's actually a pretty good trem (unless you got a single locking jt-570?). jt-590 was make by schaller. you know this page, right? http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/TremoloInfoProject.htm and this page for floyd tips: http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/floyd-tremolo-tips.htm

[LaoWai]

I put a special on my DKMG project. I haven't had any issues with striping threads, but then again I don't torque the crap out of 'em either ... I the only thing I dislike is the trem arm seems a little sub par. It has a little plastic compression ring that seems to wobble loose. other than that its a fine trem for the buck.

special next to OFR

[dvscool]

well, dvscool, you could settle for the jt-590 that originally came on the fusion; it's actually a pretty good trem (unless you got a single locking jt-570?). jt-590 was make by schaller. you know this page, right? http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/TremoloInfoProject.htm and this page for floyd tips: http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/floyd-tremolo-tips.htm

Thanks for the links Moko, no I haven’t seen them, going to give them a good read.

I have the 590. Several peeps here have commented that same, that the 590 is actually a pretty good bridge. I would have to disagree. Any bridge that is made with white metal this soft, is hardly a good trem. The metal is horribly cheap and from what I’m reading these baseplates holes almost ALWAYS strip at some point. Feel free to challenge me on that. I won’t deny I’m hard on my Floyds either.

After I gave my 590 a WD40 bath and had a close look I found that several of the holes in the baseplate where striped. I really don’t want to deal with shit.

The problem I have is that unless I want to route more wood out of my guitar, or start modifying bridges, the Schaller is really the only option. I have a Gotoh. I even found some shorter saddle screws for it but the route would still need to be slightly enlarged. Not to mention the sustain block sticks out the back.

I’m sure an OFR is not a direct replacement either. Maybe easier then the Gotoh.

I would consider enlarging the route in the guitar, but would rather not.

So, I’m left with the option of buying a Schaller Floyd which is about 160$ or so? That’s fine, I would gladly spend the money if I knew for sure that they stopped making them out of that cheap-ass white metal. I think they have, but I don’t know for certain. That’s my next research step. If anyone can confirm the material used on a new Schaller Floyd that would be cool. Otherwise, I may be taking some. If I can confirm that striping is no longer an issue I'll order one....post haste!

[Zedder]

I replaced trem arm with Schaller one and there seems to be a one small issue: it´s angled part and collar is shorter than on a FR special part, so trem arm is closer to guitar´s surface and volume knob. I don´t know yet if it is a real problem, though.

I also got Schaller nut caps and they are too large for FR special locking nut. So I have to replace whole part or get smaller caps.