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Floyd Rose Original

Floyd Rose is the organization that licenses, distributes and manufactures the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo invented by Floyd D. Rose. It also manufactures guitars using the system. Floyd Rose owns the patents on the design, and licenses these patents to several original equipment manufacturers. The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo is an example of a vibrola.

The Floyd Rose system consists of:

• A lock at the nut of the guitar, which prevents the tuning heads from being used and holds the strings taut
• A "floating bridge", where the other ends of the strings are also vice-locked, hence, "double-locking")

The locking system helps to keep the strings in tune while the strings are slackened to a degree which was not achieved with older tremolo systems, such as those found on Fender Stratocaster, allowing dive bombs, a rapid lowering of the pitch of a note. Since the tuning heads are ineffectual with the lock in place, the Floyd Rose bridge has heads for fine tuning; the guitar is tuned before the lock is put on, then fine tuned afterwards.

In the early 1980s, Floyd D. Rose cemented an agreement with Kramer Guitars, whereby Kramer became the exclusive distributor of Floyd Rose Locking Tremolos, even those that were not attached to guitars.^[1] The agreement stipulated a royalty paid out to Floyd D. Rose for every unit sold. Kramer saw a great potential in the new double-locking tremolo, and with the endorsement of Eddie Van Halen playing a guitar with the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, they dropped the earlier Rockinger Tremolo in favor of the new Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo between June of 1982 and January 1983. However, Kramer eventually defaulted on the agreement, which resulted in a lawsuit between the two parties. Later, distribution of the Floyd Rose Original was left to Floyd Rose whereas the patented designs was licensed to other manufacturers to use.

The basic principles of the action of a double-locking floating bridge are shown in this simple illustration. Its proportions are exaggerated to demonstrate the effect.

Position I illustrates the normal position of an ideally tuned Floyd Rose bridge. The bridge (green) balances on a pivot point, being pulled counter-clockwise by the strings' (red) tension and clockwise by one or several (usually up to five) springs (light blue). Controlled by special tuning screws (sky blue), these two forces are balanced such that the bridge's surface is parallel to the guitar body (olive). The strings are locked tightly with a special mechanism at the nut (also green, as it is a part of the Floyd Rose bridge) as well as at the bridge, hence "double-locking".

Position II illustrates the position of the bridge when the tremolo arm is pushed down towards the guitar body. The bridge rotates around a pivot point counter-clockwise and the tension in each string decreases, lowering the pitch of each string. The sound of any notes being played becomes flat.

Position III illustrates the position of the bridge when the tremolo arm is pulled up away from the guitar body. The bridge rotates clockwise, tension in the strings increases, the pitch of the sound increases and so notes sound sharper than normal.

Note that:

• All strings are affected simultaneously, as contrasted with the B-Bender, where only one string is affected. Due to the different tensions of each string, the degree of pitch shift will vary from string to string, so the tremolo arm is commonly used on single strings or 2-3 adjacent strings.
• If the tremolo arm is pushed down, action increases and usually become less comfortable to play due to the lowered tension.
• If the tremolo arm is pulled up, action decreases and strings may hit the frets on the fretboard, making unwanted sounds. Also, excess tension applied to strings makes them more fragile and increases the chance of string breakage.

Floyd Rose Pro

• Floyd Rose Original is the oldest model still in production. Since 1977, production models bearing this name are mostly the same as the first model, with only minor changes. Note that the name "Floyd Rose Original" is used to differentiate this system from "Floyd Rose Licensed". The first Original Floyds were double locking but did not have fine tuners, requiring the nut to be opened any time minute string changes needed to be made.

• Floyd Rose II is a lower end version of the Original Floyd used mostly on import and mid-range instruments. Originally, Floyd IIs were single locking, locking only at the nut. Later versions were made double locking, but used weaker materials than the Original Floyd Rose, making them less dependable.

• Floyd Rose Licensed are made by other manufacturers that have purchased a license from Floyd Rose. These model generally follow the designs of the Floyd Rose Original, but tend to deviate slightly from the original for the manufacturing process to be more cost-efficient. Most licensed companies use the same design that makes their parts inter-changeable between any two licensed tremolos, but not the Floyd Rose Original. The bridges of such systems are clearly engraved "Licensed under Floyd Rose Patents" and Floyd Rose does not offer any customer support for them. Construction quality of Floyd Rose Licensed tremolos may be compromised due to the cost-efficient techniques, but the reliability of licensed models that match the price of originals are usually high, whereas cheaper variations are often of lower quality as they would have used cheaper manufacturing processes. Two well-known manufacturers of Floyd Rose Licensed tremolos are Schaller and Gotoh. The Ibanez Edge tremolo is widely considered to be the best licensed variation, and many even consider it equal or better than the Original Floyd Rose.

• Floyd Rose 7-String is a redesign of Floyd Rose Original for 7-string guitars. The design and working principles are otherwise the same.

• Floyd Rose Pro is a low-profile version of Floyd Rose Original. The bridge and arm design is changed in a way that guitarist's hand would be generally closer to the strings while holding the tremolo arm. The bridge has a narrower string spacing (0.400 inches or 10.16 mm in this design versus 0.420 inches or 10.66 mm of the Floyd Rose Original). Fine tuners are slightly angled for more comfortable play.

• Floyd Rose SpeedLoader Tremolo is a redesign introduced around 2003 that combines Floyd Rose Original with the SpeedLoader system to produce a new design that overcame many disadvantages of the original Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo design, but required special strings.

Floyd Rose Pro: disassembled, parts numbered

Floyd Rose tremolos are known for their excellent serviceability: the mechanism is well-documented and spare parts can be purchased directly from manufacturer or via dealers. Usually, Floyd Rose device (as Floyd Rose Pro Tremolo on the image) consists of these parts:

1. Saddle — A metal box the string is locked into. There is one saddle for each string, hence six for the standard 6-string guitars, while seven for 7-string guitars. Each saddle contains a long screw that fixes the string holder block inside it. An Allen wrench is required to loosen or tighten these.
2. String Holder Block or Saddle Block — A cube-shaped metal block that presses the string end into the saddle wall thus locking it tight.
3. Intonation Screws — Screws that hold saddles on the base plate; when loose, the saddles can be moved forward and backward, effectively changing intonation of a string and producing the vibrato effect. An Allen wrench is required to loosen or tighten these.
4. Fine Tuners — Screws that are used to fine-tune strings instead of the machine heads which cannot be used after the nut has locked the strings at the neck. It can be rotated with bare hands.
5. Tremolo Arm — The most visible part of mechanism, a handle that can be used to change played notes pitch up and down during play.
6. Nut — A string clamp, installed as the "zero fret" at the neck. It has screws and braces called "locks" to clamp on the strings that run through it. An Allen wrench is required to loosen or tighten the nut.
7. String Retainer — A metal bar installed at headstock to retain strings that go to the machine heads.
8. Springs — Springs that pull the bridge clockwise around the pivot point. They are installed into a cavity that is usually accessible from behind the guitar body and is hidden under plastic cover. There are usually 3 springs. However, to change the resistance of arm to more comfortable one, some guitarists may use anything from 1 to 5 springs.
9. Spring Claw Hook — A connector between the guitar body and springs. It has special "claws" to attach the springs to. This part is usually mounted to the guitar body using loose long screws that can also be used to change the tension of springs and thus re-balance the whole tremolo system.
10. Allen wrenches — Three sizes are usually supplied with the tremolo. The smallest is used for intonation screws; the mid-sized wrench is used for fixing screws on saddle blocks and the largest is for nut screws. Floyd Rose Licensed systems usually supplies and uses only two sizes of wrenches as their variation uses the same size for the screws on the saddle blocks and nut.

To remove a string, one must first unlock it at the nut with an allen wrench, loosen the string, unlock it at the bridge with an allen wrench, and then remove the string. To install a new string, you must either cut the ball end off or run the string backwards down the guitar, leaving the ball end at the tuning gear, then reverse the process of removing a string.

The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo has several advantages over other more common tremolo systems such as Fender's Synchronised Tremolo and Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece.

• It is possible to bend notes both up and down, whereas common tremolo systems could only bend them down.
• It offers a wide range in the vibrato effect. The standard models may bend notes 3-4 semitones down and 2-3 semitones up. Customised variants of the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo are able to bend notes as far as 8 semitones down and 5 semitones up.
• Strings return to their original tuning even after repeated raisings and lowerings of the pitch. This would cause older, non-locking types of tremolo systems to run out of tune due to the rapidly-changing string tensions. A well made and properly fine-tuned Floyd Rose system with a tight locking nut is known to hold strings in tune for weeks without fine tuning.
• It can be used to create a whole new range of sounds.
• It can re-use a broken string if the broken string is still long enough, as it does not require a ball end on the string.

Generally, the most widely criticized disadvantages unique to the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo and apart from other tremolo systems originate from its difficulty to set up and balance in the first place.

• Changing strings takes longer and is more difficult than on a normal guitar.
• If the strings are not properly stretched before locking them in place at the nut, heavy string bending can cause a string (usually the high E string) to stretch beyond the ability of the fine tuner to compensate. This then requires the nut to be unlocked and the string re-adjusted.
• Heavy palm muting moves the bridge, unless it is set up with the bridge lying flat on the surface of the guitar, while the inner springs are tightened all the way, allowing only forward motion of the arm and bridgeplate. (This is of course a disadvantage to any floating tremolo, not just to Floyd Roses)
• Bending one string causes all others to lower their pitch, so some compound bends are harder to play or even impossible. This can be mitigated by applying pressure on the floating bridge with the right hand during compound bends to compensate. (Again the same problem occurs with every floating tremolo bridge)
• Floyd Rose bridge absorbs some of the string vibrations and may shorten the sustain of a note.
• Adjusting the intonation of a bridge requires more work, as the saddles are held fast to the bridgeplate by small bolts. While vintage tremolo bridges require only a phillips screwdriver to move the saddle, on the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo a small bolt must be unscrewed to move the saddle and then re-tightened again. Furthermore, as strings usually have to be loosened before the saddle is moved, a Floyd Rose user has to loosen the nut as well. However, since intonation is usually only adjusted during the initial guitar setup, the nut is usually not locked at the time of intonation adjustment.
• It becomes more of a neccessity for a performing guitarist to maintain at least one back-up guitar to quickly switch instruments in the situation of string breakage due to the difficulty in performing impromptu maintanence work on a Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo during a concert or gig, even when stalling for time.
• Application of this bridge turns tuning into an iterative process. As one string is tightened to bring its pitch up, the pitch of the remaining five strings drop. This requires one to painstakingly re-tune several times. An experienced player will intentionally "up-tune" the lower strings to compensate for the drop in pitch that comes with tuning the subsequent strings. On the other hand, retuning is not necessary for a long time after properly tuning, locking and fine tuning the strings.

The use of the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo was popularised by Eddie Van Halen. Many modern electric guitar players (Jason Becker, Kirk Hammett, Allan Holdsworth, Shawn Lane, Michael Angelo Batio, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Brad Gillis, Matthew Heafy, Corey Beaulieu, Mattias Eklundh, et al.) make heavy use of the whammy bar.

Many guitarists use these system to create new sounds that were not practical to achieve with traditional tremolo systems:

• Joe Satriani uses his whammy bar to raise the pitch of a pinch harmonic, usually on the open G string, in order to do his signature "Satch Scream". He also lowers the whammy bar while sliding up on a string in order to do his "Lizard Down the Throat" technique.
• The late Dimebag Darrell, formerly of Pantera, made use of the bar to access natural harmonics.
• Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave uses the whammy bar in conjunction with his pickup toggle switch and Digitech Whammy pedal to create sounds reminiscent of hip hop.
• Karl Logan of Manowar is known for simulating sounds of bike engine burn-in — this "guitar versus bike" duelling effect is particularly used on Return of the Warlord track.
• Herman Li and Sam Totman of DragonForce use the system to create video game-esque noises.

1. ^ The Floyd Rose Tremolo at VintageKramer.com

Floyd Rose holds a number of patents on floating bridge design:

• US4171661 (1979-10-23) Floyd D. Rose Guitar tremolo method and apparatus  — bridge mechanism patent;
• US4497236 (1985-02-05) Floyd D. Rose Apparatus for restraining and fine tuning the strings of a musical instrument, particularly guitars  — first fine tuners and saddle patent;
• US4549461 (1985-10-29) Floyd D. Rose Apparatus for restraining and fine tuning the strings of a musical instrument, particularly guitars  — second fine tuners and saddle patent;
• US4555970 (1985-12-03) Floyd D. Rose Tremolo apparatus capable of increasing tension on the strings of a musical instrument  — spring and claw mechanism;
• US4882967 (1989-11-28) Floyd D. Rose Tremolo apparatus having broken string compensation feature  — early patent for a tremstopper device;
• US4967631 (1990-11-06) Floyd D. Rose Tremolo and tuning apparatus  — patent for Floyd Rose Pro, low-profile version;

• Floyd Rose website.
• Setting Up A Floyd Rose Tremelo
• How to string and tune a Floyd Rose