Floyd Rose Decline

What's Hot
thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
I keep hearing that in the 80s everyone went wild for the Floyd Rose style trem but then about the 90s it was largely abandoned.

What was the reason for this?
0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
«13

Comments

  • timhuliotimhulio Frets: 1286
    tFB Trader
    The death of hair metal. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 7reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    thegummy said:

    What was the reason for this?

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 26reaction image Wisdom
  • thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
    For both those answers is it a case of fashion and what look people were going for?

    Or that they weren't playing music that involved dive bombs and the likes?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • carloscarlos Frets: 3426
    People buy the same guitars their heroes use. Features and functionality come a distant second. Saying it was abandoned in the 90s is a bit of an exaggeration: Morello had one in his main guitar (RATM was one of the guitar bands of the 90s), Cantrell had a Kahler IIRC (Alice in Chains was also important in grunge music), Dimebag had one in his Dean (Pantera's heyday was the early 90's) and so on. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • TINMAN82TINMAN82 Frets: 1845
    I’ve been thinking a lot about getting a Floyd equipped guitar recently but truth be told the locking Trem would probably only be used for a tiny fraction of the songs I have on my list to learn at some point. It would mainly be used as a toy at home as those songs wouldn't realistically be played in my usual blues setting.

    Also, as I mainly play blues the Floyd style floating Trem isn’t ideal as heavy string bending techniques pull adjacent strings out of tune more than a vintage style strat bridge.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • JDEJDE Frets: 1092
    TINMAN82 said:

    Also, as I mainly play blues the Floyd style floating Trem isn’t ideal as heavy string bending techniques pull adjacent strings out of tune more than a vintage style strat bridge.
    If you can, try an Ibanez with an Edge Zero bridge with the (snappily named) ZPS3FE stabiliser. If set up correctly, you can do double stops etc without pulling other strings out too badly. The actual trem is a bit stiffer to use than a Floyd or similar locking trem but they are much more stable, and return to pitch almost immediately when you let go of the arm. There are a couple of videos on YouTube which explain the system, so worth having a look. It’s not my favourite locking trem but it’s the one that does the best at correcting pitch drifts across other strings.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • WhitecatWhitecat Frets: 5378
    They are coming back “into fashion” now in the boutique world too - not saying that they dominate, but the people who were teenagers in the 80s often now have money, and want to spend it on the guitars that they lusted after on the MTV but couldn’t afford. Some builders seem to be taking advantage of that...

    Personally, I don’t like how you have to throw the whole guitar in the bin when it needs new strings... seems wasteful. 
    9reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • Musicman20Musicman20 Frets: 2296
    Because they are a pain in the arse. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 2reaction image Wisdom
  • p90foolp90fool Frets: 31368
    Because without huge levels of gain the guitar sounds like a broken banjo.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 2reaction image Wisdom
  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26753
    It's because there are about 4 great songs that need a Floyd to do properly and they already got written. 
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
    7reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • SassafrasSassafras Frets: 30273
    PRS.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • Because its a PITA having to block them off.
    I sometimes think, therefore I am intermittent
    2reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • normula1normula1 Frets: 639
    I've never found a floyd to be harder to restring than any floating trem. I did have to preset the fine tuners a bit so that I could compensate for the locking nut "adjusting" the tuning when tightened down.
    I do agree with @p90fool that the tone changes significantly.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 4reaction image Wisdom
  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6627
    edited June 2019
    Isn't it just that the quality of non locking trems and tuners have improved exponentially over the year?
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • guitargeek62guitargeek62 Frets: 4067
    soma1975 said:
    Isn't it just that the quality of non locking trems and tuners have improved exponentially over the year?
    No, but it helps.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    soma1975 said:
    Isn't it just that the quality of non locking trems and tuners have improved exponentially over the year?
    Not really. For the thing it does best - absolute tuning stability through extreme bends - the Floyd is still untouchable. And you still can't really play music like (for example) Steve Vai's latest album without one.

    But Vai's type of music is no longer the mainstream or the cutting edge of guitar playing.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I have an FR guitar but I much prefer a strat type trem for feel.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9984
    tFB Trader
    Fashion and changing musical tastes. Very few of the high end builders I supply pickups for produce guitars that have locking trems as the metal market is moved into the heavier, more down tuned styles that are associated with guitars using fixed bridges. It may be true that the 'grey ponytail pound' is moving into the eighties 'moose in labour' dive-bomb nostalgia thing ... personally, much of it was so musically embarrassing I'd rather pretend I was somewhere else :-)
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • not_the_djnot_the_dj Frets: 7306
    I use an EVH Wolfgang as my main gigging guitar and love having the stability of a Floyd Rose.

    We're a rock covers band so it gets used a lot on "Rebel Yell" and we do a version of "Hungry Like the Wolf" with a load of dive bombs in the middle breakdown section. 

    I love ‘em. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 4reaction image Wisdom
  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9984
    tFB Trader
    I use an EVH Wolfgang as my main gigging guitar and love having the stability of a Floyd Rose.

    We're a rock covers band so it gets used a lot on "Rebel Yell" and we do a version of "Hungry Like the Wolf" with a load of dive bombs in the middle breakdown section. 

    I love ‘em. 
    Of course they are essential for doing covers of 80s stuff ... nothing else will cut it.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.