Floyd Rose – Why is it popular and how does it work?

What is a Floyd Rose?

Floyd D. Rose first started working on what became the Floyd Rose Tremolo in 1976.  His reasoning behind working on a system like this was due to the fact as a guitarist he could not keep his guitars with used traditional tremolo systems in tune

He installed a locking nut  in his 1957 Fender Stratocaster after noticing that regular nut design lets the strings move freely.  Later he redesigned the bridge, which also locked the strings with clamps.

Rose hand-made his first locking trems, which were picked up by guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen.  Neal Schon, who purportedly got serial number 3, Brad Gillis (serial number 4), and Steve Vai.

Here are a few players that use the Floyd Locking trem:

Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Ritchi Samboro, Neal Schon, Alex Lifeson, Brad Gillis, Vitto Bratta, Nuno Bettencourt, Joe Walsh, George Lynch, Kirk Hammett, Steve Stevens, Vernon Reid, Vinnie Moore, Tony Mcalpine, Vivian Campbell, George Loomis, Craig Goldie, Rick Derringer, Angus Clark TSO guitarist, Greg Howe, Paul Crook and the list goes on.

Once it became licensed, the bridges and nuts were no longer hand-made making it necessary to update the design.  A set of tuners were added to the bridge that allows for fine-tuning the guitar after the strings are locked at the nut.

The main idea is to be able to use the tremolo to its fullest ability and remain in tune under any circumstance.  Floyd Rose trems allow guitar players to incorporate dive bombs and pinch harmonic pitch shifting into their style without worrying about going out of tune.

Some common complaints are that you can only really play in one tuning with one type of strings and they are time consuming to re-string.

When you change the gauge of your strings or the tuning, you have to adjust the spring tension to match the string tension of your new setup and checking if the floyd is level or not, and adjust the springs until the floyd is level.

The other common complaint is that simpy tuning because a huge task.  Please keep in mind when tuning on a Floyd, every change you make does affect every other string.

Tips for tuning with a Floyd Rose

• Ensure that your strings are tuned while your fine tuners have enough play to tune up or down.

• Your Floyd bridge should also be level with your guitar.

• Once you are in tune lock the nut and fine tune.

• Keep in mind that each string affects the other so the E A D should always be slightly tuned higher to allow the tension of the others to bring those strings into tune.

With that said we can leave it up to you if you want to use a Floyd Rose system with your playing style. 

If you need any guitar help please contact us at 1-877-778-7845 and one of our Guitar Professionals will help you.