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Floyd Rose Original

The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1977, the first of its kind, and it is now manufactured by a company of the same name. The Floyd Rose gained popularity in the 1980s through guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, Neal Schon, Brad Gillis, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai, who used its ability to stay in tune even with extreme changes in pitch. Its tuning stability comes through the double-locking design that has been widely regarded as revolutionary; the design has been listed on Guitar World's "10 Most Earth Shaking Guitar Innovations"^[1] and Guitar Player's "101 Greatest Moments in Guitar History 1979-1983".^[2]

History[link]

Floyd D. Rose first started working on what would later become the Floyd Rose Tremolo in 1976.^[3] He was playing in a rock band at the time, inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple, where he used the vibrato bar a lot but failed to be able to keep his guitars in tune using traditional approaches like lubricating the nut, or winding the strings as little as possible around the tuning pegs.

Rose's profession at the time was making jewelry, and after noticing one of the issues with the regular nut design is the string moves freely, he used his tools to create a brass nut where the strings were locked in place with three U-shaped clamps. He installed this nut in his 1957 Fender Stratocaster. Later he improved this design by using hardened steel, as otherwise the strings would wear the clamps down too quickly, and a redesigned bridge which also locked the strings using clamps.

The first bridges and nuts were all hand-made by Rose, and were quickly picked up by some of the more influential guitarists at the time, perhaps most notably Eddie Van Halen.^[4] Other well-known guitarists who picked it up early were Neal Schon, who purportedly got serial number 3,^[5] Brad Gillis (serial number 4),^[5] and Steve Vai.^[6]

The first patent was awarded in 1979,^[7] and shortly afterward, Rose made an agreement with Kramer Guitars because he could no longer keep up with demand manufacturing the bridges by hand. Kramer's guitar models with the Floyd Rose bridge became very popular, leading them to drop the earlier Rockinger vibrato in favor of the Floyd Rose between June 1982 and January 1983.^[8] Due to the popularity, other companies started making similar bridges, thus violating the patent. This led Rose and Kramer to make licensing agreements with other manufacturers, and there are now several different models available based on the double-locking design. Because the bridges and nuts were no longer hand-made it was necessary to update the design, and the bridges were changed to add a set of tuners that allow for fine-tuning the guitar after the strings are locked at the nut.^[9][10]

In January 1991, Kramer's exclusive distribution agreement with Rose ended when Fender announced they would be the new exclusive distributor of Floyd Rose products. While Fender used Floyd Rose-licensed vibrato systems previously, this move allowed Fender to offer a few models with the original Floyd Rose Tremolo, such as the Richie Sambora Signature Strat in 1991, the Floyd Rose Classic Stratocaster in 1992 and the Set-Neck Floyd Rose Strat in 1993.^[11] Floyd Rose collaborated with Fender to design a Fender Deluxe Locking Tremolo, introduced in 1991 on the Strat Plus Deluxe, the USA Contemporary Stratocaster, and the Strat Ultra. Fender used the Floyd Rose-designed locking vibrato system on certain humbucker-equipped American Deluxe and Showmaster models until 2007.^[12]

In 2005, distribution of the Floyd Rose Original reverted to Floyd Rose, whereas the patented designs were licensed to other manufacturers to use.

Principles[link]

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

Position I illustrates the normal position of an ideally tuned Floyd Rose bridge. The bridge (orange) balances on a pivot point, being pulled counter-clockwise by the strings' tension and clockwise by one or several (usually up to five) springs. Controlled by special tuning screws (turquoise), 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 (green) as well as at the bridge, hence "double-locking".

Position II illustrates the position of the bridge when the vibrato 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. While the tension of the strings decreases, the tension of the springs increases. It is the balance between string-tension and spring-tension, as well as the fact that the strings end at the bridge saddles and nut (eliminating "play" in the string, which would negatively affect tuning), that brings the strings reliably back into tune when force on the bar is removed.

Position III illustrates the position of the bridge when the vibrato 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. Due to the limitations on the assembly's movement imposed by the guitar's body, the amount of available pitch change is much larger when the bar is depressed than when it is lifted.

Note that when using the vibrato bar, string action (the distance between the strings and the fretboard) is affected, and this can sometimes cause the strings to unintentionally touch the frets and create unwanted sounds on instruments set up with extremely low action and heavily recessed vibrato installations.

Advantages and disadvantages[link]

The main advantage of the Floyd Rose Tremolo system is the double-locking design which allows the guitar to stay in tune even through extremely large motions/pitch changes, e.g. forcing the vibrato bar all the way down to the guitar body, or pulling up on the bar to raise the tone by as much as a fifth or a seventh.^[13] Some examples of this type of usage is described in the popular use section.

A typical set-up of the bridge has it 'floating', allowing for both raising and dropping the pitch of notes using the vibrato bar. In this case, if a string breaks the balance of tensions on the bridge is disrupted, leaving the bridge out of position and therefore the guitar out of tune.^[13] If this happens in the middle of a performance, the guitar is not going to be of much use to a guitarist who would like to sound "in-tune," which is perhaps most users of the Floyd-Rose (since the main advantage of the system is to achieve pitch-bends without losing intonation when the whammy bar returns to its stationary position). Moreover, since the tension of one string affects the tension of all the others, it can take several iterations through the tuning process before the instrument is tuned. Some players prefer to instead have the bridge flush with the body; one example is Eddie Van Halen.^[14] In this set-up a broken string will have no effect on the pitch of the other strings, as the reduced overall string tension caused by the broken string will not cause the bridge to move, as it is already in contact with the body of the guitar. This also allows fitting a device to the bridge that can drop the low E-string down to D to extend the tonal variety of the guitar, even during live performance.^[15] Bending, however, still affects the rest of the strings, which makes some double-stop techniques more difficult to achieve.

The bridge's effect on the tone of the guitar is a topic of much disagreement. Some players find that the Floyd Rose bridge has a "thin" tone,^[16] which has led to the development of replacement sustain blocks. These blocks are larger in size than the standard block,^[16] and can be made of a metal alloy with higher density.^[17] According to reviews this modification might lead to a preferable change in the tonal quality of the guitar.^[16][17]

Models and varieties[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

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 unclamped any time string tuning 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 Previously, all similar double locking vibrato systems were produced under license from Floyd Rose, and marked as such, but in 2003 the relevant patents have expired.
  • Yamaha Finger Clamp is a variety of Floyd Rose that have built in-levers, and thus when tuning, no allen keys are needed. Available on the RGX520DZ, RGX620DZ and CV820 Wes Borland signature model.
  • Ibanez Edge is Ibanez's Floyd Rose variant. There are 4 primary versions: Edge, LoPro Edge, EdgePro, and EdgeZero. with numbered variants denoting budget models of the main lines, and also "Double" variants of many of these, the moniker denoting the inclusion of Piezo pickups. The Edge and LoPro Edge were discontinued in 2003 but were subsequently reintroduced on the signature models of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. (Some special edition guitars used these trems prior to their reintroduction, however the vibratos used were NOS, rather than production runs) These two vibratos, whether old or new, bear a mark of Floyd Rose Licensing, as they are produced using the same tooling, by Japanese guitar parts manufacturer Gotoh.
  • Ibanez Zero Resistance uses a ball-bearing mechanic instead of knife-edge as the joint, which gives the vibrato more consistency after use, and a stop-bar to help the guitar stay in tune after diving the vibrato, and which is claimed to improve tuning stability after breaking a string. This last claim however is verifiably false, as the extra springs that give the system its improved stability and stiffer feel during dives, are oriented in the wrong direction to counter the sudden loss of tension that occurs when a string breaks. These springs, including their orientation, are referred to as the ZPS system, with variants numbered 1 to 3, and are also present as part of the EdgeZero design.
  • Ibanez Fixed Edge. While it still uses the locking nut and locking bridge, it was mounted on top of the body, and was used not as a vibrato system, but to provide a familiar feel to vibrato users, and even more tuning stability on a hardtailed guitar.
• Fender Deluxe Locking Tremolo. A specially designed system that was made by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 1991 in conjunction with Floyd Rose, utilizing locking tuners, a modified Fender 2-point synchronized vibrato with locking bridge saddles and a special low-friction LSR Roller Nut which allows strings to slide during vibrato use. This is a double locking system, except the other locking point is at the tuner instead of nut.
• Vigier Floyd Rose. Created by Vigier guitars at the beginning of the 90's, this system uses needle bearings issued from aerospace technology which can cope 10000 rotations/min so the degradation of the knives of the tremolo won't happen, guaranting at least 20 years of in tune stability (as it is now 20 years old and the firsts made still run perfectly). Theses can't be purchased without their guitars.
• Floyd Rose Pro is a low-profile version of Floyd Rose Original. The bridge and arm design is changed in such a way that the guitarist's hand will be generally closer to the strings while holding the vibrato 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).
• Floyd Rose SpeedLoader Tremolo is a redesign developed in 1995-1999 and introduced around 2003 that combines Floyd Rose Original with the SpeedLoader system, and requires special strings.

Popular use[link]

Alex Lifeson of Rush playing a Gibson Les Paul with a Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo

The Floyd Rose Tremolo rose to popularity in the early 1980s. Many popular artists quickly adopted the device, making it difficult to measure how much each individual artist contributed to that popularity. Most sources consider Eddie Van Halen to be a pioneer of Floyd Rose usage.^[3][18] Other players frequently cited to be influential in the area of Floyd Rose usage are Steve Vai,^{[6][18][19][20][21]} Joe Satriani,^{[22] [19][21]} Kirk Hammett,^[19] Brad Gillis,^[18] Tom Morello,^[23] Allan Holdsworth,^[20] and Dimebag Darrell.^[24]

References[link]

Patents[link]

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

• US patent 4171661, Floyd D. Rose, "Guitar tremolo method and apparatus", issued 1979-10-23  — bridge mechanism patent;
• US patent 4497236, Floyd D. Rose, "Apparatus for restraining and fine tuning the strings of a musical instrument, particularly guitars", issued 1985-02-05  — first fine tuners and saddle patent;
• US patent 4549461, Floyd D. Rose, "Apparatus for restraining and fine tuning the strings of a musical instrument, particularly guitars", issued 1985-10-29  — second fine tuners and saddle patent;
• US patent 4555970, Floyd D. Rose, "Tremolo apparatus capable of increasing tension on the strings of a musical instrument", issued 1985-12-03  — spring and claw mechanism;
• US patent 4882967, Floyd D. Rose, "Tremolo apparatus having broken string compensation feature", issued 1989-11-28  — early patent for a tremstopper device;
• US patent 4967631, Floyd D. Rose, "Tremolo and tuning apparatus", issued 1990-11-06  — patent for Floyd Rose Pro, low-profile version;

External links[link]

• Floyd Rose website