Schaller floyd rose copy question for those who dare!!!

[Slobrain]

LOL...
Well the one thing I have always noticed about these Schaller floyd rose tremolos are that the base plate is a softer metal not hardened steel so if you just slightly over tighten the screws holding the saddles in place to the bridge plate, the screw holes strip out.
Thus leaving you with a tremolo that is now unusable.

I should know as I had one of these trems on a Charvel Fusion guitar made in 1990. I stripped out one hole of the base plate locking down the D string saddle and Charvel sent me a new base plate to fix this issue. They new it was a bad design. Even the repair guy said this was a bad design. Go figure...

Seems someone has had to come up with the idea of a thin bottom hardened steel plate to use under these bridges so that you can have the screws tighten up holding the saddles without the strip outs from the baseplate soft metal.

The Ibanez Edge trem uses this very design so why doesn't the schaller use the same design?

This isn't rocket science but much do to cheaper cost on building the Schaller Floyd rose tremolo unit.

Any one have any info on this subject? Anyone make such a thin hardened steel bottom plate to fix these trems?

The 1990 Charvel I have I had to route the trem back area on the guitar and install a original Floyd to get away from this problem. but that was a costly fix.

SLO

[squiza]

dodgy floyd base plate dramas

Yeah man i totally know what your saying,and no one ever mentions the condition of the the base plate threads on the trems they flog on ebay and the like which makes me suspicious!So i 2nd the motion.

[Brock Little]

I've run into the same problem on a cheap Jackson trem. I just looked around for a larger size allen screw to cut to length and tapped a new thread into the baseplate. I also had to file out the recess in the saddle so the screw would fit. An aftermarket backing plate is a good idea.
The Schaller FR unit isn't cheap either. Should expect better for the $$. The original Floyd Rose is often cheaper anyway, and it's baseplate is made from hardened steel (sounds better too). Go figure.

This topic reminds me of something I've been wondering about for some time.
How many guitar techs make use of a torque wrench in the shop?

[Slobrain]

Well fellas,
Looks like I may need to call schaller out on this issue and see why they do not carry a thin hardened steel plate to fix this issue. Its bugged me for a loooong time and I feel if they are going to charge a hi price for the product then they should have a fix for the problem.

I can also contact Dan Earlwine @ StewMac and see what he can do also, He is pretty good at these issues. It may cost to buy the thin steal plate from Stewmac but if they run with it, then at least there will be a fix for that problem.

SLO

[Slobrain]

Well, I emailed Dan Erlewine and explained about the schaller problems.

heck, Maybe I should have had a bunch of the plates made and sold these on Ebay?

A nitch in the making for some extra dough

any way lets see if Dan E. or StewMac gets back to me.
Cheers

SLO

[Soapbarstrat]

I was told by someone at StewMac about a year ago, that because of "quality issues" they were phasing out Shaller trem products. First thing they did was replace the individual locking nuts they sell, with units made by Gotoh.

[Slobrain]

Hey Soap,
I emailed Stew-Mac and let them know about the issues with the schaller locking tremolo. This problem has been with that design from the beginning.

If they do not email me back I may want to look into maybe having some of these plates made and sell on Ebay for the fix. I don't know why someone hasn't done this yet but its bad that a company can build a tremolo with this problem.
Doesn't Schaller make the original flyd Rose trem? At least its bridge is harden steel and does not have the crappy hole stripping issue.

The one thing I hate is all those FR license trem copies on all the newer guitars, some of the trems I've seen look like they are built crappy.

Only the original FR seems to really hold up but thats mho.

SLO

[axeman]

Hey Slobrain,

Keep us posted on what you find out as I have this problem as well. I am going to tap new thread or even try to spot weld a small nut on the back of the baseplate and use a longer screw if I can't find a a new baseplate or reinforcement....

[Slobrain]

Hey Axeman,
I haven't heard anything back from Stewmac so I bet they are not gonna do anything with my suggestion.

You may want to get a very thin piece of hardened steel plate to try to use under the trem and tap all the holes of the regular baseplate a slight bit larger, then thread the new plate with the same type of metric screws to fix the problem and avoid this problem again down the road.

I hope you do well on this.

SLO

BTW, I hope my typing is ok, man,.. I think I must have drank about 10 shots of whiskey earlier so I'm in the ozone now....

Why wait till Friday night to drink when you can start Thursday night. LOL.....

[Soapbarstrat]

I had already suspected that StewMac's stubborness would drive a man to drink.

[AdmiralB]

Schaller changed the design around '95, and added cast-in hardened steel nuts under the intonation screws. I don't think I've ever seen any of the OEM-branded versions (Hamer, Jackson, Washburn, et al) with them, but all the "Schaller" branded ones, and the "Floyd Rose II" units from the mid-'90s on have them.

You can buy replacement plates from Schaller, and they'll have the nuts. They're branded "Floyd II" and they're only about $25 (or, they used to be). I have a couple packed away somewhere, when I buy a guitar with the old style I swap it out as a matter of course.

[kramersteen]

Why dont all you guys stop winging about schaller and go buy a gotoh floyd rose, there miles better with brass block and all,

[David Schwab]

Doesn't Schaller make the original flyd Rose trem?

Yes they do. Back when I worked at American Showster, we got all the Floyds from Kramer, and they all came from Schaller.

The Warmoth site says the following:

This bridge is different from the Original Floyd Rose® in that the main body is die cast with hardened steel inserts for fulcrum points. Sonically, this die cast design is slightly warmer sounding than the solid steel Original.

[kramersteen]

GOTOH floydrose

[the great waldo]

After 30 years of repairing guitars gotoh is still my number 1 for Floyd style trems

Cheers
Andrew

GOTOH floydrose