Andy Eagle
Fractal Fanatic
This is all my experience too. A good stainless steel block is the answer.
This is all my experience too. A good stainless steel block is the answer.
The big Ti block makes it sound thin and plinky in most instances and the inserts are not good at holding a plain string.
Well, as I said. These parts are now in use for 12+ years. No problems at all. Is it a necessity? Not at all.
You are the only person I've come across who is remotely happy with the Ti floyd I have fitted and promptly removed a few of these because of performance and sound issues. The problem is Ti is not a suitable material for knife edges and blunts very quickly . Also the plain strings imprint in to the saddles and then start to pull out relatively easily. From a tone perspective the bridge sounds thin a lacking compared to the steel one. If you talk to an engineer with expertise in metallurgy they will laugh quite hard at the application suitability of Ti for a floyd design. Ti for passive saddles designs is far more understandable and can sound quite good on certain guitars.I've purchased one of the TiSonix Floyd Rose trems. I was blown away to find out all the parts weren't titanium. Everything important is, but when you're paying almost $1,000, you'd think?????
Fortunately there were a few machinists out there who made replacement kits for the 21 steel pieces. (18) on the bridge & (3) at the nut.
So I tracked down the upgrades & added them on.
There's no snake oil here. It's hands down the best Floyd Rose experience I've ever had.
Noticeable difference in attack & acoustic volume of the instrument. Increased sustain & harmonics.
I wish these were more affordable & available for more players to try. It's something that has to be experienced to appreciate.
Cheers!
P.S. For any of you Les Paul or SG guys, the KTS titanium saddles for Nashville & ABR style bridges are fantastic.
It's the best upgrade you can give your Les Paul or SG's. Highly recommended.
I've read your opinion about the bridge & that's why I posted my own.
I'm a full time repair tech 35ish years , my experience is based on thousands of instruments and many pro users experiences. All the prototypes were given to name players three of which reported the same back to me. None of them kept them on anything for more than one rehearsal. I didn't pay for one. It wins hands down the most snake oil Floyd and by far the worst sounding.
Great bridge better sounding and works. Also is nearly 35years a tech I have never seen one of these fail from broken parts, the original 1988 to the present version.
What makes the Gotoh GT1996T a better trem - better materials used leads to better performance?
Idk, magic!?! But my observations were strictly anecdotal, so take from it what you like.
That materials used are mechanically suitable and it allows the string energy to flow through it without colouring the tone much.
Real Floyds have been inconsistent over the decades. The Gotoh has a better track record with builders. Less if any modifications needed to get them stable.
It was picked because it is seen publicly as a "premium " material IMO . Total BS reinforced by FU and other rubbish. The main problem is how the frequencies get filtered by the block. To describe it as thin sounding is as nice as I can manage. Oversize brass has a similar problem with changing tone and usually in a bad way. The only time I recommend trying one is if you have dead spots on the guitar because it is an easy way of adding mass and affecting the resonant frequency. For this purpose alone I would use one. The regular block is better at keeping things neutral but if you need to try more mass the Fat Cat brand steel block is far better sounding than oversize brass.
@Andy Eagle What do you think about the Callaham trem blocks?
