Floyd Upgrades:

Details

Published on Friday, 30 November 2012 21:52

Written by Frank J. Pasquale

The Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Of The World

I have already stated several times that I am a dyed in the wool Floyd Rose advocate. I have written several other blog articles about it, I preach it to my clients when they bring up issues about tuning stability and I use Floyds on my own personal guitars. I am now and forever a “Floyd guy”. There is just nothing quite like a perfectly set up Floyd on a handmade guitar and I consider the locking tremolo to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century  

Sometime in the early nineties Fender bought the license for the Floyd Rose patent when Kramer guitars went bankrupt. This made the Floyd more available but also created more problems. Fender started making cheaper versions of the Floyd and really flooded the market with unacceptable products. It was at this time that I started using the Schaller version of the Floyd because it was true to form with the quality of the original and was easier to get without having to deal with all the supply issues that Fender created.  

My understanding of the issue was that Schaller used to manufacture the original Floyd for Kramer and had helped with the design improvements concerning the fine tuners and a few other changes. This gave Schaller some rights to the design but they couldn’t manufacture the exact same product without paying a license fee to Fender due the fact that Fender bought the patent. So the brilliant guys at Schaller decided to use shorter saddle clamp screws and they were in business.  

I’m sure at this point you are asking yourself “Why all this talk about Schaller tremolos, I thought this was an article about Floyd Upgrades and The FU Bridge?” Well it is an article about the FU Bridge, you’re just gonna have to be patient and read on.

I tell you all of this because when I refer to being a dyed in the wool “Floyd Guy” I am referring to the design concept of the Floyd and I am really using the term “Floyd” to describe both the original Floyd or the Schaller tremolo and often times I use these interchangeably.  I have used dozens and dozens of Schallers over the years and they are always consistent and true to the form of the Original Floyd.     

With all of that being said, A few years ago I started to want more out of my tremolos. It wasn’t an issue of quality. The Schaller tremolos were just as good as ever and the Floyds had become more available for a while, but I felt like there could a way to get more out of the bridge.

I started to do some research and I stumbled upon the FU-Tone.com website.
(Floyd Upgrades.com)

Enter Adam Reiver…


As far as I am concerned Adam Reiver is a genius. He is the mastermind behind FU-Tone (formerly known as Floyd Upgrades) and has been helping players find their elusive “tone” for over 25 years. In that time he has worked with some of the best players in the world. His clients are among the likes of Eddie Van Halen ,Warren Dimartini and George Lynch just to name a few.

Adam took a serious look and the original Floyd and gave it a serious hot rod overhaul.   Every change that he made was made from a player’s perspective and the improvements are noticeable and worthwhile. In fact they were so impressive that the manufactures of original Floyd took notice and added his ideas to their own design.

The first thing you notice about the FU Bridge is the big brass block. It is impossible not to notice it. Did I mention it was big? Did I mention it was brass? This is key to the massive improvement in the tone of this bridge over that of a standard Floyd. The block is twice as big as a standard Floyd block and the brass makes it ring like a battleship bell. The larger mass creates more sustain and the brass makes it cut through loud and clear. The bigger block adds more weight to the bridge and helps to smooth out the return on the tremolo and give a big improvement the overall feel of the bridge. And for those who are more adventurous (and financially well off) they also offer a titanium block.  

The next feature that you will notice immediately is the improvement that they made to the saddles. They are smooth tapered and slightly rounded off to allow smooth palm resting and muting. This is a small feature but makes a huge difference in playing comfort and picking control.  

Another classy touch is the noiseless springs. They are coated in rubber and reduce unwanted ringing at high gain volumes but still allow smooth tremolo action and can still deliver that famous Floyd “flutter”.

One final touch that I need to mention is the custom locking nuts that FU-Tone offers. It may seem a small item but it is crucial to the final setup of any guitar. A standard Floyd nut is set to a 12 or a 14 inch radius. So therefore you are limited to a 12 or a 14 inch radius for the final guitar setup. If you wanted a flatter radius like a 16 or a 20 you had to deal with a slightly higher action.  Adam and his crew at FU-Tone can offer any radius you like even a zero radius bridge if you were so inclined. And of course they are only made of the best metals.

With all that being said there is little doubt that the FU Bridge is the best locking tremolo system in the world. The design changes that Adam made improve not only the sound of the bridge but also the feel and playability. And I for one say that these changes were long overdue. As far as price goes, their standard bridges are only slightly more expensive than a Standard Floyd or Schaller but it is definitely worth the additional money.

For more information check out www.FU-Tone.com for a full assortment of high end upgrades to any tremolo system.