No ball end cutting for Vibrato Tremolo (Flyod Rose) equipped guitars?

Today, I was restringing one of my guitars and I noticed that I enjoying restringing a Vibrato Tremolo (Flyod Rose) equipped guitars a certain way which most people do not. Not only do I not cut the ball end, I do not face the risk of hurting myself when I touch the headstock of my guitar. The only draw back is every time I restring, I have a hard removing the strings. However, I think that is a small price to play for safety.

Dragonfire Vintage Tremolo for MIC or MIM Strats

So, about a week ago, I wrote about my Dragonfire parts and if you still remember, there is a bridge with a solid steel block, custom made to fit Asian or Mexican Strat.

So I've finally gotten around in installing the bridge, setting up the intonation and action. First thing first, in terms of fitting, this thing fits like a glove. It is a direct drop into your Squiers, Fender Japan and Mexican made Strats. For DIY enthusiasts such as I am, you can fit these into your SX, Artisian, Smash, Timbre and etc Strat copies.

Full size solid Steel Block	Thin Mystery Pot Metal Block

Now if you will take sometime to examine the 2 types of block above, you can tell just by visual alone the big difference between both blocks. The Dragonfire one (The one on the left) features a thick solid steel block while the usual stock one features a Thin Mystery Pot Metal Block. One might argue that a bigger block means heavier weight on the guitar however we also know that the Tremolo Block of the guitar does contribute to the tone significantly. Especially on a Vintage Tremolo type where the string are being string through from the block.

How does this change the sound quality? Well, after changing the blocks, the immediate difference that I can pick up is that the tone is fuller compared to that Mystery Pot Metal Block. There is also an apparent increase in sustain while notes are more apparent in responses.

Let's take a look at the back cavity of my "Malmsteen". This is how it looks like after installation. We can tell from the picture that the Block sits in nicely giving enough space for a whammy down with no fear of the block hitting the cavity.

The only bad point I can think about this Tremolo is that for the first time when I screwed in the Tremolo arm and did a whammy down, to my horror, the Tremolo arm bent slightly at the base near the screw area. So I guess they didn't QC on the arm too well. My consolation is that my friend passed me another one of his extra made in China Tremolo arms and it fitted nicely into the Tremolo block. No bending after a whammy down. Phew!

This is a great upgrade for those who are looking in upgrading their Mexican, Asian Strats or Strat copy. For just 32.95 USD excluding shipping, you can get a great tonal upgrade to your beloved Strat. Say no to Mystery Pot Metal Blocks today!

Replacement Floyd Rose Tremolo Vibrato Bridge

Often when we buy a low to mid-range licensed Floyd Rose equipped guitar, we might be in for tuning stability hell. More then often, after doing a full pull up, the bridge either doesn't return to true zero position or is just simply out of tune. We might accredit it to string being un-stretched most of the time, but what if the strings has already been stretched?

We can usually fault it on the inferior licensed Floyd Rose bridge that is being constructed with Pot mystery metal with weak knife edges that are prone to blunting. If you are one of those who are looking to replace your bridge with an Original Floyd Rose (OFR), look no further. I have something, in my opinion is superior even to the OFR. The Gotoh Licensed Floyd Rose Tremolo Bridge.

The Good news for this bridge is that it doesn't require a guitar that is pre-fitted with a Floyd Rose routed cavity with an existing Licensed Floyd Rose bridge extra routing. Namely, lower to mid range ESP and Ibanez. What this means is that as long as the user knows how to take out the bridge, it is not actually hard to replace it and is in fact just a matter of swapping the bridge.

The best part about the Gotoh Floyd Rose Bridge is that it comes with a set of lock studs. What this means is more tuning stability compared to even the OFR, which doesn't have the locking stud installed. This is however only for the adventurous who are willing to dabble into some DIY. All the user need to do is actually to pull out the existing bushings in the body of the guitar, re-drill (usually a bigger) hole and hammer in the new bushings.

The Gotoh Floyd Rose Bridge also comes with an existing Brass Block instead of Pot Mystery Metal that usually comes with the low end licensed bridge. This actually improves the tone of the instrument, give it a fuller yet richer sound.

In terms of usage, the Gotoh Floyd Rose Bridge functions smoothly both on pulling up and whamming down and usually return to near absolute Zero without much audible pitch difference. (No Floyd Rose designed Bridge goes back to absolute Zero).

The Arm of the Tremolo has a unique design in which it is internally threaded while there is a screw at the bottom of the tremolo arm holder. The user just needs to turn the tremolo arm in to keep it in the arm holder while there is a separate arm grub screw to adjust the looseness or tightness of the tremolo arm. This greatly allows flexibility on giving the player the option of how they want the Arm to hang in the arm holder.

All and all, the Gotoh Floyd Rose Tremolo Bridge is a huge upgrade from Pot Mystery Metal Licensed Floyd Rose Tremolo Bridge while being priced at almost less than an OFR. This doesn't only improves the guitar tone wise but also in terms of tuning stability, often making a guitar so much nicer to pick up that you probably wouldn't want to put it down.