Members Freeman Keller Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 I do repair work for my local music store and they had a request from a guy who owns a Paul Reed Smith to install a Floyd Rose in it. I said "hell yes, I'll take a router to your $5K guitar". Obviously I don't really want to do it but he asked for an estimate so (not seeing the guitar) I've given him this Disassemble all hardware and electronics, protect the finish of the guitar and route front and back cavities. Install tremolo, reinstall hardware and electronics, set up action, intonation and trem. I'm guestimating 13 hours or more of labor - the shop charges my time at 30 bucks an hour so that's 400 dollars. I need to buy the correct templates (20 bucks at StewMac) and I'll let him pick out which trem he wants - they seem to go from 100 to 250. I'm also telling him that the Rose might not completely cover the old bridge route - I would try to fill that with matching wood but it will always be obvious. I still will probably say no but I'd like to hear any comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 Sounds like a huge risk on your part, but might be interesting. Don't forget to add 4 hours to put the strings on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 Yikes, that sounds like trouble. Does he seem like he's the kind of guy who will be ok that it doesn't look factory OEM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 looking at your work i'm sure you can do it. if that's what he wants, go for it. def get some $ up front Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 With your abilities Freeman, I doubt it's that much strain on you. But when my customers request that, I tell them a few things.... "The way this plays, will change. The way it sounds, will change, the way it feels, will change.... Do you REALLY want that? Why not buy one, with a Floyd in it already? I am sure you had the opportunity when shopping for this guitar." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 You have more brass then I do. I'd likely tell him, I'm into preserving instruments and improving their value, not destroying their value. You didn't mention putting the locking nut on there either which is the whole reason for using a Floyd over others. If you have to put a vibrato on there I'd either talk him into a Bigsby type, Kahler top mount or shallow route top mount Vibrato. Maybe this Maybe this? I just finished a repair job on a friends guitar He has a top mount Kahler similar to like this one The feel of the vibrato once I got it fixed up was actually quite excellent. I liked it better then most fulcrum block and spring vibratos out there and its footprint is much smaller then a Floyd. Plus its reversible if he ever plans on selling the instrument. It uses the bridge and tail holes from most TOM type bridge type setups so its pretty much drop in and adjust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 WRGKMC - you have a good point there. There are so many really good high end trems these days that won't destroy the guitar to the same degree or cost hundreds of dollars just to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 Personally, I'd just say "No" but that's me. A couple of years ago, we had a huge, dead oak tree in our back yard that needed to be cut down. We got several estimates and one guy obviously didn't want to do the job. He gave us an estimate that was nearly $3000 more than the next highest one. PRS models with a Floyd Rose already installed run $3000-9000 on eBay. Maybe you could point him in that direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 He should buy a PRS with a Floyd !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucksstudent Posted March 3, 2015 Members Share Posted March 3, 2015 He should buy a PRS with a Floyd !!! Yeah, if he's able to throw $5000+ into a guitar and $400 for an installation, something tells me he's well off enough to buy a second PRS. Tattoo artists refuse to do certain tattoos. Obvious ones like swastikas are out, but I've heard of them telling customers "No" because they didn't feel a tattoo was right for them or it was just trashy. If you're the artist, then you can decide where to draw the line. Cutting into a $5000 guitar to install a Floyd Rose and depreciating the value of the guitar would be a heavy burden. Unfortunately, I can't relate because I don't have a sought after skill that people pay money for, but I would imagine you'd never forget about it even if it was a success. It sounds like you're on the fence about it and you want us to talk you down, but you have to consider if you won't do it, he'll find someone else to. If you're as skilled as others in the thread suggest, go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted March 4, 2015 Members Share Posted March 4, 2015 I guess he doesn't know he can get it like that from the factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted March 4, 2015 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2015 Darn that's purdy ^^^ I knew that PRS had their own patented tremolo bridge but I wasn't sure exactly how it compared with a Floyd. I'm going to print this thread out and give it to him - pretty obvious that I would prefer not to do the work, pretty obvious that he is the customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sammyreynolds01 Posted March 4, 2015 Members Share Posted March 4, 2015 If you don't do it, he will just go to someone else. But if you don't want to do it, then don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ultraworld Posted March 4, 2015 Members Share Posted March 4, 2015 I do repair work for my local music store and they had a request from a guy who owns a Paul Reed Smith to install a Floyd Rose in it. I said "hell yes, I'll take a router to your $5K guitar". Obviously I don't really want to do it but he asked for an estimate so (not seeing the guitar) I've given him this Disassemble all hardware and electronics, protect the finish of the guitar and route front and back cavities. Install tremolo, reinstall hardware and electronics, set up action, intonation and trem. I'm guestimating 13 hours or more of labor - the shop charges my time at 30 bucks an hour so that's 400 dollars. I need to buy the correct templates (20 bucks at StewMac) and I'll let him pick out which trem he wants - they seem to go from 100 to 250. I'm also telling him that the Rose might not completely cover the old bridge route - I would try to fill that with matching wood but it will always be obvious. I still will probably say no but I'd like to hear any comments I've been installing Floyd's since '82. They were absolutely the thing to have at that time. We had it down to a science, I did a few a day. But Strats were easy to do, the PRS is a lot of work. I would tell the customer that it's going to change the tone of the guitar, and you can't predict if it will be good or bad. It will also affect the resale price a great deal. He's probably better off buying one of the Floyd equipped SE's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted March 4, 2015 Members Share Posted March 4, 2015 What PRS model is the guitar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve2112 Posted March 4, 2015 Members Share Posted March 4, 2015 I say take on the work. A quality luthier should have no qualms about any type of work- from the tiniest of mods to build from scratch (although I realize BUILDING guitar is different than repairs and mods- as far as tooling and expertise). And you shouldn't judge him or what the guitar turns into. It's his guitar and he has contracted you to work on it. Having said that- I think it's a little bit foolish when PRS offers the Floyd already. REALLY like the idea of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorganB Posted March 5, 2015 Members Share Posted March 5, 2015 Take it in call PRS they can run it on a CNC and give you dealer pricing.Carved in 10 minutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve2112 Posted March 5, 2015 Members Share Posted March 5, 2015 Wow...that sounds like a GREAT idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted March 5, 2015 Members Share Posted March 5, 2015 I say take on the work. A quality luthier should have no qualms about any type of work- from the tiniest of mods to build from scratch (although I realize BUILDING guitar is different than repairs and mods- as far as tooling and expertise). Is this inferring that if Freeman has a few qualms about this request he isn't a "quality luthier"? I think that's more than a little ridiculous, even if Freeman himself rejects the label of "luthier". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted March 5, 2015 Members Share Posted March 5, 2015 I'd say offer the suggestions of the alternate trem systems that are less invasion. But if he wants a Floyd, then I'd give him THE quote. Yeah, I'd never carve into an upper-end PRS I owned, but when you look look at the Sweetwater Gallery, they have them stacked up like cord wood. They lose some of their mystique in that context. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted March 5, 2015 Members Share Posted March 5, 2015 Awhile back a guy with a $6000 Brazilian Taylor contacted me and wanted me to put a different neck on it. Didn't like the feel of it. I told him no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted March 5, 2015 Members Share Posted March 5, 2015 I say take on the work. A quality luthier should have no qualms about any type of work . . . . . . Having said that- I think it's a little bit foolish when PRS offers the Floyd already. . . . There's a saying that "Just because you can do something that doesn't mean you should." From what I've seen in the media, there are dozens of plastic surgeons who don't know this. I could get a body shop to put flames and a spoiler on my Corolla but it would be silly. Freeman is decent enough to have misgivings about the project and to express them. You said it yourself; it's a little bit (more than a little bit, IMHO) foolish to have it done. I wonder if the guy would be okay with a Bigsby? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted March 6, 2015 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2015 Thanks for everyone's input - I've decided not to do it which was pretty much my initial reaction. There are just too many things that can go wrong and no compelling reason to do it (I'm in the fortunate position of doing lutherie because I want to, not because I need to). Awhile back a guy with a $6000 Brazilian Taylor contacted me and wanted me to put a different neck on it. Didn't like the feel of it. I told him no. Actually, assuming that you mean a Taylor acoustic, I would have no qualms about this. The NT neck is totally generic - you could make a replacement and it would bolt in without changing the guitar a bit (same scale length, obviously). Owner keeps the original neck and can put it back on at any time (like when he sells it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted March 6, 2015 Moderators Share Posted March 6, 2015 Some years back during some financial issues _Pete_ bought a lovely PRS SE, and did the routing work for a recessed (pretty sure) FR, not a difficult job, I'll see if I can grab hold of him and s eee if he'd come and chip in. It did look awesome afterwards. Think he'd sold a LP Axcess he had Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted March 6, 2015 Moderators Share Posted March 6, 2015 Here's a link to the Singlecut and a CE22 that _Pete_ did: http://www.prstalk.com/forums/prs-guitars/302-floyd-rose-prs.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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