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important questions about changing licensed to original floyd rose.


presa_tito

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Ok, I have a washburn N4 and love the guitar except for the fact that there is a cheaply made licensed floyd rose. It already has a cracked saddle and has a small crack in another area. It would of been a great idea for Washburn to put a OFR on these considering what they cost. The guitar won't stay in tune and is causing massive headaches. I was talking to a tech and he wasn't too sure if it would be a perfect fit or not because there are so many different versions. I thought that if I were to buy the original that it would fit fine and solve my headaches. Does anyone know if the OFR will fit in the N4? I don't want to spend all the cash and not have it fix the problem. Also, should the nut be changed to match the OFR or keep the same nut?

Thanks.

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I don't know the dimensions of the Floyd on your N4, but here are the specs on an Original Floyd Rose from www.warmoth.com

 

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/pdf/Original_Floyd_Rose_Diagram.pdf

 

The big thing is the post spacing...that needs to be a perfect fit. As long as the rest of the N4's trem is the same size, or even slightly bigger than the OFR, you should okay. If the OFR is wider or longer, then the routing may not be big enough in the guitar to allow the OFR to fit.

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I'm not sure of compatibility between the Licensed and Original. I know you can get replacement parts for the Original from Floyd Rose Inc. http://www.floydrose.com/original.html

 

Obviously your Washburn N4 must have been made in Asia since it has a cheap Asian made Licensed Floyd. And it's parts are probably metric. I'm not sure if the Original is made with North American SAE specs. I'm not sure if Schaller made the Original but they make a Licensed Floyd for an expensive price.

Gold=$360, Black=$300, Chrome=$285

Gotoh's are a little cheaper and being Japanese (I think) might be what you need. For them, Gold=$205, Black=$180, Chrome=$165.

 

There are cheaper ones that go for as low as $135 but they all come with different size nuts so you must be careful you get the correct size. Sizes are, 1-5/8",1-7/8",1-11/16", 1-3/4" . And these ones are probably what you don't want.

http://www.allparts.com/categories.php?cat_id=413&cat_name=LOCKING TREMOLOS

 

Good luck in your search.

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You have to do some measuring. It may fit, but then again it may not. I also wish guitar manufacturers would go ahead and use the original Floyd Rose on all of their tremolo guitars. I mean why not? It's here. And it works better than everything else.

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The saddle screws of an OFR will probably be too long to fit into the rout on your guitar. Other that that, it should fit.

 

Now, it should be possible to use the shorter saddle bolts from your Schaller on the OFR, but I'm not 100% positive.

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It does say made in Germany by Schaller and has the Washburn logo, but it's not the better version that schaller has put out. It's chrome and cheap orangeish metal underneath. I got some info that a schaller will fit and I'm planning on ordering the quality schaller version from warmoth once I get some more feedback. I think this will fit and solve the problems. Opinions?

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/bridges.cfm?fuseaction=bridges_floyd_schaller

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As far as I know Schaller doesn't make a "Cheapo" version of their trem. The Schaller on Warmoth's site is the exact same trem you have, made in the exact same place.

 

All Washburn does is have them put their name where it would say "Schaller" on the stock tremolo.

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You have a USA N4 w/ A Schaller Floyd. Your right, these Trems suck. They have a cast base with pressed in knife edges. The blocks crack easily, the intonation screws strip out of the base plate easily. A OFR will need a small amount of rounting on the bar side of the trem to fit. Any luthier can tackle this with ease. The OFR has a hardened steel base plate (just over 60 rockwell). This will brighten up the tone a bit as well. Notice the N4 Vintage has a real Floyd. The Schaller is more expensive than the OFR.

I approached this with Washburn a year ago & got a lot of shoulder shrugs.

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Originally posted by Toshiro

As far as I know Schaller doesn't make a "Cheapo" version of their trem. The Schaller on Warmoth's site is the exact same trem you have, made in the exact same place.


All Washburn does is have them put their name where it would say "Schaller" on the stock tremolo.

Read post below yours.

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Originally posted by Kevin_FL

You have a USA N4 w/ A Schaller Floyd. Your right, these Trems suck. They have a cast base with pressed in knife edges. The blocks crack easily, the intonation screws strip out of the base plate easily. A OFR will need a small amount of rounting on the bar side of the trem to fit. Any luthier can tackle this with ease. The OFR has a hardened steel base plate (just over 60 rockwell). This will brighten up the tone a bit as well. Notice the N4 Vintage has a real Floyd. The Schaller is more expensive than the OFR.

I approached this with Washburn a year ago & got a lot of shoulder shrugs.

You are very correct. They really cheaped out on the trem, but I love the guitar besides that.

I'm really just after if the "good" Schaller here http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/bridges.cfm?fuseaction=bridges_floyd_schaller will fit in without any routing.

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Originally posted by presa_tito

Read post below yours.

 

 

What I'm getting at is that there is no "other" version of the Schaller licensed floyd, if you buy another one you'll just get the same trem you have on the guitar already.

 

Your current trem is the Made in Germany Schaller licensed floyd Warmoth sells.

 

If you want a better trem you need to get an Original Floyd Rose. But that comes with a price, it won't fit the rout perfect stock, and will need modifications.

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Well, look at it this way, see the little "Made by Schaller in Germany" on your trem? Schaller's are the exact same design, made in the exact same plant in Germany, out of the same softer metal.

 

It's part of the features on the Schaller Floyd:

 

 

From Your Warmoth link:

This bridge is different from the original 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.

 

 

If you want to risk it, it's your money, but IMO you'd be throwing it away on another of the same tremolo.

 

It could be possible you got a bad one, but at the same time lots of people complain about chipping finish and stripped screws on the Schaller Licensed Floyd.

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