New Project and looking for input on guitar fetish

[SeanM]

Hey guys,

I've started planning out my next Warmoth build and I just wanted to get some feedback from people who have ordered from guitar fetish before. I've only seen references to them and not much in the way of product feedback, I'm looking at possibly using some of their pickups and a floyd rose from there for my next build. Any feedback is welcome.

The New project
Code Name: Bringing back the 80's

Body: Alder Soloist
Colour: Pumpkin Orange
Pickups: H-S-S
Bridge: Floyd Rose
Controls: 1 V 2T, 5way switch

Neck: Maple/Maple Reverse Jackson
Frets: 6130
Contour: Standard Thin
Inlays: Black Dots
Nut: Floyd prep

Haven't chosen pickups yet, but they'll probably be on the hotter side, maybe some dimarzios

Thoughts, comments and ideas welcome.
arty07:

 

[Cagey]

I think their pickups are pretty nice. They're not expensive enough to talk about on The Gear Page, but they sound good, if that's important to you. The hardware is a little more questionable. Overall, it's good stuff. But, you may have dimensional difficulties with it.

 

[SeanM]

you may have dimensional difficulties with it.

Thats what I was worried about, especially with the differences in floyd rose's from manufacturer to manufacturer.

 

[Cagey]

I'm not a big fan of the Floyd design to begin with, but probably the only thing you'd have to worry about if you're committed to that bridge is the stud mounting holes. You may have to open them up a bit, which isn't the end of the world. Other than that, it'll be pretty much the same overly-complicated POS you'd get from anybody else.

 

[SeanM]

ya I'm not a fan of the bridge either, but figured my collection was missing something. The post centers are less then a 16th off. I'll be looking at other possible bridge options in the meantime.

 

[ORCRiST]

I'm not a big fan of the Floyd design to begin with, but probably the only thing you'd have to worry about if you're committed to that bridge is the stud mounting holes. You may have to open them up a bit, which isn't the end of the world. Other than that, it'll be pretty much the same overly-complicated POS you'd get from anybody else.

Ignore Cagey, he had a horrible experience with Lego's as a kid - that childhood trauma means he thinks anything more complicated
than nut + bolt = "overly-complicated" is his world.  :laughing7:

Stick with an Original or a Schaller Floyd Rose man, seriously. Yes, they're a bit more expensive - but going cheap with a locking
trem is just asking for headaches down the road. My $.02...

ORC

 

[AutoBat]

make those frets stainless steel!

 

[SeanM]

I'm not a big fan of the Floyd design to begin with, but probably the only thing you'd have to worry about if you're committed to that bridge is the stud mounting holes. You may have to open them up a bit, which isn't the end of the world. Other than that, it'll be pretty much the same overly-complicated POS you'd get from anybody else.

Ignore Cagey, he had a horrible experience with Lego's as a kid - that childhood trauma means he thinks anything more complicated
than nut + bolt = "overly-complicated" is his world.  :laughing7:

Stick with an Original or a Schaller Floyd Rose man, seriously. Yes, they're a bit more expensive - but going cheap with a locking
trem is just asking for headaches down the road. My $.02...

ORC

Agreed, if i am going with a floyd it will be a schaller or an original. But like Cagey, i'm not fond of them, mainly because to me as a mechanical designer, it seems like an incomplete design.  I've setup many of them and have been known to use one whenever I can get my hands on a guitar with one.  But I'm looking at the recessed Wilkinson thinking that might be a good medium.


Autobat:

I've never seen the point in going to stainless frets, to me it just seems unnecessary, but feel free to enlighten me as to why I should use them.

 

[AutoBat]

Autobat:

I've never seen the point in going to stainless frets, to me it just seems unnecessary, but feel free to enlighten me as to why I should use them.

Mostly because they basically won't wear out, meaning no needed fret jobs in the future, and they're very smooth.
Other users may comment on the beauty of SS frets.  I think the value per dollar is excellent for them.

 

[JamesL]

I bought a GF floyd for my star body project...  Overall the quality is great for the price. Period.  And as far as I can tell (Test fitting) Everything lines up.

 

[SeanM]

I'll stick with the plain 6130's for now, I've never had an issue with the life span of the frets.

Kyler, Please keep me posted on how the GF Floyd lines up once it's fully installed. Also which route did you get, the schaller or original?

Opinions required on hardware colour. With an orange body, black plastic (pickups, knobs, tips etc.) should I go with chrome or black?

 

[rapfohl09]

I have played a few of their pickups and have a few more at my house waiting to be installed in projects. For 22$ the Crunchy PAT is seriously one of the best sounding pickups around. I will admit, however, that I haven't had a huge amount of experience or refinement with pickups and generally think just about everything sounds good with a few here and there that I think sound really great.

 

[Disco Scottie]

Black hardware for the color combo you've laid out.

SS frets are THE BOMB. I will never buy a guitar without them again. It's not just that they last forever, they're much nicer to play on. Bends are amazingly effortless.

Don't cheap out on the Floyd. Better to spend a few extra bucks now, rather than regret it later. And make sure you really do need/want one... they're great for what they do, but they require a bit more attention than other trems.

 

[SeanM]

I'm leaning further to the recessed wilkinson bridge at this point. Depending on how I feel when I order the neck I might opt for SS.

Have to Run some numbers, and raid my parts drawers to see how much this project is going to cost.

Thanks guys

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Don't cheap out on the Floyd. Better to spend a few extra bucks now, rather than regret it later.

+ 1.  The bridge is a complicated thing, and esp with so many parts to it, the machining quality will matter a lot.

I've used GFS for a few random parts as replacements, and I was pretty happy with it overall.  For general parts, the prices aren't that far below Carvin that I'd always pick them, but I'll probably use them again.  I also put a Crunch Rails in a baritone, and that's a fantastic pickup.  Could easily be used as a bass pickup, but also does a great job of catching high end as well.  Strangely, I like the sound of it split better than in humbucker mode, but that's just me.

In terms of quality, it's at the higher end . . .  of Asian factory parts. There's lots of factory guitars out there where you could replace every piece of hardward & electronics with Guitar Fetish stuff & walk away with a much better guitar.  I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that they sell that would be practically indistinguishable from USA made parts in a small custom shop.

I think it's a mindset thing: if you want to pay for parts & pickups you know are quality, made by companies that pay their workers a living wage, you could go through lots of other dealers.  If you want something that works and don't care that you're only paying $8 for string ferrules & $12 for a bridge that you're not likely to ever have a problem with, than Guitar Fetish is great.

 

[SeanM]

Don't cheap out on the Floyd. Better to spend a few extra bucks now, rather than regret it later.

+ 1.  The bridge is a complicated thing, and esp with so many parts to it, the machining quality will matter a lot.

I've used GFS for a few random parts as replacements, and I was pretty happy with it overall.  For general parts, the prices aren't that far below Carvin that I'd always pick them, but I'll probably use them again.  I also put a Crunch Rails in a baritone, and that's a fantastic pickup.  Could easily be used as a bass pickup, but also does a great job of catching high end as well.  Strangely, I like the sound of it split better than in humbucker mode, but that's just me.

In terms of quality, it's at the higher end . . .  of Asian factory parts. There's lots of factory guitars out there where you could replace every piece of hardward & electronics with Guitar Fetish stuff & walk away with a much better guitar.  I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that they sell that would be practically indistinguishable from USA made parts in a small custom shop.

I think it's a mindset thing: if you want to pay for parts & pickups you know are quality, made by companies that pay their workers a living wage, you could go through lots of other dealers.  If you want something that works and don't care that you're only paying $8 for string ferrules & $12 for a bridge that you're not likely to ever have a problem with, than Guitar Fetish is great.

Thanks for the input, I think I've got a good idea of what I'm going to do now.

My issue with the Floyd Rose is that during the life span of the bridge, it has gone through various iterations but all in all the concept is largely unchanged. With that the inherent issues with the Floyd have remained unchanged, essentially players have just come to accept and cope with tuning issues.  That being said if I do decide to choose the Floyd it'll be a schaller, but I will most likely go with the Wilkinson/Gotoh bridge, as my experience with those seems to be more promising then the floyd. 

 

[Cagey]

I think the Wilkinson design is far superior to the Floyd-Rose. The Floyd has too many joints, adjustments where they aren't needed, and missing adjustments where they'd be appropriate. Plus, it's heavy, and requires special routing just to mount the bloody thing. Add the extra cost of all that complication, and the goofy and inconvenient locking nut, and it's a wonder the thing ever got any acceptance in the market at all.

That's not to say that it doesn't work. It does. And it's an appealing bit of machinery to look at. But, damn. Talk about going around your thumb to get to your elbow.

I'm not a mechanical engineer, I'm an electrical engineer who spent several decades designing machine controls and writing software. So, it's not like I haven't known and worked with many mechs with a lot more on the ball than your average guitar mangler. I'm not afraid of complex things - quite the opposite. I welcome them. But, there's a time and a place, and a guitar's bridge isn't either of those things. Simple, functional, reliable, accurate and repeatable is the order of the day.

 

[DangerousR6]

I've purchased from Guitar Fetish several time. Good stuff for the price, pick ups are great, most of the other hardware is excellent, and unlike Cagey, I have lots-o-Floyds. And have several from GF and they are just fine, no worries at all. Hellava lot better quality on the Licensed Floyd they offer than most other cheap stuff.. And no need to worry about stud holes, the stud inserts fit Warmoth holes just fine, no need to ream the holes..

So to me all in all you can't go wrong with their stuff... :icon_thumright:

 

[SeanM]

I think the Wilkinson design is far superior to the Floyd-Rose. The Floyd has too many joints, adjustments where they aren't needed, and missing adjustments where they'd be appropriate. Plus, it's heavy, and requires special routing just to mount the bloody thing. Add the extra cost of all that complication, and the goofy and inconvenient locking nut, and it's a wonder the thing ever got any acceptance in the market at all.

That's not to say that it doesn't work. It does. And it's an appealing bit of machinery to look at. But, damn. Talk about going around your thumb to get to your elbow.

I'm not a mechanical engineer, I'm an electrical engineer who spent several decades designing machine controls and writing software. So, it's not like I haven't known and worked with many mechs with a lot more on the ball than your average guitar mangler. I'm not afraid of complex things - quite the opposite. I welcome them. But, there's a time and a place, and a guitar's bridge isn't either of those things. Simple, functional, reliable, accurate and repeatable is the order of the day.

Agreed. I am an Mechanical Engineering Technologist, and just by looking at the Floyd there are glaring issues.

Thanks for the input on the hardware DangerousR6, I think I will be purchasing a bridge from them, but it will be the wilkinson.

 

[DangerousR6]

I think the Wilkinson design is far superior to the Floyd-Rose. The Floyd has too many joints, adjustments where they aren't needed, and missing adjustments where they'd be appropriate. Plus, it's heavy, and requires special routing just to mount the bloody thing. Add the extra cost of all that complication, and the goofy and inconvenient locking nut, and it's a wonder the thing ever got any acceptance in the market at all.

That's not to say that it doesn't work. It does. And it's an appealing bit of machinery to look at. But, damn. Talk about going around your thumb to get to your elbow.

I'm not a mechanical engineer, I'm an electrical engineer who spent several decades designing machine controls and writing software. So, it's not like I haven't known and worked with many mechs with a lot more on the ball than your average guitar mangler. I'm not afraid of complex things - quite the opposite. I welcome them. But, there's a time and a place, and a guitar's bridge isn't either of those things. Simple, functional, reliable, accurate and repeatable is the order of the day.

LOL.....you crack me up...The only difference between a wilky and a floyd is the addition of the fine tuner, which were in fact EVH idea. The original original floyds had no fine tuners. And there are no more joints or adjustment on a floyd that aren't on a wilky, aside from the fine tuners, which to me are a plus over the wilky. And what special routing does it need, it uses the same damn pocket the wilky does... :doh:

Yes I LOVE FLOYDS.....