Titanium Floyd

[stratamania]

Thanks for the experience. If anyone else can add anything on it I would love to hear.

Did you A/B in the same guitar ?

Or try it in different guitars ?

In any event the titanium floyd looks good...

 

[Doughboy]

Thanks for the experience. If anyone else can add anything on it I would love to hear.

Did you A/B in the same guitar ?

Or try it in different guitars ?

In any event the titanium floyd looks good...

A/B in the same guitar. If it sounded 1/10 as good as it looks, I'd have bought one.

I DESPERATELY wanted something new on my current build & I thought the titanium floyd would be the perfect thing. Oh well.... :dontknow:

 

[stratamania]

Ok, I got you. It's an expensive part to experiment with if it doesn't work out.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Why on earth would anyone want a Floyd to be brighter??
They're already very bright, and lack the low-end of a traditional Strat bridge. 
:dontknow:

 

[swarfrat]

Your average tube screamer, Marshall preamp, and any number of other distortion generators have a 700 hz high pass filter. I'lm certainly not interested in a titanium floyd, but it wouldnt shock me that some one was using an insanely bright guitar to get some rather surprising tones. I'm currently rocking a hardtail strat with a GFS memphis and stainless steel strings, but my tone is really midrangey.

 

[Doughboy]

Why on earth would anyone want a Floyd to be brighter??
They're already very bright, and lack the low-end of a traditional Strat bridge. 
:dontknow:

I don't think anyone wants a brighter floyd. The problem is that the manufacturers of the titanium floyd never alude to this. They keep saying it increases clarity & sustain, which I guess it does. However, it also removes the bass, fullness & warmth.

The person who let me try his titanium floyd ended up getting an OFR & putting in a BIG brass block & THAT sounds really nice. It makes the OFR sound more full & adds sustain without making it sound brittle or harsh.

I really wanted the titanium floyd to work out, but it's really a silly product imo. It does look really nice though.

 

[Ace Flibble]

The real point of titanium Floyds is the knife edges don't dull within the unit's lifespan. You set it up once and, unless you're changing tunings, action or string gauge, never have to worry about bridge maintenance ever again. They're definitely worth it if you abuse your bridges a lot or have very acidic sweat/oils. If you don't already wear down your Floyds then changing to a titanium one won't really offer you anything that a regular Floyd with titanium saddles won't.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Why on earth would anyone want a Floyd to be brighter??
They're already very bright, and lack the low-end of a traditional Strat bridge. 
:dontknow:

I always find them a bit dead, maybe I'd like a brighter one.

 

[Doughboy]

Why on earth would anyone want a Floyd to be brighter??
They're already very bright, and lack the low-end of a traditional Strat bridge. 
:dontknow:

I always find them a bit dead, maybe I'd like a brighter one.

It does liven & brighten up any guitar. However, it also sucks all the bass & low end OMPH out ot it as well. IMO, I'd just get a brass block & titanium saddles, you'd brighten it up enough & still have a nice low end.

 

[Cagey]

It does liven & brighten up any guitar. However, it also sucks all the bass & low end OMPH out ot it as well. IMO, I'd just get a brass block & titanium saddles, you'd brighten it up enough & still have a nice low end.

If you think about it, a vibrating string is alternately pulling and relaxing as it vibrates. The counter-balancing springs in the vibrato are responding to this stress in exactly the opposite way. The net result is an absorption of energy. Ultimately, they balance out until there's no vibration. It's the dreaded entropy.

A brass block for a mount point of the strings on a vibrato bridge is going to add inertia due to its mass, so you would expect it to add sustain. It doesn't want to move, so there's less reaction to the vibration. I can't imagine a lighter block (such as aluminum or titanium) being helpful to sustain or frequency response for that reason. Less inertia, easier to move, even for something as lightweight as strings.

A hardtail, on the other hand, has no actively opposing force. It stands still. Sorta the ultimate inertia. So, it takes longer for the string to stop vibrating. On a guitar, this results in what we call "sustain". Look at Les Pauls. Even with Mahogany bodies and necks, they still tend to ring longer.

 

[stratamania]

On the flip side the brightness or clarity, could along with the darker or warmer tone woods provide an interesting contrast with the correct EQ settings. A combination of clarity, harmonics etc may work for some.

Oh twist my arm I might have to put one into a build in a few months  :dontknow:

 

[elgravos]

I've phased out all floyd guitars but for one because double locking systems really just choke the life out of guitars IMO.  I did however switch to titanium block inserts on my last remaining Floyd - got to keep one handy just in case I need an emergency dive bombing session.  Nothing to do with the sound, just got tired of the blocks always getting crushed or splitting on me.  Before the interweb that was a real pain as it was near impossible to source spare FR trem parts back then.  With the titanium inserts that problem is pretty much permanently solved which was well worth the $40 investment.  I dare say those should come as standard on regular floyds.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

^ that's how I feel too about the "choking the life out" thing. And again, I only have one Floyd guitar, and that's all I want.

I might try the titanium saddles though if they brighten it up a bit.

 

[stratamania]

For me when Floyd Roses appeared and I got my first one in 1985, it was a breath of fresh air that finally accurate tuning stability was a possibility.

The main downside for me was not being able to change to alternate tunings or down to Eb. I have enough guitars now that I can do that.  But I've always worked with what I had and for the Floyd guitars I just found the tone different and adjust accordingly.

But on the string insert blocks, I had one break in 1987 in the North of England with gigs lined up. It took about 2 months to get one so had no choice but to buy a second guitar.

That said it's the only one that ever broke. 

 

[john_p_wi]

Hmmm, guess I'm odd man out, I love the Gotoh Floyds without the locking nut. They come with a brass block too, fortunately i have not had the need for replacement parts. The tone is not any thinner than my Callaham, G&L, other Gotohs etc. Honestly, I don't think titanium would be much of an improvement - if any - over the Gotoh Floyd. Yeah, all of my guitars have bars...

 

[elgravos]

I don't disagree with that.  I think the top lock is as much to blame, if not more so, than the bridge itself.  That's why I referred to "double locking" in my post.  I really like the new Guthrie Govan Charvel which has an original FR (i.e the first model - pre fine-tuners) and a proper bone nut.  I bet that sounds pretty decent.

@ stratamania: I'm amazed that you even managed to find a block insert in 2 months in the UK.  The way to do it was to order a new trem - and they weren't cheap at the time - and then keep the old one handy for spare parts.

I also remember buying one of the original Charvel model 2s with the Kahler fulcrum trem in 1988.  Took me 8 years (i.e. the advent of the web) to replace a broken saddle.

 

[stratamania]

It seemed like a long two months at the time but somehow I got them, I ordered six if I recall. I only used one and the others I still have wrapped up safely.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I wonder why the Washburn Wonderbar went extinct.  :dontknow:

 

[Doughboy]

I wonder why the Washburn Wonderbar went extinct.  :dontknow:

I almost bought one of those things in the mid 80s. They were HUGE & had lots & lots of moving parts which always = better tone & tuning.