Can anybody tell me if this is a Schaller made Floyd Rose?

IIRC, the Schaller ones have thicker baseplates and metal inserts for the knife edges. That looks like the entire baseplate is the edge, so it's certainly not the Schaller style.

He took it off of a Charvel USA San Dimas style guitar, and doesn't really give too much information about the bridge.

Floyd Rose Locking TREMOLO Bridge Black Charvel San Dim - eBay (item 200498652441 end time Jul-25-10 18:25:09 PDT)

I would really like to know who made it, if it was made in Germany, and if it would fit on that black guitar. I am relatively clueless.

Josh said:

IIRC, the Schaller ones have thicker baseplates and metal inserts for the knife edges. That looks like the entire baseplate is the edge, so it's certainly not the Schaller style.

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No, that is the Schaller branded Floyd Rose. All the Floyd Rose (and Original) branded bridges are made by Schaller, and have been since nearly the beginning. Yes, the edges are ground right out of the baseplate, since the entire plate is case-hardened.

What is in that picture is the real thing. It will say made in Germany somewhere on it, most likely the block.

If it's off one of the newer San Dimas guitar, it's made by Ping. Still made to the OFR specs, just not by Schaller. They seem to be holding up pretty well, from I've heard, but I wouldn't overpay for it.

Keep in mind that it will also have the long block, as those Charvels have the Floyd on top.

Mike said:

If it's off one of the newer San Dimas guitar, it's made by Ping. Still made to the OFR specs, just not by Schaller. They seem to be holding up pretty well, from I've heard, but I wouldn't overpay for it.

Keep in mind that it will also have the long block, as those Charvels have the Floyd on top.

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The only real issue is the arm&holder, like most Korean trems, it's not the best machined part and has some play. In fact, the whole trem feels "grindy" in the threads with the fine tuners/screws. Still works fine for the most part. I have the one from my SoCal floating around as an emergency back-up.

Easiest way to tell, get a pic of the top of the saddles; the Pings have a slope in the back, Schallers are flat all the way across the top.

Mike said:

If it's off one of the newer San Dimas guitar, it's made by Ping. Still made to the OFR specs, just not by Schaller. They seem to be holding up pretty well, from I've heard, but I wouldn't overpay for it.

Keep in mind that it will also have the long block, as those Charvels have the Floyd on top.

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It was a hell of a lot easier to tell when Floyd Rose was still stamping "Original" on all of their trems. :/

Toshiro said:

The only real issue is the arm&holder, like most Korean trems, it's not the best machined part and has some play. In fact, the whole trem feels "grindy" in the threads with the fine tuners/screws. Still works fine for the most part. I have the one from my SoCal floating around as an emergency back-up.

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Honestly, I am not the happiest with the arm holder on my OFR-7. It doesn't rotate smoothly, as if there is some grit on one side that causes it to hang up for about one quarter of the travel, yet the slot and the arm are both completely free of debris.

noodles said:

Honestly, I am not the happiest with the arm holder on my OFR-7. It doesn't rotate smoothly, as if there is some grit on one side that causes it to hang up for about one quarter of the travel, yet the slot and the arm are both completely free of debris.

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The arm on my Ping would move like a 1/2" inch or more down or up before it would move the trem. Nothing like grabbing the bar and going for a quick dive, and getting nowhere. :lol:

I have a ton of Schaller arms from Stewmac(on all my Edges lol), and they don't have this problem. I like that arm tight though, which is why I don't like the regular Edge arm, too much swing.

I wish I could get the arm and holder from the Gotohs aftermarket, that shit is disgustingly nice. The bar itself is reverse threaded, and screws into the holder, and then there's a tension screw at the top. No play, rotates smooth, and can be tight or loose in the swing. Doubt it would fit on the Edge trems though.

noodles said:

No, that is the Schaller branded Floyd Rose. All the Floyd Rose (and Original) branded bridges are made by Schaller, and have been since nearly the beginning. Yes, the edges are ground right out of the baseplate, since the entire plate is case-hardened.

What is in that picture is the real thing. It will say made in Germany somewhere on it, most likely the block.

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I stand corrected. Thanks for the info!

Mike is correct on this one, that's a Ping-made OFR, not a Schaller (either the "Schaller Floyd" or a Schaller-made OFR).

It gets confusing, because what we now call the "Schaller Floyd" was originally known as the second incarnation of the "Floyd Rose II" (the first version was single-locking on the same baseplate), and is a very different design than the OFR, which is confusingly also made by Schaller (as well as by Ping, nowadays).

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that a Schaller-made trem is much better these days. There have been a lot of complaints about the quality of Schaller stuff over the last few years. Supposedly, old Mr. Schaller died, and the factory hasn't been quite the same since.

You guys are making me nervous about dropping $200 on a new OFR7 when I could have a good LFR for half that. :sweat:

Soopahmahn said:

You guys are making me nervous about dropping $200 on a new OFR7 when I could have a good LFR for half that. :sweat:

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Don't feel that way at all. Other than my niggling complaint about the bar holder (which is just odd, but doesn't affect functionality), it is light years ahead of the LFR. That bridge is a total piece of shit.

Toshiro said:

The arm on my Ping would move like a 1/2" inch or more down or up before it would move the trem. Nothing like grabbing the bar and going for a quick dive, and getting nowhere. :lol:

I have a ton of Schaller arms from Stewmac(on all my Edges lol), and they don't have this problem. I like that arm tight though, which is why I don't like the regular Edge arm, too much swing.

I wish I could get the arm and holder from the Gotohs aftermarket, that shit is disgustingly nice. The bar itself is reverse threaded, and screws into the holder, and then there's a tension screw at the top. No play, rotates smooth, and can be tight or loose in the swing. Doubt it would fit on the Edge trems though.

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:spock:
mine works great. if you wanna sell yours, let me know :lol:

noodles said:

Don't feel that way at all. Other than my niggling complaint about the bar holder (which is just odd, but doesn't affect functionality), it is light years ahead of the LFR. That bridge is a total piece of shit.

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The only good LFR is a dead LFR? What about the Schaller? And while I don't love it, I'm ok with my Edge Lo-Pro 7.

I suppose this remains the gold standard locking trem for a reason, though. (Shaddap Steinberger fans!)

When it comes to 7-string double-locking, the list is very short: OFR-7, LoTRS, and a couple of Ibanez bridges are all I know of. So, there really isn't a contest, since Ibanez bridges are outrageously expensive new, and there is no sane reason that anyone should use a TRS.

Soopahmahn said:

You guys are making me nervous about dropping $200 on a new OFR7 when I could have a good LFR for half that. :sweat:

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You're way better off with an OFR-7. Even if the machining at Schaller isn't quite up to the old standards, the fact is that the OFR-7 is just a flat-out better piece of gear than the TRS trem. The OFR-7 has a hardened steel baseplate that will basically last forever. Some of my old '80s guitars have the original Floyd on them and stay in tune (and return to zero pitch) just as well as they did 20 years ago.

The TRS trems are made of a softer material and don't (AFAIK) have hardened inserts for the knife edges, meaning that they will start to lose their functionality very quickly. The quality of the trem arm assembly isn't as important, since those can be easily replaced. They both use the same type of arm assembly.

Max said:

:spock:
mine works great. if you wanna sell yours, let me know :lol:

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What, the arm holder? Because I swapped that shit for a Schaller and threw the Ping parts in the garbage. We swapped the arm holder on my buddy's SoCal too, that's 2 for 2 of them being crap.

The bridge itself is in the gigbag with the rest of the Charvel's original parts, in case I ever want to return it to stock. :lol: