Trem Swap-Out

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Is a change from a Floyd Rose Special to a Wilkinson 2-point non-locking trem just a drop-in change?

Or is it just not possible to make that kind of swap?

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

This is the guitar I want to change to a non-locking trem.

https://reverb.com/item/2348925-warmoth-strat-copy-with-dimarzio-and-duncan-pickups-tiger-eye

[veatch]

It's going to look odd with anything but a Floyd style in there given the recessed routing.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Maybe.

But

1) it already has non-locking nut and locking tuners. There's no reason to go through the PITA of Floyd string changes for a system that's unlocked at the nut

2) If it looks horrible, I can always switch back to a black Floyd Rose Special  This guitar would absolutely look better with black hardware.

So the question still stands...

[hamerhead]

Only if you use the miracle stone thing.

[atquinn]

2 hours ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

Is a change from a Floyd Rose Special to a Wilkinson 2-point non-locking trem just a drop-in change?

Or is it just not possible to make that kind of swap?

No, not a drop in replacement. Because you need a drop-in non-Floyd trem with the same stud spacing as a  Floyd Rose. And the only one of those I know of is this:

http://guitar-parts.biz/hp135040/Vintage-Tremolo-right.htm?ITServ=C2ca3d3d6X1568fe2c151X44a9

Anything else will have the studs too close together.

In short; don't bother.

-

Austin

[zenmindbeginner]

The reason why Floyds get a bad rap tone-wise is because of the locking nut... no locking nut means that it won't suffer from the tone-suck that makes people want to chuck their Floyds in the trash. Like Austin said, don't do it.

[cynic]

24 minutes ago, atquinn said:

In short; don't bother.

In Feynman's absence, Austin said it best.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Rgr.

Now trying to decide if I want to swap out for black hardware, or leave it as is.

Or if I want to just not buy it in the first place.

[atquinn]

1 hour ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

...Or if I want to just not buy it in the first place.

Plenty other fish in the sea IMO.

-

Austin

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

3 minutes ago, atquinn said:

Plenty other fish in the sea IMO.

-

Austin

Crap, there's plenty of fish in my own private, stocked pond.

But the tiger's eye flame is cool enough, I might consider getting rid of some. You want your Diablo back...?

[murkat]

5 hours ago, zenmindbeginner said:

The reason why Floyds get a bad rap tone-wise is because of the locking nut...

really?

 

[jaberwock]

 That's a pretty reasonable price; buy it, and if you don't like the sound of the Floyd rose,  should be pretty easy to sell the body and trem, and change for something different.

 

    Jaberwock

[scottcald]

If you hate the Floyd that much, I'd say wait for a guitar you really want.  

[atquinn]

9 hours ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

... You want your Diablo back...?

Which one?

-

Austin

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

1 hour ago, atquinn said:

Which one?

-

Austin

Heh, good point.

But I only bought one of them directly from you.

The yellow one will probably be up for sale soon. I got the blue one from Hoboman, and it does coil-taps with a 5-way instead of push/pull knob. I'll miss the idea of the ss frets, but I'm not sure regular frets will make any practical difference. Since blue is more rare than yellow, that is more of a keeper to me.

Interestingly, the boomer'd blue one has a different feel to it.  The neck is chunkier, and I *think* the fretboard isn't as flat. Different enough that it couldn't replace the yellow Diablo like I originally planned.

[atquinn]

2 hours ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

Heh, good point.

But I only bought one of them directly from you.

The yellow one will probably be up for sale soon. I got the blue one from Hoboman, and it does coil-taps with a 5-way instead of push/pull knob. I'll miss the idea of the ss frets, but I'm not sure regular frets will make any practical difference. Since blue is more rare than yellow, that is more of a keeper to me.

Interestingly, the boomer'd blue one has a different feel to it.  The neck is chunkier, and I *think* the fretboard isn't as flat. Different enough that it couldn't replace the yellow Diablo like I originally planned.

What year are they? The later years (mid 90s) Diablos tended to have bigger necks in my experience, so that might explain the neck difference.

-

Austin

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

10 hours ago, atquinn said:

What year are they? The later years (mid 90s) Diablos tended to have bigger necks in my experience, so that might explain the neck difference.

-

Austin

The boomer'd blue with the chunkier neck is a '95. The regular blue with the same neck as the yellow (that I've had on every other Diablo I've stupidly sold) is a '94.

 

Also, I think I'm going to get this guitar.

It isn't so much that I *hate* the floyd, as much as I I'll probably get rid of non-locking Wilkinson guitars to get this, and I have the silly goal of keeping my collection balanced between fixed bridge, locking trems, and non-locking trems.

But I guess I can't keep the balance, so I'll abandon the notion.

[scottcald]

Cool.  Enjoy.  It sure looks great!