I mean, when floyd rose whammy bars were the coolest guitar accessory known to man (hair metal music, 1989!), breaking a string while using one was tantamount to disaster - the entire guitar would go completely out of tune.

Maybe the technology has changed since then, I don't know.

Any floyd users out there?

(crickets chirpping)

oh abigail its too late for fear darling the wrath of god is already here!

abigail05 said:

I used to have a Kramer guitar that had a Floyd Rose. It was good for doing "dive bombs" and other string-bending sound effects, but yes, it WOULD knock all the strings out of tune if one of them broke.

The Floyd is still used on a lot of different guitars, and I think it'll still make a guitar go out of tune if a string breaks.

Now I have Fender Strats with the regular Fender tremolo (whammy bar). I can't do the same dive effects as on a Floyd, but it still works for other bending sounds.

prince too skinny to break a string!

Using any tremelo runs that risk. It worked okay for Jimi & Stevie Ray, Steve Vai, Eddie and on and on.

Plus Prince never plays a song for more than ten seconds, then he tosses the guitar to his tech. So no need to worry.

I have mine blocked, tho. I am always breaking strings.

I think you worry too much. As far as that category - i am very experienced.
So trust me.

I wonder about that, too. His tech probably keeps an eye on such details, between songs. He also lessons a lot of that by swapping out with the Hohner.

Were it to happen during a solo, he probably would fake and improvise with hammer-ons, dive-bombs and such, until the song ended.

How I miss the Clouds and their PR tone...

Dayclear said:

you all have set my mind at ease. Thank you.

I still think the floyd is pretty passe, but maybe that justs makes it cooler for Prince - what is uncool is very cool.

abigail05 said:

You're right that they're out of fashion, but the tuning issue isn't unique to them

Floyds are the same in 2008 as they were in 1988. I don't really use them anymore and I really don't like P using them. His natural vibrato is killer.

I better keep my mouth shut because the last time I voiced my opinion on P using Floyds a certain orger came after me with a vengence.

SPYZFAN1 said:

floyds make habibi talk

I think he uses them as a crutch and as an attention-getter. And it's not just him, most times at a show you can just play a whole solo on the thing and all the non-musicians in the audience go "OOOOO cool"

Excellent topic, and NDRU nailed it.

This potential problem exists with most tremolo bars.

I can't stand Floyd Rose systems, and would never use a locking nut.

Actually, I don't use tremolo bars on any of my guitars, although I do like Prince's use of one. He's not lessening his left hand vibrato by 2 much... he's really just mostly bending up or down as one would slide up and down the neck.

To my tastes, the Floyd Rose just look like overkill. I don't know how well they perform but I would have opted for a Wilkinson, or just gone with the standard Fender setup. Floyds just scream "Dokken" to me.

"floyds make habibi talk"

...Maybe so but P made his guitar cry in the song "Purple Rain". No Floyd there.

SPYZFAN1 said:

but he didnt play no fast notes

mirrorbestfriend said:

Does a Floyd Rose help you play faster?

A Floyd does not make you play faster. And there's plenty of bootlegs where P is shredding on "Purple Rain" from the late 80's and 90's where there's no Floyds on his axe.