Official Luthiers Forum!

I've used one of these- really great bridge. Note that it is low profile and intended for a Fender type straight neck.

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

An Ibanez Steve Vai is hardly a cheap guitar. Back in the 80's they were around $1700.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Some interesting ideas in this thread, although some comments have been over-the-top or simply not relevant to the discussion. My original request was to get experience on the feasibility of converting a Floyd Rose-equipped guitar to a non-tremolo bridge.

While the thread has played out, I've been in travel mode, having spent Christmas and the New Year in New Zealand, and now freezing my tush in the "arctic vortex" parked in southern Ontario -- heading back to Nairobi on Saturday. I just yesterday had a chance to visit a guitar store in Cobourg and looked over several instruments with the Floyd Rose system. Perhaps I'll change my opinion once I disassemble one of these, but I really can't see this being a difficult or costly conversion; I believe I can make a decent looking job and also retain the option to revert back to the Floyd Rose -- respecting my personal ethic to "do no harm". I also think I can do this for a price that will be attractive to this Kenyan musician and give him the axe he's looking for.

No doubt some forum members have other opinions -- all are valid, for now. If the conversion gets the "go-ahead", I'll post some pics along the way and we'll all be better informed after seeing the job complete. Thanks all for your generous input.

that's quite an itinerary- i can only dream of such a thing! cheers

If you had read this thread you wouldn't have made this post.

Well maybe you would have...I don't know. Doesn't matter anyway.

Well the travel from Toronto to Nairobi was a nightmare -- all airport computers at Pearson were down, and my first leg to JFK was cancelled due to fog. I got myself back to Kenya, but who knows when or if I'll ever see my luggage again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One other option worth considering is to remove the tremolo block itself and attaching it directly to a wood block that fills the cavity. It saves you the trouble of ensuring that two blocks will maintain stability. If you have any doubts a small lip could be added that protrudes into the spring cavity, thus allowing a couple of screws to anchor it firmly in place.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

trem-no

I think the ever-tune hardtails have somewhat similar through-body routing like the Floyd Rose, I know I'm late popping in here, but they seem like a decent unit, assuming the musician is not constantly changing his tuning preferences. One could probably retrofit one of these unit into a floyd equipped guitar. Not honestly 100% sure, but this was the first thing to pop into my head when I read this thread.

UPDATE:
This thread had generated a lot of interest and I was kinda looking forward to doing the conversion of this FR guitar to a hardtail. But, reality got in the way when the client ran into trouble getting his work permit renewed. He's been in Kenya for 12 years, but some government clerk has decided that maybe he should move on. If he gets it sorted, I might hear from him again, but for now the project is on the shelf.

Thanks all for your ideas and opinions.