General thoughts on Kahlers? Considering hacking up an LP

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cardinal

cardinal

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I see a lot of hate out there for Kahler trems (the 2200 and 2300 types). I had one loooong time ago and thought it worked fine. And my fav man crush, Jerry Cantrell, has been using them forever and his tone and sustain seem just fine (seen them live, so I don't think it's just studio tricks).

I have an Epiphone Les Paul 7-string, and I'd love to have an LP-type guitar for dive bombs and squeals and such. The guitar plays, sounds, and sustains great as is. Installing a Kahler wouldn't ruin it, would it? The Kahler 2307 is going to be the easiest option for adding a trem, I think. No Stetsbars, etc. for 7-strings.
 
Kerry King thought's on this are pretty spot on.." it all comes down to whats comfortable for you" when he was asked about floyd or Kahler. I prefer floyd's, but many like the Kahler. I do think that cutting a hole in the center of the guitar body is going to change your tone. Will it be for the better or worse ? Only way to find out is to do it !

What do you have to loose? try it !
 
A couple hundred bucks and a guitar I generally like are what I've got to lose!
 
When set up properly and maintained, they work great. Technically, I think FR are better trems, and definitely sustain better, but I could never get comfortable on them. I'm heavy handed and because they're floating, I cause them to go sharp. Kahler's are much easier to string and set up. I prefer the tone of Kahler's, and I think they sound more like a guitar that does NOT have a trem. Some FR trems have a boingy, springy characteristic to my ears that I don't dig for certain applications. They can both be great. I'd go with what you're most comfortable with.
 
cardinal":30h4rq2q said:
Installing a Kahler wouldn't ruin it, would it?.
Click to expand...

I kind of like kahlers, but it might.

I would just look for a cheap 7 with trem.
 
^ I've got plenty of those. And some not so cheap ones too. Probably just not worth it.
 
I had one installed around '83 on my '78 Les Paul Custom. I loved it. The route is actually pretty small, but yes, irreversible. At the time, it was one of the only ways to get a locking trem on a LP.
 
The only thing that I remember about the Kahler is that you would need to run strings with reinforced ball ends. During the odd dive bomb, the string would come off of the roller.

that was a long time ago though....but that was my experience with them.

I did like the feel of it as a trem though....
 
It's totally subjective - I'm generally a Floyd guy, but one of my best sounding and feeling guitars has a factory installed Kahler. That said, one of the worst sounding guitars had one too. People moan about cutting a chunk of wood out of the top of their guitar to install a kahler and how much that will affect the tone, but the reality is that there's a lot less wood being removed than for installing a floyd (or v-trem) on a previously non-trem-routed guitar.
 
Go for it. You can blame me later if it sucks. Besides, your routing a bastardized les Paul anyway.

DO EET!!!
 
Personally, I'd buy a guitar already routed for a floyd or go frx.

The kahler is a completely different feel and unless it's setup perfectly goes out of tune fairly regularly. The issue is te routing, can be expensive and ultimately not one of the things you want to cheap out on.

Personally I'd find one already setup the way you like and bite the bullet and buy it.
 
I can't just buy a 7-string Les Paul with a Floyd.

I think I'll try using one of these new pitch shifter pedals. Supposedly they do pretty good dive bomb impersonations.
 
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