German Floyd vs OFR Korean? Anyone have both?

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Lord Toneking

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I have a Suhr Modern Satin coming and it has the Korean Floyd on it. Are these basically a Floyd Rose Special? I'm just wondering if it's going to be something I'm going to have to replace down the road, or if they are no better/no worse than the German ones I'd leave it alone.

Just a couple things I'm thinking about before the guitar arrives Tuesday.

Thoughts?
 
I've had both on Charvels. Cork sniffers will say the MIK is inferior, but I couldn't really tell much of a difference tonally. The fine tuners were a little more "deluxe" on the MIK, but beyond that, nothing remarkable. It worked just fine. Frankly, the FR Specials are pretty decent these days as far as I'm concerned.
 
TIL the FR on my Modern Satin is korean made.
I don't have anything bad to report, I've had the guitar for almost 4 years but I am not a heavy trem user, actualy, it has been locked most of the time by a tremol-no (just removed it a couple of weeks ago). It's easily the most tuning stable guitar I've ever owned... I don't play it that much so I am always amazed when I pick it up after weeks of inactivity and find it in tune!
 
There are two MIK Floyds, the Special and the 1000 series. The Special is the one to be avoided, it's low quality zinc and only spot hardened steel for the baseplate. The 1000 series (also rebadged with the EVH logo for those guitars) is the same material and specs as the German made OFR with two main differences. 1) I've noticed the bars on some of the 1000 series (and all of the Specials) tend to come loose and won't tighten down fully like on the German made ones and come loose easier as you use them. This is a cheap and easy swap/upgrade to one of the other bars Floyd offers though. 2) This is actually an upgrade over the German made, the fine tuner tension plate has recesses in it to keep the string lock screws and saddles aligned and keep them from tilting a bit sideways and rattling which can happen on the German Floyds.

screws.jpg
 
The 1000 series felt a bit rough doing tuning and set up, but when in use it was totally fine to me.
 
So the one's on the Suhr guitars are the 1000 series?

If I was splitting hairs, the only real upgrade would be to replace the saddles maybe? :confused:

Thanks for the input! :thumbsup:
 
The 1000 trems are fine even if you can tell the difference from the OFR, but I suppose the real test is if they´re still performing like the day they came from the factory 10 (or 30!) years from now like the german ones can do. They are a step up from the Special, for sure, which in itself is an improvement from the truly junky licensed Floyds that almost destroyed the market before.

One thing worth noticing is that you see the 1000 listed as anything from 1000 up to 7000, mainly on japanese guitars, but it´s just different finishes.
 
1000 series are available OEM only direct to builders, so I assume those are what Suhr is using. The specials also have "special" stamped on them, so if it doesn't say "special" on the top or "made in Germany" on the bottom it's a 1000 series.

No need to replace saddles on a 1000 series as they're the same steel as a German Floyd. It's the special that has a zinc block, zinc saddles and not a fully hardened steel baseplate.
 
Forgive my ignorance on Suhr guitars but isn't the Modern a 4K plus guitar? I would have thought they'd use all top end components. I'm sure the 1000 is a good trem (I've had them on all my Charvel guitars and they were solid) but for that price I'd want the original German Floyd. Just saying.
 
It´s more of a $2000 guitar, but I guess the same point could be made anyway. On the more expensive Suhrs you´ll see the Gotoh, though.
 
I have an OG Floyd and two EVH guitars. I didn't know the EVH was the 1000 series. Playing I don't notice any difference. Fine tuners on the Original are smoother when turning them. And I can attest to the trem arms coming loose by themselves. My b/w EVH Stripe Series, I was jamming with a drummer and the arm fell out! Now I check it and it's often way loose. USA Wolf isn't as bad. Gets slightly loose. Original I think gets slightly loose too, but far less frequently. I keep all my trem arms just tight enough so they swing. So in other words I tighten the arm until it doesn't move. Then loosen it slightly until it swings freely. Just the way I like it.
 
I've replaced the Floyd Rose 1000 series on my Charvel and EVH guitar with a older 'Made in Germany' Floyd Rose, the 1000's feel a little cheap to me, I had a problem with the trem socket on one of them, they stay in tune fine though, the German Floyds feel a little more solid and I hear a improvement in tone..
 
Stradazone":15psqh7b said:
I've replaced the Floyd Rose 1000 series on my Charvel and EVH guitar with a older 'Made in Germany' Floyd Rose, the 1000's feel a little cheap to me, I had a problem with the trem socket on one of them, they stay in tune fine though, the German Floyds feel a little more solid and I hear a improvement in tone..
Click to expand...

Well there ya go then.

I've been too lazy to switch out trems to see if there's a tone difference. Always wondered about the EVH? Like why did Ed put a chrome Floyd on his Stealth? Now I know he thinks chrome has a better brighter tone. So he adds some Ti pieces to it. Gotta make it sound better, right? I've always figured Ed picked a great sounding trem. I like the Gotoh he used with EBMM. Probably my Fave trem. When he went to Peavey I was surprised at the different Floyd. Ping made the. And they're great. I even put one on an ash bodied Strat that also has my relic'd Franky pickup in it. When I saw EVH stamped on his EVH line I figured it would be in line with the rest of his trem choices. Also assumed it was an Original Floyd Rose that was stamped special for him. He does have history with Mr. Floyd.

Now I have a new tone puzzle piece to chase. Probably start with big blocks and go from there.
 
-all steel products coming from any Asian country is pot metal, I can't speak for German steel, but I would think it has got to be a higher quality of steel, I'm a HVACR tech, and most companies won't even use Asian-(mostly Chinese)-fitting's, because of there extremely high failure rate, and poor fit/threading-(Home Depot & Lowes carry pretty much all Chinese fittings)-if you live in an area where the scrap metal business is doing well, all those washing machines, car's, and other metal crap is bought and sold, the Asian countries, especially China are the ones buying it, they metal it down and make cars & lic, FR out of it and sell it back to us, and yes they work good at first, but the more you use it the worse it becomes, its "soft" and usually a lot lighter, USA #1 steel is still the world standard.
 
I read in an interview that Eddie's tech replaced all the trems on his tour guitars to the German OFRs. According to him, the stock ones just don't last.
 
My FR Special was a POS. I didn't notice any issue with tone, but the metal is soft. I use .010s and they easily cut grooves into the saddles and saddle inserts. I bought it new and it didn't take long for those grooves to start. I replaced the saddles with String Savers, which work perfectly, but it would have been the same money to just buy the OFR in the beginning. Buy once, cry once.
 
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