As you all probably seen, I made a post a week or so ago asking which Jackson was better. Someone in that post suggested a Kramer and so did one of my friends. When looking I found 2 that are basically the same except for the type of bridge used. Well with no further ado here they are.

A Kramer "Floyd Rose" Licensed tremolo Bridge, or a Tune-O-Matic with Stop Bar Tailpiece bridge. These are the 2 guitars that have them respectively and my friend has a Kramer and I was just wondering which bridge is better. Since they are basically the same price, money is no object (on these 2). TIA
(Floyd Rose)
http://www.musicyo.com/product_specs.asp?pf_id=179
(T-O-M)
http://www.musicyo.com/product_specs.asp?pf_id=497

woah. Well, since i've always been looking for an explorer type guitar style with a floyd rose (ESP and Gibson don't make one with a floyd rose), I'd say get the one with the floyd rose.

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Definently the Rose

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Is there a big difference between the 2 in sound quality? Either way since you are saying to get the FR one I will get it but this is a good thing to know the difference on I think. Thank you

FR will have less sustain. Not a massive difference, but a notable one.

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get the kramer with the floyd cos i''ve played it and its shit hot and aint expensive. The only problem is when it arrives it comes badly set up. But thats easily sorted.

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yeah, the FR just won't have as much sustain, but its not like it totally erases the sustain. But it'll make up on being able to do alot of cool vribato work with is. Get the FR.

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nearly any guitar will arrive "badly set up", especially if it's coming from Korea. The changes in temperature and humidity are going to throw a monkey wrench into your setup, and even if you had it set up perfectly over there, you would need a new one when it arrived. The quality of the floyd would be my only concern. I've never played with the licenesed Kramer models, so I really can't attest.

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They're the same guitar with different bridges.

the choice of bridges is up to you:
are you actually gonna use the floyd? there are great players out there that don't use the whammy bar alot(John Petrucci, definitely Zakk Wylde)
do you mind putting up with the extra time and hassle (especially if you're new to it) it takes to change strings on a floyd? Do you want less sustain like MechanicalRaper said?

or do you want easier string changing, more sustain, but no whammy dives or vibrato work?

it all depends on you and your playing style

me personally, i would go with the floyd

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Well basically since I will be learning alot (read:all) of Zakk Wyldes stuff in my life at some point I think I can just go for the regular, but if the FR has many pros over the ToM one then, I dunno. I read about 5 or 6 threads about people complaining about the FR and how hard it was to keep the strings in tune and things like that, so I will start off with something simple and work my way up. How does that sound?

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the fact that you can block the floyd. You won't get your sustain back, but the tuning issues won't be a problem anymore and neither will restringing.

Personally, I'd go for the TOM model. If you really want to go nuts, buy a slide. They're much more versatile than a floyd.

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How? I've barely use my rose and restringing is a bitch, especially right before a show. Tuning is another thing I have a probelm with, so how do you block it?

you need to place a physical block between the "trem block" ( the piece of the bridge that takes the springs), and the back of the cavity. If you want to completely block it, you also need to do it to the front. Then your axe basically becomes a hardtail. You can't use the floyd anymore, but all of your restringing issues go away. I wish I had a diagram to show you how. If the bridge cannot move, the tension issues caused during tuning won't put strain on the other strings, and won't throw the rest of them out of tune.

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i dunno. if your a beginner you should get the rose. i learned on a guitar that has a fixed bridge and the way that its set up, with the bridge raised higher off the body, it makes it easier for me to finger pick and palm mute. the f r has a bridge thats close to the body as do most trem guitars. i guess if you learn on that you wont have any problems. the only trem ive found so far with the raised saddle is a westone's bridge. yet it has incredibly low action.

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