Floyd Rose

A double-locking tremolo system in which the strings are clamped at both the bridge saddles and at a locking nut, so tuning survives heavy use of the bar.

Locking at both ends removes the string's ability to slip over the nut and saddles, which is what ordinarily drags tuning out during whammy use. The bridge pivots on two posts and floats, balanced against springs in the cavity, so it can be pulled up as well as pushed down. The costs are that changing strings takes longer, setups are more involved, and a broken string upsets the balance of the whole system.

Example: a player doing deep dive bombs on every chorus needs a double-locking bridge, because an ordinary tremolo guitar would be out of tune by the second bar.

Floyd Rose

See also