The different kinds of Tremolos.

My favorite is the Bigsby, but the only other one I've ever tried is a Floyd Rose. I much prefer the Bigsby to the Floyd.

But what else is out there?

Also... my concern is about how a tremolo might (negatively) effect such things as sustain and tone.

Which tremolo diminishes those things the least? Which one's the worst for that?

Which tremolo has the most... uhhhh... ease of use and variation and the least loss of sustain/tone?

What about the Kahler flat-mounted tremolos?

From what I read, it doesn't diminish sustain and whatnot like a Floyd Rose would.

If it has comparable variability to a Bigsby... I'd be totally sold... that is, if it does what it claims to do. How would it stack up to a Bigsby in terms of variability, its effect (negative or otherwise) on sustain, tone, and harmonics, its durability, and so forth?

Bigsby's are very suttle and give a very different effect from a Floyd Rose or a regular floating strat trem. Bigsby's are alright, I have one on my Tele. However I'm getting it removed because I don't use it alot and its made the higher frets almost impossible to play.

I am indeed finding my Floyd to be a pain in the neck. It just doesn't do what I want it to do. Some days I think about replacing it with a Schaller or something (would I have to get a new nut?)... or just filling up the cavity with something and slapping on a hard-tail. I don't want to go with a Fender tremolo because, if I understand correctly, it'll go out of tune if a fly farts on it.

The other neat thing about the Kahler, I think... is it's huge... I kind of like the idea of having a big square block of metal, bristling with all kinds of jagged hardware and that's as big as my face, clinging onto the @$$-end of my guitar.

It would come in handy in case I have to club a skinhead that's trying to bum-rush the stage. :D Though, in general, bass guitars make for much better clubs... fortunately, Kahler makes tremolos for basses, too! (In all my years I never... :eek: ).

But I do love the Bigsby, I do I do. It also seems to have way more ease of use. I yank at it gratuitously, whenever I get the chance to play a guitar that has one. "Boioioioioioioioiiiiing!!!!!"

I wonder where I can find a guitar to try that has the Kahler so that I can compare it to a Bigsby. One day I'm going to have me a custom job built, and it will be sporting one or the other.

Well... back to the kinds of tremolos that require the routing of a big-@$$ cavity in the back of the body...

...what about Floyd Rose's competitors like... uhhhhhh... Schaller and the others? How do they stack up?

Would a Kahler be good for all other genres or was/is it mainly a shredder thing? I'm imagining some Randy Rhodes looking thing with EMG pickups and airbrushed red devil skulls with pink baby snakes in their nostrils.

I know they're making them now again... I surfed their website.