1.  Who are you?

I’m the Guitar Historical Archives and have a small obsession with finding details in everything related to music and music gear from the 1980s.  

2.  Why Floyd Rose?

It’s rather long story, but I’ve always had a keen interest in tremolos since my early days of playing guitar.  My uncle was a Kramer/Hamer dealer in the late 70s and got me interested in those brands when I was age 12 in the year 2000 (to give you an idea of my current age).  He got me interested in guitars early on talking about stories of Gary Kramer walking into his store trying to sell Aluminum neck guitars from his station wagon.  My high school choir teacher was also a former 80s rocker and brought many tremolo equipped guitars to school for the kids to play.  It was really spectacular.  He also took mini field trips to see Def Leppard, Van Halen, Poison, KISS, and other bands during the summer.  Could you really ask for a better teacher?  I was also in bands from age 14-23 playing 80s rock and weddings for bridezillas.  

While obtaining my master’s degree in college, my side hobby was running other strange off-topic music websites.  I shut those down a decade ago, but for some reason, I felt obligated to make this Floyd Rose website after researching and gathering information over the last year.  

3. You are incorrect about some information on the website.  It should be ______.

I’m determined to have information that is 100% accurate.  If you know something on the website is false, needs something added, and have proof, please contact me.  

4. I have this strange Floyd Rose not shown on your website.  What is it?

Please contact me with the contact form, and I’ll get back to you.  I’m always interested in checking strange Floyd Roses.

5. Do you get paid or receive money from anyone to host the site?

No, I receive no money from anyone. 

6. Are you collector of vintage Floyds?

I collect vintage Floyds for sake of comparison, but not necessarily to have stored away forever.  I occasionally use them on some of my guitar builds as well.  

7. What’s my vintage Floyd Rose worth?

I will not give estimates, but I will help you identify the model.  The best way in determining the value is to simply place it on an auction site with a low reserve, and see what happens.  

8. Don’t you think you are going into far too much detail?  

Actually, no.  Early PAF pickups have more detail than anything I present on this website, and it’s just a pickup.  People have wrote books and novels on the details of origin guitar gear such as Fender, Gibson, Marshall, Vox, etc. and go into far more complexities than what I present on this website.  For something as monumental as the Floyd Rose tremolo to not have detailed history known is a mystery beyond belief.  

What I’ve found out over the years is that innovations and history during the 1980s have not been heavily researched nor respected when you compare to origin gear.  Therefore, the history has been left to fans sleuthing to find exact details if companies don’t provide specific resources. 

9. But didn’t Floyd give many interviews over the years on how the tremolo was invented?

Floyd has discussed on many occasions the origin stories of the tremolo but usually excludes everything after that until 1983.  Floyd Rose has never discussed the Japan Fernandes era in any interviews I’ve heard or seen.  In fact, he rarely discusses anything regarding production.  The years 1978-1982 are flooded with mystery.

10. Who cares about all of this?  Just buy a new Floyd Rose.  

You know, I wish I didn’t care about any of this…really.  I’m unfortunately cursed with finding history and extreme detail in virtually all things in life and music.  I wish I could look at a modern Floyd, know there was a development phase, and that would be it.  Problem is, I’m interested in how things came to be, rather than the end product.

The trials, tribulations, and design process have always been far more fascinating to me.  If there’s a song I enjoy, the first thing I do is search for a demo version to see the initial concept stages – just to give you an idea of my arbitrary process of thinking. 

Clearly, buying a new Floyd Rose will always get the job done, and you can always be sure the knife edges will be sharp out of the box.  The point of this website is purely educational entertainment.

11. Are you AXN guitars?

No, I’m not affiliated with AXN Guitars.   AXN has acquired (and sold) many rare models with detailed pics which they let me use.  AXN also provided much of the information on the Pre-1985 FRT5 article.

12. Are you the same guy who owned vintagewashburn.com?

Yes, I had that site and randguitars.com about a decade ago.  I still have the information, and with the ease of making a website now days, I might bring them back (might is the key word).

13.  How did you find out all of this information?

It wasn’t easy.  I was able to track down a lot of information from Fernandes catalogs, a Fernandes blog from a guy that helped design early Floyds (whom I believe is now dead), Eddie Van Halen gear fanatics, Floyd Rose/Artist interviews, AXN guitars,  and other Floyd Rose historians (there are maybe 2-3 others).  

14. Has the Floyd Rose company helped you out with some of this stuff?

I’ve reached out a few times and will perhaps have more information in the near future.