Floyd Rose headless Strat-like guitar with (Shock! Horror!) hardtail bridge

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The name Floyd Rose is synonymous with locking tremolo systems but many people forget that Floyd Rose produce their own series of guitars. This Floyd Rose headless guitar looks a little like a Strat that's met with an accident; it's no wonder that other Floyd Rose designs with tuning taking place solely at the bridge still have a headstock for aesthetic reasons.

This guitar was said to have been originally priced at $500 (the seller doesn't tell us when) and is currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $175.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Floyd Rose Redmond Series USA Speedloader

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This one is especially for Guitarz reader Matt-D6. The Floyd Rose Speedloader is a Strat-type guitar and would seem pretty unremarkable if you didn't notice the headstock. This isn't a headless guitar as such, but the headstock is present purely for balance and aesthetical reasons. So, the $64,000 question is, how do you tune it? Well, you need special Speedloader strings to start with. These are made to the correct gauge and length for this guitar, so you just drop them in to the retaining slots, tighten and they are more or less in tune rightaway, save for a little fine tuning which can be achieved down at the bridge as is normal for a Floyd Rose trem. At least, that's my understanding of how the system works. It makes a lot of sense, but the idea never really caught on.

I'm not sure how easy the Speedloader strings are to come by, but this seller on eBay is including five sets along with the guitar which could last you a while, depending of course on how long a set of strings lasts you! This guitar is currently available on eBay for the Buy It Now price of $1,000.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

A Les Paul that thinks it's a Strat

guitarz.blogspot.com:
We've all seen "Double FAT" Strats which are outfitted with a pair of humbuckers in an attempt to emulate the Les Paul sound.

However, I've not previously seen a guitar so obviously styled after the Gibson Les Paul but featuring the Stratocaster triple single coil layout including the angled pickup in the bridge position. This guitar, from 2008, is an ESP Edwards E-CL-96I Luna Sea Sugizo model, that is to say, another Japanese signature guitar designed for a Japanese musician we in the West have never heard of.

In keeping with the Strat part of the equation, the guitar has a bolt-on neck and a tremolo. In this instance the trem is a Floyd Rose, which aren't totally unheard of installed on Les Pauls. Gibson have a Floyd-equipped Les Paul, the Les Paul Axcess Standard, in their current catalogue.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!