Floyd Rose Discovery Series Reviews 4

I am mainly a drummer, but I have played guitar and bass for about 20 years and am reasonably fair at the instrument, considering I am mainly self taught. I play mostly blues, folk and fingerstyle music. My musical tastes are way too eclectic to describe as I don't like to get pigeonholed into like only metal, or only jazz, etc.

I wanted a guitar that I could play around with and experiment with extreme use of a whammy bar ala Steve Vai, Dimebag, EVH, etc. I tried out an Ibanez Jem in a local music store but was not ready for the $2000 plus price tag. I saw this guitar on M. Friend for $149 and thought, what the heck? Even if it turns out to be junk, I am not out that much. Boy was I ever wrong.

Since there are no traditional tuning pegs and The FR uses speedloader strings, it does take a while and some patience to set up, however, once I did that it has turned out to be my most used electric guitar in my home studio. The quality is every bit as good as a $700 Mexican Strat, and the pickups are very responsive. Despite some very minor intonation issues which are only noticeable when playing "clean" You can wank on this guitar and it stays in tune. Best $149 I have ever spent

Like I said, some slight intonation issues, however the only real complaint I have is that everyone out there is backordered on the speedloader strings. I am backordered on 3 online sites and my local retailer is ordering them (backordered) for me. Hedging my bets I guess.

Obviously this is not constructed out of great woods, however it does not look cheap either. The action is excellent and it feels like a strat.

Good guitar. Good buy

Bill from NY rated this unit 4 on 2007-09-27.

I bought this guitar at a local music store. It was on sale for $200. I liked the look, sound and feel, when I played it.

I enjoy the high output pickups. They're perfect for hard rock. The guitar looks radical. It does not have tuning pegs. The strings are tuned with fine tuners at the bridge. The "speedloader" strings stay in tune well. The overall sound rivals Fender or Ibanez.

I had to get used to the speeloader tuning system. There were moments of frustration. For example, getting the high E-string to snap into place without breaking it was a challenge.

The construction is excellent. No complaints at all. It feels like a Fender Stratocaster.

This axe is a valuable addition to my collection. As mentioned, it took time to adjust to the tuning system. I have it set up now to where I am comfortable with it.

SD rated this unit 4 on 2005-08-01.

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