Does anybody make a Kahler style tremolo bridge now?
PMG
I just noticed that they vanished for whatever reason. I know a lot
of nice guitars got messed up because guys added them to guitars they
probably should have left alone, but the kahler bridges that I had the
chance to try, actually worked very smoothly, and had sort of a
natural feel to them.
Does anybody make copies of the Kahler bridge, or is the demand too
low? Or maybe a similar system? All the tremolo bridges these days
seem strongly based on Strat bridges, or the G&L floating bridge.
I went looking for the company's website, but found this:
http://www.glowingtubes.com/p/Kahler_Instructions.htm#disc
They give the only Kahler website's url, which you can find in the Way
Back archives, but that's rather useless.
No, I'm not really planning to use a Kahler tremolo system, I just
find it very odd that they somehow went out of business.
Pete
--
Shut up! ...listen...
There it is again!
The sound of evil. Evil brain washing waves
making their way to some unsuspecting victims --Mojo Jojo
wb
"PMG" <waxvy...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:thbiv0169ftas8d1b...@4ax.com...
> Does anybody make a Kahler style tremolo bridge now?
>
>
Are they much more different floyd roses ?
chainsa...@my-deja.com
1. The market was flooded by inferior quality unlicenced copies
of their design
2. The Spyder vibrato was similar enough in design to the Floyd Rose
that Kahler lost a lawsuit over the issue.
wb wrote:
>
> Are they much more different floyd roses ?
>
The Spyder was similar.
But typically when someone says "Kahler style" they mean the cam and
roller.
It is a significantly different concept than the Floyd. This type used
rollers
for bridge pieces, the bridge end of the string was not locked like a
floyd and
does not have the seizmic block. It also had a shaft and bearings that
it
pivoted on instead of the stud-and-knife-edge of a Floyd.It only had a
shallow
routing on the top of the guitar. The routing did not go throug the
guitar, or
up the back like a Floyd or Strat type block and spring bridge.
I understand Kahler has been making golf clubs or some such, and it is
rumored
that there is still a warehouse full of parts. I was able to buy
replacements
back in 1999 or so. Needed new springs and bearings, bought an extra
set as well.
This website seems to indicate parts and entire assemblys may be
available again
soon.
Stevie
>
> I just noticed that they vanished for whatever reason. I know a lot
> of nice guitars got messed up because guys added them to guitars they
> probably should have left alone, but the kahler bridges that I had the
> chance to try, actually worked very smoothly, and had sort of a
> natural feel to them.
>
> Does anybody make copies of the Kahler bridge, or is the demand too
> low? Or maybe a similar system? All the tremolo bridges these days
> seem strongly based on Strat bridges, or the G&L floating bridge.
>
> I went looking for the company's website, but found this:
> http://www.glowingtubes.com/p/Kahler_Instructions.htm#disc
>
> They give the only Kahler website's url, which you can find in the Way
> Back archives, but that's rather useless.
>
> No, I'm not really planning to use a Kahler tremolo system, I just
> find it very odd that they somehow went out of business.
Hi Pete. *That's my website you found!* There are still plenty of people
out there that have functioning 20-year-old flatmounts that are still
wanging away.
I know a little bit. The factory in CA (American Precision Metalworks) that
was making Kahlers started making golf clubs and now they seemed to have
stopped that operation, as well. As ChainsawWillie noted, there is a site
http://www.kahlerusa.com/ that looks like something is happening once again.
It's been a long time coming. Starting a couple of years ago (because of my
webpage), I have been in occasional contact with a couple of guys that said
they were involved in plans (with Gary Kahler) to start up a run of the new
2310 flatmount Kahler. This design as described to me is the same basic
principle but the cam has been changed to a harder alloy and the shape of
the cam has been altered so that there is less contact area with the string
which lessens friction.
About a year and a half ago, one of these gentlemen that kept me updated
about this venture indicated that Kahler was taking nonpaid "advance orders"
for the "new model" - he didn't offer exact details of the whens and hows.
He showed me a plain form that was on the Internet - a simple "showing of
interest" type thing. That form was at http://www.kahlerusa.com/ and that's
all there was on that site at the time - just the plain web form. The new
site with the logo and black background has been up for just a few months.
It has a more detailed showing of interest form.
And until recently all kinds of Kahler parts could be scored at
http://www.axeparts.net/ (which is linked to from my Kahler setup site).
For some reason the owner of Axeparts has now stopped his on-line parts
sales and has a single redirect link on his site taking the clicker to....
you guessed it: http://www.kahlerusa.com/.
I guess I need to email John at Allparts to see what's up... and update the
links on MY page.
I would love to see a new Kahler cam model come out... Although I absolutely
love the Original Floyd (I have a setup page on that one, too), there's
something to be said for having the springs attached to the mechanism, and
having non-pivoting, singularly adjustable rollers assemblies that stay put
when palm muting.
Steve
PMG
I'm sorry, I started this thread, and then ignored the responses! I
don't always look very closely to what I'm flipping past in the
newsgroup.
That's interesting. I bookmarked the website, but there's no way that
I'm going to pre order one of those things.
It would be a more convenient way to add a whammy bar to a Tele than
adding a Strat type route.
PMG
wrote:
>Hi Pete. *That's my website you found!*
It's a small world! (afterall)
I wasn't actually expecting to run into the person who put that
website up. It's the first place that came up my search that
indicated that the company had gone under. And I had now idea they
were even gone until a few days ago.
>There are still plenty of people
>out there that have functioning 20-year-old flatmounts that are still
>wanging away.
I don't know what he's using now, but one of Adrian Belew's guitars
had a Kahler. You could say that he got good use from them.
Definitely a man with a unique approach to the instrument.
>I know a little bit. The factory in CA (American Precision Metalworks) that
>was making Kahlers started making golf clubs and now they seemed to have
>stopped that operation, as well. As ChainsawWillie noted, there is a site
>http://www.kahlerusa.com/ that looks like something is happening once again.
>
>It's been a long time coming. Starting a couple of years ago (because of my
>webpage), I have been in occasional contact with a couple of guys that said
>they were involved in plans (with Gary Kahler) to start up a run of the new
>2310 flatmount Kahler. This design as described to me is the same basic
>principle but the cam has been changed to a harder alloy and the shape of
>the cam has been altered so that there is less contact area with the string
>which lessens friction.
>
>About a year and a half ago, one of these gentlemen that kept me updated
>about this venture indicated that Kahler was taking nonpaid "advance orders"
>for the "new model" - he didn't offer exact details of the whens and hows.
>He showed me a plain form that was on the Internet - a simple "showing of
>interest" type thing. That form was at http://www.kahlerusa.com/ and that's
>all there was on that site at the time - just the plain web form. The new
>site with the logo and black background has been up for just a few months.
>It has a more detailed showing of interest form.
I hope they get things up and running. The guitar parts market is
really booming right now. Both pickups and hardware. I figure that
Kahler was one of the major players in the market. It somehow doesn't
seem right that major competition like that isn't in there slugging it
out!
>And until recently all kinds of Kahler parts could be scored at
>http://www.axeparts.net/ (which is linked to from my Kahler setup site).
>For some reason the owner of Axeparts has now stopped his on-line parts
>sales and has a single redirect link on his site taking the clicker to....
>you guessed it: http://www.kahlerusa.com/.
>
>I guess I need to email John at Allparts to see what's up... and update the
>links on MY page.
>
>I would love to see a new Kahler cam model come out... Although I absolutely
>love the Original Floyd (I have a setup page on that one, too), there's
>something to be said for having the springs attached to the mechanism, and
>having non-pivoting, singularly adjustable rollers assemblies that stay put
>when palm muting.
>
>Steve
I like the Kahler concept. I have to admit that I've never been a
tremolo user, but I'm working on (talking about it, the parts are just
sitting here) putting together a Strat based guitar with a Hipshot
whammy bar, so I might start using them soon.
melned
Check out the Ibanez ZR (zero resistance) Tremolo. I haven't tried one,
but it's looks to be a Kahler/Floyd hybrid.
PMG
wrote:
>
>Check out the Ibanez ZR (zero resistance) Tremolo. I haven't tried one,
>but it's looks to be a Kahler/Floyd hybrid.
That's interesting. It looks like it'd work very well, but I think
I'd categorize that one with Floyd type tremolos. Kahler did seem to
have made a Floyd type of tremolo that I wasn't aware of until a few
days ago, but they're better known for their cam based system.