Floyd Rose Speed Loader - Disadvantages

Disadvantages

• The most criticized disadvantage of new tremolo system is a requirement of special strings with bulleted ends. Strings should be precisely cut and should not stretch (so called "string float") non-elastically much from original length with applied tension, changing the pitch. String should be perfectly elastic in the range of Floyd Rose action. All these requirements make string manufacturing harder than normal, thus, generally, prices for such strings tend to be higher. So far, there is only one company producing such special strings: Dean Markley, though the packaging of the strings features nowhere the company name and only the "Floyd Rose SpeedLoader" logos. The other factor is string availability: it's virtually impossible to find such strings on sale in some regions, and prices for such rare imported goods may go up to 400-500%. Finally, if speedloader string breaks, it must be replaced completely - one cannot just shift and re-use the rest of string length as is sometimes possible do with other bridges. As of 2010, the strings have been discontinued.