I recently walked into a music store and tried out a left-handed Jet brand guitar priced around $600. I heard about these guitars only recently. Apparently, there has been plenty of online buzz claiming these Chinese-made instruments are surprisingly "good" for entry-level players. The model on the floor was a seafoam green Stratocaster-style guitar that definitely looked the part hanging on the wall. Fit, Finish, and Action Let’s start with the positives, because credit wher

Next to my own brand, my favourite guitar brand is Fernandes. I have spent over 3 years writing the five-part Floyd Rose Tremolos for Lefties series. (Every time I think I have finished, something else comes up.) That was how I first came to appreciate Fernandes guitars. Fernandes was probably the most accommodating Japanese brand for left-handed guitars until the 2000s, after which the company lost its way. For the last 18 months, I have been building a collection of left‑ha

A limited Australian-made option for the 2026 Gaskell range Gaskell Custom Left-Handed Guitars is pleased to introduce Mystery Box pickups, a limited custom option available across the 2026 Gaskell range. Mystery Box pickups are 100% Australian-made passive humbuckers, individually custom wound and built to high standards. No two are exactly the same. Each has its own tonal character, response, output, and feel. The "mystery" is in the tonal character — not in the quality, co

I have been busy these last few years, collecting obscure left-handed guitars and improving my personal luthier skills. As the world changes, so one must change with it. Offering 100% custom shop left handed guitars in today's world has not been sustainable. There are simply too few people with the money to spend on guitars at this level. Times are tough. The younger generation coming through are worse off than my generation. They have been robbed. And we thought it was tough

I attended the Sydney Guitar Show this weekend (as a spectator.) It was a big show with many exhibitors including Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Jackson, ESP, Schecter, D'Addario, Cole Clark, about 7 or 8 Australian guitar luthiers/brands, and various pedal and effects brands that I had never heard of. There were a lot of people and a lot of guitars. But the one thing that stood out for me as a lefty: ZERO left handed guitars. How would I describe the show in one word? Disheartening

This series is the definitive guide on Floyd Rose tremolos (and variants) with a special (but not exclusive) emphasis on left-handed guitars. It covers genuine, licensed, and proprietary systems, both historical and current. Nowhere else on the internet will you find all this information in the one place. This series is in five parts: Part 1: Original and Genuine Floyd Rose (Floyd Rose, Fernandes, Schaller, Sung il, Ping Well) Part 2: Licensed Versions (Schaller, Kahler, Goto

The following series is the definitive guide on Floyd Rose tremolos (and variants) with a special (but not exclusive) emphasis on left-handed guitars. It covers genuine, licensed, and proprietary systems, both historical and current. Nowhere else on the internet will you find all this information in the one place. This series is in five parts: Part 1: Original and Genuine Floyd Rose (Floyd Rose, Fernandes, Schaller, Sung-il, Ping Well) Part 2: Licensed Versions (Schaller, Kah

The following series is the definitive guide on Floyd Rose tremolos (and variants) with a special (but not exclusive) emphasis on left-handed guitars. It covers genuine, licensed, and proprietary systems, both historical and current. Nowhere else on the internet will you find all this information in the one place. This series is in five parts: Part 1: Original and Genuine Floyd Rose (Floyd Rose, Fernandes, Schaller, Sung-il, Ping Well) Part 2: Licensed Versions (Schaller, Kah

The following series is the definitive guide on Floyd Rose tremolos (and variants) with a special (but not exclusive) emphasis on left-handed guitars. It covers genuine, licensed, and proprietary systems, both historical and current. Nowhere else on the internet will you find all this information in the one place. This series is in five parts: Part 1: Original and Genuine Floyd Rose (Floyd Rose, Fernandes, Schaller, Sung-il, Ping Well) Part 2: Licensed Versions (Schaller, Kah

The following series is the definitive guide on Floyd Rose tremolos (and variants) with a special (but not exclusive) emphasis on left-handed guitars. It covers genuine, licensed, and proprietary systems, both historical and current. Nowhere else on the internet will you find all this information in the one place. This series is in five parts: Part 1: Original and Genuine Floyd Rose (Floyd Rose, Fernandes, Schaller, Sung-il, Ping Well) Part 2: Licensed Versions (Schaller, Kah

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas for 2025. It's a strange world we live in at the moment. A lot can be said about that. We used to call this country "The Lucky Country." Hardly now... Getting back to guitars: If you are keen on realizing your "dream lefty guitar" feel free to drop me a line to discuss your project for 2026. If you can't get the lefty you want... you know who to call. I am still making left handed guitars . I am doing restorations too. Re-s

In October 2025 I got in touch with Kahler in the United States after having read their announcements about the new 2700 Fulcrum series being relaunched. I bought a left-handed Kahler Steeler Traditional after watching this YouTube video: I do not have a guitar to hand to install it into as the block is wider than a Floyd Rose cavity and it will not go straight into anything routed for a Floyd Rose. But at this stage, I will not be installing it. Unfortunately, there were som

For over three decades, Gary Moore’s 1961 Fiesta Red Stratocaster has become one of the most revered instruments in Rock and Blues history. This guitar was used on Gary's 1982 album "Corridors of Power" and the 1983 album "Victims of the Future," where the guitar's tone became a key part of his sound. The Strat was used intermittently on later albums as well, including "A Different Beat" (1999), "Power of the Blues" (2004), "Old New Ballads Blues" (2006), "Close As You Get" (

The Floyd Rose II was a genuine Floyd Rose tremolo made for Floyd Rose by Schaller in the late 1980s as a cheaper alternative to an Original Floyd Rose. It was used on Kramer guitars and was also supplied as an OEM product to many other guitar brands with import lines throughout the 1980s and 1990s, such as Jackson, Charvel, Carvin, B.C. Rich, etc. The Floyd Rose II has exactly the same dimensions as the Original Floyd Rose but is made of cast iron. It was made in Germany, as

The Takeuchi TRS-101 has been out of production for over 15 years. The original TRS-101 was used by many guitar brands during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, such as Jackson, Charvel, B.C. Rich, Washburn, Ibanez, ESP, Kramer, Yamaha, Aria Pro II, and others. The TRS-101 was always and continues to be the most copied Floyd Rose style tremolo of all time. It's as legendary as the originals. If you have a guitar that is more than just a beater to you and you need to replace the tre

I just found out that Floyd Rose will now be making all his tremolos in the United States. This is after 40 years of exclusive production by Schaller in Germany. I am happy about that for a few reasons. I am a not a fan of Schaller because of a personal "bad customer experience" with Lars Br ü nning a couple of years ago that put me offside. Since then, I have pretty much refused to use or recommend Schaller products. I took their locking tuners and tremolos off my website. T

In the beginning, Fernandes Electric Sound Research Group Co. Ltd. of Japan (not Schaller) was Floyd Rose’s first commercial manufacturing partner, producing the early Floyd Rose tremolo system for Floyd Rose. The following is a concise summary of Fernandes' connection with Floyd Rose and the subsequent development of its own guitar vibrato systems with particular emphasis on left-handed guitar production. 1976–1981: Origins 1976–1980. Following its development in 1976, Ameri

Ozzy Osbourne was a huge influence on me musically, ever since I was an angry and self-loathing teenager. I do not remember who...

The new Rail Tail Tremolo by Floyd Rose is a full contact, dive-only tremolo designed to retrofit a Stratcaster®-style 6-point tremolo...

I have managed to establish a relationship with a US supplier that is willing to export one-off body blanks of genuine, premium-grade...