New lefty Kahler Steeler review

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsFp5E2_DGE

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 in to anything routed for a Floyd Rose. But at this stage, I will not be installing it.

Here is my review (updated 2 January 2026):

• I did not realize until after Kahler responded to my initial complaint, that the baseplates they are using for the Steelers and Spyders are New Old Stock parts. They are not manufacturing new ones. This means that on average these baseplates are over 20 years old.

• I am disappointed that this still means the baseplate is just a right-handed base with a hole drilled into the other side, just like they did it in the 1980s. It has literally just been put on a drill press and drilled. It's not even neatly done. Literally on and off in one minute.

• I was horrified at the amount of surface rust and tarnishing this unit has. It has rust along the leading edge of the baseplate, the tail and the rear of the base. There is considerable tarnishing along the base of the tail. I've never seen that on a Floyd or even an aftermarket Floyd! There is no way I can put this thing on a high-end custom guitar. No customer would accept that.

• This is a very expensive product. At over AU$800, just for the basic version (including shipping), this bridge is AU$300 more expensive than a lefty Original Floyd Rose and $500 more expensive than a Gotoh GE1996T. The cost is out of proportion to the quality of the received product. Knowing I was a builder and not an end user if he'd said to me something like: "I've got an old plate lying around. We'll drill a hole for the arm and you can have it for $100. Use it for testing..." then I would not be doing this review.

• Because these are NOS plates, they still have the Floyd Rose licensing statement. The patents have been expired since 2002. This is the sign of legacy tooling. It is a meaningless statement now.

  
  

• I should have seen this as a red flag straight off the bat. When I asked the sales representative to confirm if the post spacing was 74mm his response was "that stuff is too geeky for me" and I never got an answer to my question.

The positive: It is a very solid unit. Decent American steel. It is very well built, no doubt. Technologically, with the autolatch functionality, it is a step up from a Floyd Rose. It has a quality brass block. I am sure it would sound great.

Decmber 2025. I did get a response from Kahler and they acknowledged that the base plate was not up to scratch. They will find another one and send it out. I can easily swap the saddles over. I am satisfied with this solution. But be fully aware lefties: the tremolo arm hole will be drilled on the "top" part of the baseplate, through lettering. It is going to look bad. Nothing has changed here. If you can get past the eyesore you will have a renowned quality unit.

I will install the Steeler once I have received the new baseplate and do a follow up review.