New lefty Kahler Steeler review
- Gaskell Guitars Australia
- Dec 8, 2025
- 3 min read
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 some things about it that I was not happy about.
Here is my review (updated 2 January 2026):
NOS baseplates. 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, some will be 30 years old.
Right-handed baseplate. If you are a lefty and remember anything about the original Steeler from the 1980s, you will know they used a right-handed baseplate and just plugged the hole for the tremolo arm and drilled the hole on the opposite side to make it a lefty. The problem was that that side of the baseplate the drilled into had a whole bunch of script, so the hole just went through the middle of the text. It was pretty rough, but they did do a collared tremolo arm which kind of hid some of the horror. Unfortunately it is the same situation now. It has literally just been put on a drill press and drilled. It's not even neatly done. See the pictures below.
Rust and tarnishing. 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.
Price. This is a very expensive product. At over AU$800 (including shipping), just for the basic version, this bridge is AU$300 more expensive than a lefty Original Floyd Rose and $500 more expensive than a Gotoh GE1996T. For a lefty made in this way, the cost is out of proportion to the fit and finish of the received product.
Redundant licensing statement. 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.
Unanswered important questions. 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. But it's really for right handed guitars.
Feedback. Decmber 2025. I did get a response from Kahler and they acknowledged that the base plate was not up to scratch. They were willing to find a better 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 there. 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.
Final outcome. Despite trying very hard, unfortunately Kahler were unable to make a tidy enough hole in any of their baseplates they tried and we hit a brick wall. They accepted a return and I got a refund. I will say, their care and attention to detail was outstanding. They are a great company with good ethics. I have no complaints about my follow up interactions and it is unfortunate we could not find a solution, but real effort was made. Kudos to Kahler for that.
Comments