I had a Kahler fitted to my Ibanez Destroyer II when I was 16 and loved it and developed a whole playing style around it being light and the bar at the tip of your fingers. I?ve always preferred them. As time went by, I?ve used every guitar since with a floyd, as that what the industry went for. Floyds are great and work well when set up well, but don?t give great tone transfer.
I?m just having a warmoth built and decided to go kahler as I want that silky smooth feel they give and direct tone transfer to the body. I haven?t fitted it yet, but have spent a lot of time playing with it. It?s just so well engineeered and so precise with bridge adjustments in every way imaginable.
Kahlers are also very customisable. The 7300 thomann sell comes with a brass cam and brass rollers but you can order from trem websites steel cams and steel and ceramic rollers. You can also order the bass trem springs if you want it to feel more like a floyd.
The kahler also has a clutch adjustment to set how much the bar swings around and another to set how stiff the bar is. The bar sits between the E and B string so is in easy reach. They also do a floyd type bar if you prefer that look.
One thing to note, because of a patent, the kahler locking nut sits behind the usual nut on the guitar so possibly can cause tuning issues if you dive bomb a lot. The best is to buy the floyd or schaller integrated nut/locking nut.
In summary the kahler is very light and soft compared to a floyd, but you can use it in different ways. I just think it?s a better system. More versatile. Very well engineered and you only need a small rout on the front to take it, not like a floyd where there is a big rout at the back for the springs. Personal choice but very much Betamax v VHS. Man I?m showing my age ;)
Dan
