Some love em...some hate em!

This is a Floyd Rose Tremolo (bridge), which is part of this guitar in the photo.

These were first pioneered by a certain young Edward Van Halen in the early 1980's and you can see one on his "Bumblebee" guitar on the sleeve of the Van Halen II album (coincidentaly, Eddie gave this guitar to be placed in Dimebag Darrel Abbott's coffin).

What's it for? Extreme up/down bends, extreme whammy bar abuse, string warbling, gargling and many other techniques with silly names!

Why use it? Because it is capable of keeping in tune when used with a locking nut where most conventional them systems would go terribly out of tune.

Why hate them? They are fiddly to use, notoriously awkward to re string, and if not set up properly...awful!

Why Love 'em? Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Nuno Bettencourt, Dimebag, Tom Morrello, Vernon Reid...they use them, so it's good enough for me