You may have to read this twice — Kahler coming up with a fulcrum-type tremolo? Wasn't Kahler's Empire built on the antithesis of the fulcrum principal? Shock Horror! Kahler crowd in on Floyd Rose! Certainly my first impressions were mixed but being a Kahler fan the Traditional Series had to be worth a look.

The first plus point is the fact that the new system is a direct retrofit for a standard Strat trem, absolutely no routing. The fulcrum comes in two models — the Standard 2520 and the Pro 2500, although at present only the economy Standard is available in the UK. The economy Standard? Yes, that's another point in its favour, it retails for £89!

It must be said that with such a retail price this isn't a typical high quality Kahler unit, certainly the machining and plating, in this case chrome — black chrome is also offered — isn't the best I've seen. But, and it's a big 'but', the unit is typically neat and for the most part ingeniously designed.

It is a weighty hard cast alloy block, the spring system is the same as a Strat although the fulcrum is achieved via two hefty screws which locate into the front edge of the block. These fit into the outer holes of a Strat-type assembly, although being of a larger diameter the existing holes must be enlarged. It is the saddles that are the really neat bit of the bridge. Each one has a brass roller and is adjustable for intonation in the usual manner via two grub screws. At the back of the bridge are the fine tuners, placed in the same lateral plane as the strings. The string doesn't pass through the block in normal Strat fashion but enters the bridge through a hole in the fine tuning assembly, passes through a tube that connects to the saddle and pops up over the roller. The important point here is the break angle behind the roller which provides not only sustain but also attack of the picked note. Finally, each saddle can be locked individually in place via an Allen-keyed bolt that passes up from the back of the base into the bottom of the saddle. This may seem a bit fiddly but it isn't in practice. The bolt is simply loosened allowing height and intonation to be set. There is no intonation screw — you simply move it by hand to the correct position when you're satisfied simply lock the saddle in place.

The trem arm screws into the bridge in the usual position, and is thick, long and well shaped providing the all important lever. Of course a locking nut is provided and fitted in the usual very awkward manner, especially on a Strat where the curve behind the nut makes positioning very frustrating. It was recommended to me that I positioned the locking nut and held it in place with a couple of dabs of superglue while I marked the four screw holes. This made life a lot easier and once fitted I was ready to string up.

Because the unit works in a similar manner to a Strat trem, setting it up isn't too difficult. Obviously you must allow a few turns on the fine tuners so that flat and sharp adjustments can be made and don't forget to stretch the strings before clamping down the locking nut. The locking nut slightly sharpens the strings when tightened so you have to compensate for this by slightly de-tuning before you clamp up. Spring adjustment is a matter of balance whether you use two or three springs and the tension plate must be adjusted so that you have the correct amount of upward bend that you desire.

But does it work? Well initially there were a couple of problems. When I'd tuned up and clamped down the locking nut a few hefty waggles sharpened the G string a perfect semi-tone on return to pitch — not too handy. I checked the nut grooves for dirt and polished them with a piece of 1200 wet and dry paper, then added some soft graphite. The problem seemed worse! Checking the bridge assembly I found that the G roller saddle was sticking so I applied some 3-in-1 oil for good measure. Still no joy. I also noticed that the 'G' was going flat when I did a standard string bend. Totally at the end of my tether I remembered some advice Dave Gladden had given me to check if the locking nut was doing its job. Simply ping the spring behind the nut, bend the trem down and if the pitch drops the nut's not working. Sure enough this was the problem. Although the locking nut was apparently tight it wasn't gripping the G or B at all.

I took out the tension screws and lubricated the thread. By over tightening these screws I found that they did have a couple more turns, so something was blocking the thread. The result? Almost perfect tuning stability. I say almost perfect because if you're expecting this unit to work as well as the Pro cam-type Kahler you'll be disappointed.

It would seem that having no bridge saddle lock on each string is a contributory factor to the slight tuning instability as the rest of the system does work very well. If you only use medium-type bends as opposed to crazy waggling then the fulcrum trem works fine and holds its tuning. As with any trem system you only get out what you put in, the more work you do in alleviating friction points the more tuning stability you'll have.

I spent quite a few hours getting this system to its near perfect state, not helped by the total lack of fitting and adjustment info. It would seem that while the unit is relatively cheap it would benefit from professional fitting, obviously adding to the price.

From the people that make possible the ultimate trem system the fulcrum trem comes as a bit of a let down. It's not that it doesn't work or anything, just that one expects so much from the Kahler name in terms of quality. Cosmetically the change over to this system left me with four visible holes where the previous Strat fulcrum screws had been, although to their credit Kahler have now placed an insert at the front of the unit to hide this problem.

So what have we here? A locking trem on the fulcrum principle, fine-tuners and a good action and feel that almost works perfectly (if any system can). The fact that this system is about a third of the price of a Pro cam system illustrates the dilemma — it looks and works according to the price. In that case it's also great value for money!

For further info contact John Hornby Skewes, (Contact Details).