Floyd D. Rose (born 1948) is an American

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

who invented the ''

Floyd Rose The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1976, the first of its kind, and it is now manufactured by a company of the same name. The Floyd R ...

Locking

Tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...

'' System in the late 1970s, eventually founding a company of the same name to manufacture and license his products. This double locking system was notable for its ability to stay in tune despite repeated use and wide variations in pitch. His design was later recognized on ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...

''s "10 Most Earth Shaking Guitar Innovations."

Development of the locking system

Rose was a guitarist in a rock band in the 1970s. Like many other guitarists of the time period, he frequently experienced issues with his guitars going out of tune after using the tremolo arm. In 1976, after trying several traditional techniques for keeping the guitar in tune, he began developing a locking system to keep the strings from moving freely through the

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

. Several improvements soon followed, including using more durable materials to lock the strings down on the nut, and the creation of a similar system of clamps to lock the strings down on the bridge. His double locking system was originally hand-made, but high demand eventually led to Rose licensing his design to Kramer Guitars for large-scale manufacturing.

Musical career

In the early 1980s, Rose was playing guitar in a Seattle area hard rock band named C.O.R.E. Eventually, he and vocalist Scott Palmerton (also known as Jonathan K.) left the band in order to form Q5. They were joined by guitarist Rick Pierce, bassist Evan Sheeley and drummer Gary Thompson from another local band named TKO. In 1983, the band gained the attention of the rock band

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

's management team and recorded a seven-song demo. Later that same year, the band recorded their debut album, ''Steel the Light'', which was re-released the following year on the

Music for Nations Music For Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. It was a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG and later Sony Music Entertainment. Launched in 1 ...

label. The band's follow-up album, ''When the Mirror Cracks'', took a more commercial approach, but failed to achieve the level of success of their previous release. The band disbanded shortly after.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Floyd D. Living people American rock guitarists American male guitarists 21st-century American engineers 1948 births