Can I make this Kahler return to tune after dive bombing? And after pulling up too?

hats off sir, you are a better man than i...

I’ve encountered tuning instability issues a number of times on Kahlers. I’ve been a professional guitar maker and tech for over 25 years. I’ve never been involved in sales or marketing in any way. I’ve been an authorized tech for a number of major manufacturers. Understand that as a guy who performs repairs every day for eight or more hours six days a weeks, the overwhelming majority of the instruments I see have issues to begin with. People don’t bring me many guitars that do not have a problem. Some Kahlers have problems that cannot be fixed. With a fully functioning locking nut, a secure neck joint, and the trem set up as instructed by Kahler, if the cam block does not return to its original position after using the whammy bar, there is a problem. Some years ago, I even tried calling their tech support and they basically maintained that there couldn’t be a problem because the design itself would not allow there to be a problem. The current guitar that I have on my bench has exactly this problem. With the bridge removed from the guitar, the cam seems to rotate smoothly. I disassembled the bridge and removed the cam block letting me see the little bearings on each end. Using a clean Q-Tip, I can feel that the bearings are gritty with one feeling more gritty than the other. The guitar itself has been well maintained and there is no sign of any abuse, corrosion, or exposure to anything that would cause this problem. I applied a drop of 3inOne oil and spun the bearing to try to get some oil inside the bearing but it didn’t help with the less than precision feeling of the bearing. I can only assume that (for what ever reason) the bearing is damaged or faulty. I’ll clarify to restate that you can’t feel this with the bridge assembled - the mass of the cam seems to hide the problem. I reassembled the bridge being extra careful to not put lateral stress on the bearing sides to the point of even leaving about .010” lateral play with the cam block installed. With the bridge reinstalled in the guitar the problem is still there even after setting up the bridge as prescribed by Kahler. The cam block is not returning to original position. I’m going to try Kahler customer service one more time. I’ll see if I can send the bridge to them or maybe even acquire a replacement cam block with new bearings or get replacement bearings. I’ll post what happens in this discussion.

I have a LSR nut on Two of my Kahler guitars. Stay’s in tune Better than most Floyds

Sometimes those Kahler string-locks can develop grooves where the strings clamps force them against the metal frame, this causes some of the strings to slip out of tune due to the tension on the string, it also happens with Floyd Rose locking nuts too, I have a chrome Floyd Rose Special trem installed in my BC Rich Warlock guitar, and it is a Royal pain to keep in tune, I suspect that the bridge isn't properly returning to it's neutral position so it sticks in one position where the strings come back flat, and sticks in another position where the strings come back sharp.

i'm not a crazy vibrato guy but a friend of mine who has a kahler flat mount uses bigbends string sleeves up until the length of where that little screw is on the saddle....they are a tiny bit finicky systems and need to be set up properly....he dosent have any problems with tunning stability while bending and using the bar and does not solder any strings he uses ernie ball paradigms for the most part and sometimes ghs boomers,also make sure that every screw is tight and always tune and intonate in your normal playing position cause gravity always changes of how things react

At the end of the video I noticed that ur cam is raised very high and I’ve always heard it’s supposed to be level with the base plate. There’s a video on YouTube where Gary Kahler says the cam won’t return to the correct position if it’s too high or too low. Here’s a link: https://youtu.be/7QQXti9k3iw I see that soldering seemed to do the trick but thats such a hassle to get a trem to function properly. I know u said you’ve had that problem with every Kahler you’ve owned so that sounds like a design flaw, but I’ve owned three and never had that problem.

Step one: By far the biggest problem with Kahlers is that stupid behind-the-nut stringlock. But apparently due to lawsuits and patent issues there's nothing they can do about that. Throw that thing away and install a normal Floyd locking nut, and almost all your problems will go away. It also helps to learn how to set the bridge up properly in the first place. Even with new factory installed bridges, you can't always trust that it was dialed in right to begin with.