Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

I just set mine to float as per the Fender specs.

Apropos of nothing, I feel the need to lay hands on I6's Strat...

If you're ever in Central Virginia, USA, feel free.

I set it up from scratch last week after I put the KGC brass block in it, and it's action is too high and it's buzzing, and the strings are uneven and everything sucks :laughing:

 

[Pierre]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

I always screw mine all the way to the body and screw the claw in all the way.

I never use the vibrato, so what matters to me is to have enough pull at the springs so that if I bend one string while ringing another (unbent), it won't pull the whole guitar out of whack.

Hence why I would never consider a Strat with the two point vibrato. They don't screw down as nicely it seems.

My Vigier has a ball bearing vibrato: the base of the bearings is lower than the baseplate. Therefore I'm forced to angle it down for it to be decked, which is sure to leave a mark on the guitar's face. A bit of a shame...
The vibrato was amazing. But I just have no idea what to do with the damn things.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

The TransTrem on my Steinberger bends all string in parallel up or down across the entire range. I don't think this is possible at all with a Strat.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

The TransTrem on my Steinberger bends all string in parallel up or down across the entire range. I don't think this is possible at all with a Strat.

What do you mean by parallel?

Do you just mean "all at once / all together"? Why wouldn't a Strat vibrato be able to do that?

 

[FretFire]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

What do you mean by parallel?

Do you just mean "all at once / all together"? Why wouldn't a Strat vibrato be able to do that?

You play a G chord, pull it up a step and suddenly be playing an A chord. It changes pitch on each string equally.

Listen to "Summer Nights" by Van Halen, he makes heavy use of the TransTrem there to basically change tunings throughout the song since you can pull it up and lock it in place.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

You don't even have to try an angled claw to know that it's physically impossible to adjust how much each string individually bends off pitch by angling the claw. The video was kind of pointless, because it just states the obvious. All he had to do was include the last 30 seconds, in which he explains why it doesn't make a difference. The block is not made of rubber! All you are doing by angling the claw is putting tension on certain springs more than others. The block, being a common and inflexible mounting point for the springs and the strings, "averages" the different spring tensions out in the end.

Thats why I Posted the second video under TGWIF's video...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

Carl is not a tech, he is simply telling how to set this up using his guitar, with his strings...

I have done this set up on several guitars now using various different string gauges, etc...

Sometimes you have to angle the claw, sometimes you don't...

Also, while we're at it the guy in the clip you posted was only getting close to the tones Carl mentioned...on top of that he is using a completely different vibrato design...I know they are similar but those black springs (like in the clip, like the ones that com in most American Standard, Deluxe, etc) Strats right now have a different tension...

If you take your Strat and a tuner and set it up like Carl does it takes a while to get all 3 pitches dead on and depending on your string gauge, the number of springs you use, etc and with some set ups it might not even work right.

I tried it last year on a buddies Strat (he really wanted the effect) but he uses 5 springs and no matter how hard I tried I could not make it with with 5 springs...

Anyway.

The point of me posting the clip was far less how to do it, you're a smart guy I'm sure you could make it work but the point was far more about how musical I felt like that set up was and how much I enjoyed it.

Going back to the claw angle for just a second...I have my claw angled and HAD TO ANGLE IT to make it work with the pitches correctly...NOT BULL.

That said the string gauges make a BIG difference...when I was using 10-52's and switched to 10-46's the angle changed a bit.

FWIW, as a point of reference Carl uses hybrid set of strings that run 9/12/16/26/37/46

Thanks for the smart guy comment...Lol.....I mentioned that the other test wasn't apple to apples,seeing he was using a different bridge and springs...I'm actually wanting to take the time to try this...In Erlewine's book,one of the techs talks about actually adjusting the treble and bass sides so the same size feeler gauge fits withing each spring side...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

Do we know for certain that Leo set the bridge to actually float off the body,or did the bridge move downward and not actually had the rear of the bridge sticking up? For years I have seen the 1/8" and 5/32" specs for rear bridge height off the body...Yet upon researching and reading,alot of pros use the bridge,but it doesn't float...Guys like EJ for instance,can pull the bridge forward but prefer no uplift...The amount of springs varies greatly also...I'm just thinking that pretty much anything goes and is right...No wrong way!

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

Thats why I Posted the second video under TGWIF's video...

Yes; that is the video I was responding to!

 

[sosomething]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

I keep mine decked.

It's a 6-screw vintage Strat trem so I do this as a compromise between functionality and stability.

Not that it doesn't stay in tune with moderate trem use even when floating - it does - but we do a couple songs in our set with a drop tuning and I don't want to have to go through the whole balancing act of getting a floating trem in tune every time.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

Yes; that is the video I was responding to!

TGWIF is one of my buddies and I wasn't trying to bash him,but right after viewing the CV,I saw this other video in a link under the CV video...Just that opposite side or opinion to the original video...I'd like to try this for myself and then I'd know if it really works or not?

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

I Notice lately that I've been resting my hand on the bridge...Maybe its subconscious knowing that this recent strat has the bridge flat on the body? I Know when I play my floyd strat,I have to slightly change my picking hand position...Each guitar it seems feels slightly different and so I guess we learn to adapt quickly to it...A Tele feels totally different to me than a strat..

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

Somebody please post the facts about whether or not the original 54 strat and early strats,did in fact come with the bridge floating and off the body...I'll look in many of my strat books and see if it is mentioned..

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

TGWIF is one of my buddies and I wasn't trying to bash him,but right after viewing the CV,I saw this other video in a link under the CV video...Just that opposite side or opinion to the original video...I'd like to try this for myself and then I'd know if it really works or not?

I meant that I was responding to the followup video. Nothing wrong with it; it just states the obvious. That was all I meant.

 

[wahwah]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

Do we know for certain that Leo set the bridge to actually float off the body,or did the bridge move downward and not actually had the rear of the bridge sticking up? For years I have seen the 1/8" and 5/32" specs for rear bridge height off the body...Yet upon researching and reading,alot of pros use the bridge,but it doesn't float...Guys like EJ for instance,can pull the bridge forward but prefer no uplift...The amount of springs varies greatly also...I'm just thinking that pretty much anything goes and is right...No wrong way!

All I could find was this Premier Guitar article http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2007/Jul/Floating_Tremolos.aspx which states, "The original Strat tremolo was designed to float, meaning that the tremolo's rear edge is raised up off the body. Anyone who doubts that this is true should look at the patent drawings submitted by Leo Fender. That doesn't necessarily mean that you need to set your bridge to float - set it how you like it." I still can't say if that's a definitive answer, because I'm not looking at the patent drawings, but I still think it makes sense with regard to the nature of vibrato itself, being the wavering above and below the central pitch.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the concept of locking it down came about later because of the string breaking/tuning problem or the double stop issues that have troubled Strat players.




Cheers........................................ wahwah

 

[kevlar3000]

Three springs and floating is the only way I roll. I find it warmer when she floats.

 

[Zhaggy]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

I feel that if you want to use the trem up and dpwn or just down, I think it's better to set it up floating. I've had them decked but when ever I use them they go out of tune almost every time. And when I have them floating it returns to picth much better. I think it has something to do with the fact when floating the bridge is free to come to the "almost" exact same place but when decked the wood actually resists the trem from come to the same place. It may be just a thousand of an inch but just enough that it get out of tune. Of course if you don't use the trem then putting it flush to the body is preferable. Then it stays in tune better and you can bend on properly.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

You play a G chord, pull it up a step and suddenly be playing an A chord. It changes pitch on each string equally.

Why wouldn't you be able to do that on a Strat vibrato that was set up to do that?

 

[TheProphet]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

Decked with 5 springs. I never use it for vibrato purposes and I'm pretty abusive to that guitar. Having that guitar's bridge set to float is just another thing that can screw with my day. I don't want to stop playing if a string breaks.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?

The stringbreak excuse always amuses me!!
If you break a string, most necks will pull backwards anyways.....
Unless you have one made of stone or some other sound dead material.