Metropoulos Forum

NY Chief wrote:One of the old tricks on the Fender trem (and I think even the dutch boy mentioned it in an interview ) after a dive palm mute the strings and give each of them a quick bend up and release and they'll snap back in tune.

I guess there's no ove for the Bigsby's in this thread, eh?

I have a Bigsby on my jazz box, I really like it, but of course it is only for the occasional wobble with lots of reverb or slapback, it has a Tusq nut, compensated aluminium rocking bridge so as long as you don't get carried away it's all good.
The Hipshot (PRS -clone?) http://hipshotproducts.com/img/mids/us_contour.jpgon my avatar Martyn Booth is perfect for any abuse I can throw at it, but in my opinion even the Vintage Fender 6 screw type on my 62RI strat is pretty good, it is set up to stock specs fully floating and as long as do not forget and abuse it...............

neikeel wrote:

NY Chief wrote:One of the old tricks on the Fender trem (and I think even the dutch boy mentioned it in an interview ) after a dive palm mute the strings and give each of them a quick bend up and release and they'll snap back in tune.

I guess there's no ove for the Bigsby's in this thread, eh?

I have a Bigsby on my jazz box, I really like it, but of course it is only for the occasional wobble with lots of reverb or slapback, it has a Tusq nut, compensated aluminium rocking bridge so as long as you don't get carried away it's all good.
The Hipshot (PRS -clone?) http://hipshotproducts.com/img/mids/us_contour.jpgon my avatar Martyn Booth is perfect for any abuse I can throw at it, but in my opinion even the Vintage Fender 6 screw type on my 62RI strat is pretty good, it is set up to stock specs fully floating and as long as do not forget and abuse it...............

Ha Ha, I hear you guys,ALL tremolo (vibrato) units are cool. I try and play 'My own' way/style, but,like EVERYBODY else (even 'ol Eddie boy, though he says otherwise), I end up sounding alot like many of my influences. As far as the tremolo bar goes, my goal was to be able to play tremolo inspired licks in the vein Uli Jon Roth's solos like 'Polar Nights' & 'Virgin Killer', EVH's 'Eruption & 'Ice Cream Man', etc and STAY in tune. I've achieved this,but it was a very frustrating road to get there.

The established zenith of tuning stability on a vintage 6 screw tremolo was the 'balancing tension' act, which requires the use of the bar (a dive or dip) to re-establish tuning after doing left hand bends of a step or more, which flatens the strings pitch. EVH, for example had this problem, though he could get away with whole step bends. He literally HAD to do a tremolo dive or wiggle after solo's where he bent over a step with his left hand.
A simple modification to the sustain block (deepening the holes, which decreases the strings length past the saddles friction point) greatly improves this.

One thing that Scott Henderson talked about is making the six holes a little bit bigger so there isn't any friction on the screws.

I seem to only have an issue with my G string. If I tune it to bend, I can bend and it comes back in tune. If I tune the G to dive and I bend, it comes back flat and with a hit of the bar it is back in tune.

Hey Rog, thats the thing man. I dont have to set my strat up to either using the bar or setting it up to bend. I set it up to where you can do either (big left hand bends OR tremolo use) Without going out of tune.

rgorke wrote:"...One thing that Scott Henderson talked about is making the six holes a little bit bigger so there isn't any friction on the screws...

I'm almost certain he meant oblong to dive travel.... (Don't want any a'dat side-to-side.

Best tremolo I've ever tried is the Fullcrum on the G&L guitars.

It's just PERFECT combined with Sperzel locking tuners. You can do whatever you want and it stays in tune.

Not knocking anyone's preference but I am a Floyd fan for life. There are just some things you can not do correctly with a stock Fender tremolo.

CravingKramers wrote:Not knocking anyone's preference but I am a Floyd fan for life. There are just some things you can not do correctly with a stock Fender tremolo.

Ask Jeff Beck.

Except for extreme dive bombing... the Fender tremolo works superb if you know how to setup it fine, and you have a well slotted nut and you polish the bottom side of the string tree and. Giving some graphite with a pencil on the nut helps too.