Metropoulos Forum

Whatever happened to the good old days when EVH and Holdsworth played strat-style guitars with vintage-style vibrato bars and single humbuckers? After watching Holdsworth's Tokyo Dream '84 video and Pete Thorn's Suhr SL68 Handwired amplifier demo video on YouTube, I decided to take a spare Classic-Vibe Strat I had lying around and make up a guitar like the ESP that Pete plays thru for the VH segment of the amp demo. I didn't have a DiMarzio SD humbucker, but tossed in a Gibson alnico pickup leftover from a SG Faded.

I bought a cheap chinese pickguard but spent $$$ to get the 2 1/16" Callaham tremolo bridge that fits right into the Classic Vibe and the saddles line up perfect with the polepeices of the humbucker. I can't say enough good things about the sustain and harmonic content you get from using Callaham's cold-rolled machined steel block. Best stock-style tremolo system ever. With the Classic Vibe's flat fingerboard, medium jumbo frets and alder body, I'm in 1981 heaven...

Yeah, theres no beating a, basically, 'stock' Fender strat. I mean, you can go for a flatter radius fingerboard or throw a hb'er in there, but the 1954 strat (1st year) is basically the greatest electric guitar design ever imo.

Plus, I basically only have about $400 in the whole thing, even after buying the entire Callaham tremolo system. I bought the Classic Vibe for $200 on CraigList in mint condition, $10 for the pickguard on ebay, $165 for the Callaham, and $35 for the pickup. It plays as good as guitars I own costing far more and looks great with it's vintage appointments... This is the guitar I needed when I was 17...

Happy NGD to you then !

chrisom wrote:... This is the guitar I needed when I was 17...

like this...


Sometimes a great guitar design uses inferior woods like with necks as mine in this avatar.
(and why my dislike for a late '70's Stratocasters) Well, the neck rollercoaster'ed and I traded it just a couple of years later.
Straight up for a Takamine 12.
After it was explained to me what process was involved in pulling the frets and leveling the fretboard I didn't mind the trade especially in late '79. It was yellowing beautifully, too.

IIRC that look came out in '78 and I think it was Blackmore sporting that look in either late DP or in Rainbow.
Put the stripes on it... well...

Nice guitar and of course that's right up my alley. Very similar to my Clapton/VH-1 strat. Once it is set up right, it is a joy to play!

Apparently the modern stock replacement Fender tremolos also have "cold rolled steel" just like the Callahams. The stock Fender tremolo that cam in my 1989 Fender Eric Clapton model is also cold rolled steel.

My old '84 Squier had a great bevel on the tremolo, and a smooth action, but I was unaware of the incidence of improperly beveled bridges on most imports and even on USA Fenders. I checked my EJ Strat and my '62 Reissue tremolo Strats and sure enough, the bevel was incorrect on both...

The top plate can be 'altered' no problem. Theres more to it than that though. Callaham is a 'pre' Van Halen type player who doesnt understand why we want to grab a tremelo bar.

The reissue Fender tremelo's (currently they call it the '62 reissue vintage tremelo') has a cold rolled steel block. Do NOT be fooled by any claims of 'inferiority' of these by the likes of Callaham. There are obviously a few details needed to be addressed with Fender's original design (I, along with Frudua have addressed this), but far and away, it is near perfect. The Callahams basically overshoot the original Fender formula with its saddles. They (Callaham) are a Wee bit too hard, causing a brittle/brightness in comparison to real deal vintage Fender articles. Cold rolled steel is cheap and it isnt real hard. I had tests done to confirm this. Fender DID use this (cold rolled steel) though, cause it is easily worked with (its use (Fender tremelo tone) has set this standard of tone by those who have used it over the years).Other companies go as far as to offer titanium or brass, etc, BUT, These sound WRONG, when you really start digging in, tone-wise. It becomes obvious.At LEAST Callaham has got the block right (cold rolled steel)

Certain older Japanese 'cloned' tremelo's as well as certain runs of American Fender ('54- early '71 & at least '89) are correct. Callaham overshoots this standard by using harder saddles, resulting in less brown resonance and MORE chime (cause he likes cleaner tones, ie Blues, Fender amp type configuration). His after market blocks are great though. Put one on a gotoh plate and saddles and look out .

The simple fact of the matter is that there is NO current run of 'Fender Vintage 6 screw" type tremelo's that address ALL of the inherent tuning issues. Each has a few parts right, but NONE combine them togather. If anyone is interested, PM me and I'll help, if your having tuning issue's while using the bar.

Your take on the Callaham stuff seems to make sense. I have one more Classic Vibe, and I think I'll try just the Callaham steel block on it so I can do comparisons. I agree, I can hear my EJ Strat and my (yet another) Classic Vibe that I put a USA '62 Reissue tremolo bridge on already sound better harmonically than other typical import variety vibrato-equipped guitars of the same pedigree, so I guess I don't really need to mess with them. The block is probably enough to improve the imports

JimiJames wrote:Happy NGD to you then !

chrisom wrote:... This is the guitar I needed when I was 17...

like this...




IIRC that look came out in '78 and I think it was Blackmore sporting that look in either late DP or in Rainbow.
Put the stripes on it... well...

That' s you in that pic, JJ? I woulda swore it was some other guy born on that day....

And, yes, RB had the white strat with black plate when I saw the first Rainbow tour. That and the natural wood version.

NY Chief wrote:

JimiJames wrote:Happy NGD to you then !

chrisom wrote:... This is the guitar I needed when I was 17...

like this...




IIRC that look came out in '78 and I think it was Blackmore sporting that look in either late DP or in Rainbow.
Put the stripes on it... well...

That' s you in that pic, JJ? I woulda swore it was some other guy born on that day....

And, yes, RB had the white strat with black plate when I saw the first Rainbow tour. That and the natural wood version.

Polaroid baby !
That was H.S. talent show... in '78. lol, I just started guitar 6 months prior...
(Honest to goodness, the song we open with was Blue Wind. Rush followed and I think it was a Purple tune next, but a 100% sure it was Beck as the opener !)
Les is on the stand there behind me next to my 100 watt Marshall JMP ½stack... (You don't wanna know what I traded that for... )
Not only did I look good for the babes, I was kool with the Jocks,Burnouts, & nerds.
After that was "I didn't know you played?" The following year the Student Body was " you gotta do a Senior Talent Show, now !"
That's kool 'cause we did so good we had the schools' first "Senior Class Rocks" show later that year for the schools history books.
Well, atleast I was proud of that unlike my D+ GPA.
Hey ? don't laugh, When I was a Freshy I made Honor roll... 2 years later I picked up the guitar and the rest is history...
...in that my grades suffered, doh !

yea so, now the "silver" in the film is why it looks like ALL those kinds of old photos of bands back in the day.
They have a certain hue to them.
Hollywood in the past 2 years has now discontinued anything
that rich & warm since TechniColor due to the new EPA/OSHA regs...
Yeah that avatar does look like it came straight outta the magazines of the day, ehh?

JimiJames wrote:[After that was "I didn't know you played?" [/size]

I heard similar to that myself, JJ. " Wow Chief, I didn't know you were such a good guitar player".

Almost always immediatley followed with......"Who's that cute singer?"......