Strat trem question

The number of springs is irrelevant. All you need them to do is pull the block back to where it started. Five will do that no better than three. In fact one big fuck off spring could well be better if it has more pull than five.. The reason behind more springs is to spread the load across the spread of the strings not increase the load.

If it's going sharp as you say then if it were the springs then they are already pulling back a little harder each time and stretching the string that little bit more.. It aint them.
 
Greg_L said:
Yeah that's a good point. Fuck the springs. Fuck Strats. Shitty guitars anyway.
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lol I like them for what they are. I rarely use a vibrato anyway so it's locked down for me. I rate "tremelo" as 9 out of 10 on the fret wanking gay scale..
 
I like trem stuff in surf guitar and rockabilly style music. I think it tastefully creates texture and suspense. I strongly dislike wanky gay floyd rose divebombs and squeals. That kind of tremolo wang bar action is shit.
 
I've done two divebombs, ever. They were both in a single solo I've done in my former band. It's they type of solo Greg would hate. :D


It's not show-offy but it's not a tuneful solo (well, maybe a little it is). Funny...that recording (that one take) is the only time I've ever done divebombs. If I were to record again, that solo would be completely different.
 
Certainly picked up a lot of newbie reccos.
The only strat I really liked was in Buddy Holly's hands.
I have one guitar model with a functioning whammy bar (early 70's jap thing that leans on a spring) so I son't go there as it's a disaster for one & all.
The other guitar I have with some sort of trem/whammy doesn't have a bar anymore so I don't even have to think about it.
Hearing your grief makes me I'm glad I have hands of concrete and ears of felt.
 
im guessing when you first got it that the block was back against the body ... looking at this pic its floating .. seems to me that over time the springs got weak and let the block pull off the body or you went up a string gauge at some point ... either way its floating,adding a spring or tightening the tensioner in the back will help a bit ... but you wont be able to pull back :(

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Yes you are guessing. That would mot cause the strings going sharp.

Seriously people, diagnosing guitar problems is no different than anything else. Start with what you know and fill in the gaps..:thumbs up:
 
muttley600 said:
Yes you are guessing. That would mot cause the strings going sharp.

Seriously people, diagnosing guitar problems is no different than anything else. Start with what you know and fill in the gaps..:thumbs up:
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im guessing his problem yes,but 100% it will cause it to go sharp i have never played a guitar with this kind of trem setup that stays in tune :)
 
cakewalkKaKed said:
im guessing when you first got it that the block was back against the body ... looking at this pic its floating .. seems to me that over time the springs got weak and let the block pull off the body or you went up a string gauge at some point ... either way its floating,adding a spring or tightening the tensioner in the back will help a bit ... but you wont be able to pull back :(
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It's not floating. It's against the body. That pic does look like the bridge is up, but it's just a shadow or the angle of the pic. It's definitely all the way down.
 
another thing to look at while im thinking about it is worn screws in the pivot,if they are worn replace em

edit:- just seen that ^^^ mmmmm you broke it,you broke it :P


extra edit:- maybe some crap behind block and body ? .. id try sticking half a turn on each screw on the tensioner too :)
 
Maybe I'm just expecting too much from it. The guitar is old, it hasn't been cared for, and I have no idea what I'm doing. If I stop and think about it, it's really foolish to think that it could stay in tune. Tiny little movements change a strings pitch, and there's 6 strings, so how can I expect a large movement like bending the wang bar to not fuck everything up? Without locking nuts and saddles like a silly floyd rose, how could this thing possibly ever really return to being in tune? It's a long shot at best.
 
I never use a trem but I WAY prefer the sound of a strat that has a trem to one that doesn't and I also don't like the trem blocked for the same reason.
The springs resonate almost like a little built in reverb so a trem strat, to me, sounds very different than a hard tail.
 
I'm kind of surprised to hear from some of you that can actually play say that you don't use a trem. I would think that with your skills, smart use of a trem could really take you further maybe? I don't know. I just make noise with mine. :D
 
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