Blocked Bridge

[Druw]

hi,
I was reading some revies of strats, and i noticed people block the bridges alot. What does this mean?
Thanks

 

[faderbug]

it means they wedge a piece of wood in the cavity behind the trem so the bridge is blocked. it's supposed to give more sustain.

 

[Druw]

will this mean that the tremolo wont work anymore?

 

[ocnor]

will this mean that the tremolo wont work anymore?

That is correct. It's much better to add an extra spring to make the tremolo stiff but not rigid. That way it still has some give when doing string bends and it can function as a normal tremolo when needed.

 

[Druw]

Thanks for the help!

 

[RandyW]

I you want your strat to stay in tune you will block it. The harder the wood the better sustain you'll get from the mod. The more surface area you have between the blocks and body cavity the more sustain. If you don't block it is a constant struggle to tune up especially after a fresh restring. So trem systems are quite a bit more stable such as the Floyd Rose with the locking nut.

You can get a bit of vibrato out of a blocked trem depending on how much play you have on the opposite side of the block and how strong you are. Just press down on the back of the bridge. Your diving days will be over forever.

Fender recommends a 10 step system ajusting the springs which also calls for you to use wedged block adjusting the rear of the TP about 1/8" from the face of the guitar. You then adjust the springs till the block falls out. This is suppose to give you a factory spec floating bridge.

 

[ocnor]

I you want your strat to stay in tune you will block it. The harder the wood the better sustain you'll get from the mod. The more surface area you have between the blocks and body cavity the more sustain. If you don't block it is a constant struggle to tune up especially after a fresh restring.

What a steaming pile! If your strat is setup correctly it will stay in perfect tune. I'm talking about real american made strats not squires or cheap knock-offs with bad tunning keys. Putting a block of wood in the cavity will make the action too stiff and kill the playability of the guitar. Strats have a buttery feel to them that you don't get with a fixed bridge guitar. The amount of sustain that you get is determined by many things and the guitar bridge is just one small part of the equation.

 

[Light]

The amount of sustain that you get is determined by many things and the guitar bridge is just one small part of the equation.

The bridge is FAR from being a small part of that equation; it is one of the biggest parts of that equation.

If you have a trem, don't use it, and are having tuning problems, then block your trem. The difference in sound is minimal, there is NO difference in playability (except that you can do double stop bends a lot easier with a blocked trem), and your tuning problems will go away.

If you aren't having any problems with your trem, then don't mess with it. Why mess with success, right?



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[ocnor]

there is NO difference in playability (except that you can do double stop bends a lot easier with a blocked trem),

That statement contradicts itself.

 

[Druw]

I plan on gettin a Highway 1 Strat and fiting maybe Locking or Vntage Tuners on it. SO do you think I will need to block the bridge.

 

[Dani Pace]

I'd put an extra set of springs on rather than block the bridge. A standard strat bridge will handle up to 5 springs but most are only using 3. The 2 extra springs will make a big difference in how well the guitar stays in tune. Keep in mind that old strings will not return to pitch after detuning, which is actualy what a tremelo bridge does, it detunes the entire set then is supposed to return them to correct pitch when released. Weak springs, old strings and poor set up are the common causes of tremelo bridge problems.

 

[Jouni]

...a poll:

are tremolo bars actually worth the hassle?

only a few manufacturers make them anymore, are they "so last season"?
..do you hear much diving or wanking done on late recordings?
apart Hendrix and Vai.. not that much.. and every time I hear it used, I get remainded of eighties Hair-metal... Yes, fix those bridges with concrete!

..what a useless rant, sorry. A hung-over bitter bassist speaking.

Last night I ran into an old classmate in the bar. We had been talking at least fifteen minutes before she told me to stop stearing at her boobs, man.. a dipshit moment..

 

[IronFlippy]

Herman Li of Dragonforce does some pretty insane stuff with his whammy bar. Not really musical stuff, but cool video game noises to get the chicks. They get the chicks, right?

 

[cephus]

The bridge is FAR from being a small part of that equation; it is one of the biggest parts of that equation.

Would you care to elaborate? Are you saying that a different brand of trem bridge gives more sustain, or a hardtail or tunomatic will give more sustain?

If you have a trem, don't use it, and are having tuning problems, then block your trem. The difference in sound is minimal.

Thank you. Mine has been blocked and I unblocked it a while back to use the trem for something and there was no difference in tone. The reason to block is so that when you bend one string, the other ones don't go flat. Like pedal steel licks, where you bend one note in a chord. Also, when you bend, the bridge can give a little and absorb your energy. You push like hell, but the pitch doesn't go up as far like a hard tail.

Though i never use the trem bar, I have to admit that I see a hardtail strat as being like a new car you bought without air conditioning. Gimme all the options, baby.

 

[Light]

Would you care to elaborate? Are you saying that a different brand of trem bridge gives more sustain, or a hardtail or tunomatic will give more sustain?

Oh yeah, absolutly they do. More so on a hard tail bridge than a tun-o-matic, but yeah. The string has a more substantial and solid connection to the body of the guitar, so you have less loss of energy in the transfer from the string to the body. Think of it like this; energy is created by the string. Any time that energy has to transfer from one media to the next (say, from the string to the body), you are going to loose some energy. The easier it is to make that transfer of energy, the the less energy will be lost. On a trem, all the energy is trasfered through the conection of the trem to the body, which is either two screws or six screws which act sort of like a bottle neck for the energy from the string, PLUS you have the springs in the back acting as a energy soak (which probably has more to do with it, actually). With a hardtail bridge, you have the whole bridge solidly connected to the body of the guitar. There's no bottle neck. The energy just flows, which means you loose less of it, and more of it can get feed back into the string. More sustain ensues.

I'm not saying that I think that makes it BETTER, mind you, just that it does make this difference. For some styles of music, you don't want all that sustain. In any case the bridge and the neck joint are the two biggest things for sustain.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[ggunn]

I you want your strat to stay in tune you will block it.

Ah, no. It takes a bit more finagling to get a floating bridge assembly to stay in tune, but it is definitely doable. The major part of it (after getting the springs and claw set in the right place) is getting rid of friction at the nut and string T's.

Real Strat players grease their nuts. ;^)

 

[Druw]

What kind of grease is good for nuts?

 

[metalhead28]

...a poll:

are tremolo bars actually worth the hassle?

only a few manufacturers make them anymore, are they "so last season"?
..do you hear much diving or wanking done on late recordings?
apart Hendrix and Vai.. not that much.. and every time I hear it used, I get remainded of eighties Hair-metal... Yes, fix those bridges with concrete!

Why do so many people think that trem bars are only used for dive bombing and wanking? Sure, alot of people only use them for that, but there are alot of subtle and very musical things you can do with a bar.

So yeah, they are worth the hassle.

 

[Druw]

Why do so many people think that trem bars are only used for dive bombing and wanking? Sure, alot of people only use them for that, but there are alot of subtle and very musical things you can do with a bar.

So yeah, they are worth the hassle.

Exactly, just look at Dave Gilmours stuff with the tremolo, he uses it to add to his bending, and uses it for subtle pitch changes. But dont take the song Sorrow as an example

 

[ggunn]

What kind of grease is good for nuts?

I make up a slurry of Teflon grease and graphite powder and put a little dab in the nut slot under each string when I change them. I also replaced the metal string T with a graphite one.