stevie ray vaughn tremelo

[Light]

Maybe if it got run over by a forklift!

It is far more likely that SRV bought the thing at a swap meet and asked that guy to drop it in so he could be like his idol. That whole line of shit about it being out of necessity is just that. I don't care if the tech said it in an interview. He's lying his ass off knowing that the only other guy to prove or disprove the story is unavailable for comment.

I had a guitar player magazine with the first interview with him in it. there is a picture of him onstage standing on the guitar and it's on the floor and he's only got ahold of it by the trem arm. Maybe the hole would wallow out and the arm wouldn't stay in.

Breaking it in half? Come on.

With a guitar player who sweats a lot of acidic sweat, they can cause awful corrosion to the bridge and the block. It is not common to see them broken in half, but it does happen. Usually someone with that corrosive of sweat gets the arm stuck long before the wear to the block becomes an issue, but it can happen. Someone who plays as much as SRV clearly did, and who sweats as much as he always seemed to sweat...if they replaced the it's not at all out of the question that he could have broken the block or cracked the plate.


Light

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

 

[jdier]

Putting a left handed trem on a right handed guitar would cause the trem cover to NOT fit. As for why he did it? Who knows? I don't see any reason other than he had a left handed trem.

Not sure I completely agree.

Putting a lefty on a righty guitar would require the body to be routed as the offset of the block would require more room on the top and leave more room at the bottom.

That extra routing may eliminate one of the mounting holes but the plate still could have fit.

I think it was off because they are a pain the butt to string through.

 

[jdier]

I still think it's a bullshit story spread by the tech to make himself look cool. Exactly what part of a fender trem can "bust"? Maybe the arm broke off, but I'd think it'd be easier to go to NAPA and buy and easy-out than to grind the shit out of a vintage strat body.

Folklore aside, it doesn't make any sense that this was some kind of serendipity.

Was it a vintage body strat, or was it a Tokai?

 

[Light]

Was it a vintage body strat, or was it a Tokai?

It was a pre-CBS body, I think a `58, but he got it LONG before the whole "vintage" thing came about, when it was just called a beat-up old guitar.

And I could very easily be off on the date of that body, as that is purely top of my head recollection.


Light

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

 

[Rhys9]

Actually SRV used the left handed trem precisely because Jimi Hendrix Used One.

Actually SRV used the left handed trem precisely because Jimi Hendrix Used One. Jimi Hendrix was the best so naturally SRV wanted to get that sound.

I'm not sure who told you he used the left hand trem because he broke his right handed trem before a gig?

That’s not true at all. Check out this interview about SRV & Cesar Diaz.

Cesar gave the left handed trem to SRV as he new Stevie loved Hendrix & wanted to get his sound.

In the morning Cesar found (..to his horror) that SRV had installed it himself.....very crudely with a chisel!

He had butchered his strat to get that trem in & must have spent most of the night hacking through the body of that guitar:0

http://www.tonequest.com/pdf_pubs/samples/TQRDiaz.pdf

All the facts are there. SRV was Hendrix obsessed!

He even thought he was possessed by Jimi Hendrix at one stage!

Rhys

 

[ggunn]

It was a pre-CBS body, I think a `58, but he got it LONG before the whole "vintage" thing came about, when it was just called a beat-up old guitar.

And I could very easily be off on the date of that body, as that is purely top of my head recollection.

I saw that guitar a few times very close up; I was a stage hand at some shows he played here in Austin. In addition to being left handed, the arm on that tremelo was thicker than normal by about half. He was pretty rough on them.

 

[Gnash5150]

No disrespect to SRV, but, being a left handed guitarist. There is NO way in hell I am purposely going back to an upside down bridge on a guitar. If Hendrix would have lived a couple of years longer, he would be playing a LEFT handed strat. Growing up, I had to play right handed shit, and it sucked! You see every performance of Hendrix', he is just grimacing from the tuning problems, from having to play a right handed guitar. The Stevie thing is cool though. I leave my plastic off the tremelo cavity in the spirit of Hendrix too, and the string changing deal.

 

[ggunn]

I bought my Strat used in 1978 or so. I don't remember if it ever had a trem cover plate; if it did it's long gone now.

 

[jimistone]

The last time I had a backplate on a strat was many years ago...
I broke a little E string towards the end of a set. When I tried to get the little piece of string out of the trem block during the break...I didn't have a phillips screwdriver and niether did anyone else.
I FINALLY fished out the little piece of string with another piece of string. (after several stressful minutes and alot of sweat)

I took that damn backplate off as soon as I got home and have never had one on a strat since.