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I've never been able to get the floating set up on a strat to work
for me for the following reasons; When you do a unison bend, one
string will invariably sound out of tune because the bend pulls the
bridge up. If you rest your hand on the bridge while playing string
mutes you can accidently make the guitar go sharp. And lastly, if you
break a string during a song, the rest of the guitar will go out of
tune because the tension will change. While it is very cool to be
able to raise the pitch with the trem, I don't do this as often as I
bend strings and I palm mute, and break strings often because I have
a very heavy handed aproach. In the end however, you really have to
please yourself. Although they are somewhat maligned on this board,
a well set up strat is a thing of beauty. By the way, I wonder how
many of the first wave surf bands used strats as opossed to
jazzmasters or jaguars? I think strats were a lot more common than
people would have you believe. Off the top of my head, I can think
of Dick Dale(of course), the Pyramids, the Chantays(although not on
Pipeline!), the Atlantics, the Bel-aires. Any thoughts on this?
Don't get me wrong, I like Jazzmasters ( I bought a japanese one in
Japan for $300 [40,000yen], and yes they are much better than the
export models; alder body, better pickups, and a better finish on the
neck ), a strat is just more versatile. Viktor -
-- In , Ferenc Dobronyi <ferencnd@n...>
wrote:
> I can't disagree with most of Viktor's statements- except: with a
floating trem
> you can raise the pitch, and get the Shadows style vibrato. A well
set up
> floating bridge will stay in tune just as well as a locked one.
There is a "Zero
> Point"- it is the point when then tension of the springs is equal
to the tension
> of the strings. True, you will lose the bridge to body vibration.
>
> ferenc
>
>
>
> vd423@y... wrote:
> > My strat hardly ever goes out of tune, and I use the trem a
lot.
> > Most tuning problems originate at the nut when they aren't cut
> > properly ( too deeply )and they snag the strings. You should go
to a
> > pro and have them cut you a new nut and make sure the srtings
only
> > sit half way down into the slots. I take vaseline and mix it
with
> > powdered pencil lead and put that into the nut grooves. I also
use
> > all five springs and keep the bridge flush with the body, this
gives
> > the trem a 'positive' stoping point - the strat bridge was
designed
> > to be set up this way. "Floating" set ups weren't really done
until
> > the sixties and cause a lot of tuning instability; thats why
Bigsbys
> > go out of tune so easy, because there isn't any zero point for
the
> > trem to stop. Also, when the bridge touches the body, the string
> > vibrations ring out through the body more, giving you a better
tone.
> > Strats have almost a natural reverb unit because of the springs,
> > which is in part responsible for thier 'singing' tone. Hope this
> > helps,
viktor -
