Gibson type vibrato/trems - how do they feel?

[WezV]

you can use a normal T-O-M with bigsbys but you will get better results with a roller bridge, or the modified mustang bridge stud + T-O-M thing i think legra bob showed us

ah yeah, found it:
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=16023.15

[AndyR]

GULP! Hand-made parts... Costs escalating even further :lol:

So what was that calculation again Philly?

"A sh1thot guitar worth £300 for only £400 (not including initial outlay and parts)?" :lol:

[Philly Q]

Nah, I won't be going the rocking-bridge option - apart from anything else it would be tricky to revert to a normal tune-o-matic, which totally defeats the object of getting the Vibramate!

So it's still a sh!thot guitar worth £300 for only £200, not including initial outlay and existing parts.  I'm in profit!  :)

[JDC]

this maybe a complete myth, and I don't know if it applies to floating trems or just dive bomb trems, but I read somewhere adding more springs helps to reduces detuning problems with bends and double stopping, I've no idea if it reduces them enough for a double stop player to be happy with a trem though

it also makes absolutely no sense to me in a floating trem as you'd have to rebalance it, can wez or someone else demythologise this please :)

[AndyR]

this maybe a complete myth, and I don't know if it applies to floating trems or just dive bomb trems, but I read somewhere adding more springs helps to reduces detuning problems with bends and double stopping, I've no idea if it reduces them enough for a double stop player to be happy with a trem though

it also makes absolutely no sense to me in a floating trem as you'd have to rebalance it, can wez or someone else demythologise this please :)

Interesting you should say that old chap...

I was thinking this through on the way home and will be experimenting in the next few days.

When my strat was floating, it had three springs and was set up according to a pdf you can find on Fender's site. It worked like a dream.

When I decided to flatten it, I got some more springs and did the whole job to completely disable it.

HOWEVER! I believe that more springs = stiffer... So I guess the detuning probs, while still there, might be acceptable. I just didn't try it floating with five in...

Might be getting the screw driver out later :D

[Philly Q]

HOWEVER! I believe that more springs = stiffer... So I guess the detuning probs, while still there, might be acceptable. I just didn't try it floating with five in...

I'm not sure it's possible to get it floating with five springs - too much tension.  Unless you use bass strings.

Happy to be proved wrong though.  :D

[AndyR]

Well, I haven't tried it yet, but I do remember I had to tighten the claw a fair bit (after putting the 4th and 5th spring in) to get the bridge down flat and stay flat...

... so I have vague hopes :lol:

[Ratrod]

A little tip for TOM's and Bigsby's.

If it fits, get a Nashville TOM, it's less prone to rattling than an ABR-1. Drill out the post holes a bit. This will allow the bridge to wiggle along with the strings.

[AndyR]

I can never get this right - the Nashville's the "modern" one, isn't it?

Slightly longer travel for "enclosed" saddles, no retaining clip...

Both my SG (pic attached - you can almost see the bridge clearly :lol:) and Explorer have the same bridge on them - I'm thinking it's a Nashville...

[Philly Q]

Yep, that's a Nashville.

[AndyR]

Cool! :D

... or NOT actually, I was getting ready to post a "has anyone else's GAS subsided after yesterday's Bigsby/Vibramate love-in..."

Then I found Ratrod's post, and suddenly my tummy is rumbling again :roll:

[Philly Q]

Cool!  :D

... or NOT actually, I was getting ready to post a "has anyone else's GAS subsided after yesterday's Bigsby/Vibramate love-in..."

Then I found Ratrod's post, and suddenly my tummy is rumbling again :roll:

 :lol:

I was thinking yesterday evening.... I got up that morning and none of that stuff had even crossed my mind*, then by mid-afternoon I was Bigsby crazy.

But no, the GAS hasn't subsided!  I've already ordered a Schaller roller bridge and I'll order a Vibramate later today, probably.  The Bigsby itself is more expensive, it can wait a while.


(* TBH, I had previously considered putting a Bigsby or Maestro on the LPS, but only in a vague sort of way... )

[AndyR]

My GAS has definitiely subsided to a comfortable "hmmm might do this one day..." now, rather than "omigod, must start buying bits!!!"

What decided me was the other night when I finally got a chance to look at the pictures of Rob's mate's Explorer (can't see them at work).

That "IS" my Explorer! (except mine's got nickel covered MQs on it) - so that's what it would look like on mine...

The top pic was "YEAH!", the bottom pic was "hmm, not so sure..."

At that point the missus came home and I thought I'd better start preparing the way for possible expenditure. So I showed her the pics, modelled my own, etc...

She wasn't sure with the top picture, but with the bottom picture, she thinks it looks better than mine at the moment... er ... okeydokey... hmmm... :lol:

So now we've got her going "yeah! go for it..." and me going "I dunno..."

If the total cost was £50 or so (vibramate + bigsby, I'd be sticking with my Nashville TOM), then I would have gone wot-the-hell and ordered already. But as it'll be approx £100 more, I'm just letting the idea "ferment" for a while...

I'm almost convinced that I wouldn't stick it on the SG - which simplifies matters somewhat, I'd need a short-tail V5 vibramate for that, and most of the methods of ordering on line that I found don't seem to be aware of that possibility...

Watch this space though, 12 months time, who knows? there'll be bigsbys sprouting all over the place down our way - Explorer, SG, teles, missus's hairdryer, etc... :lol:

[WezV]

i am strongly considering a vibrola for this


it even has some holes where one may have been anyway

but then if its a choice between buying one of those or saving up for some lollar or peter naglitsch mini-humbuckers  i know which way i will go

[AndyR]

Yeah, my decision on the "no bigsby for my SG" was based on three things:

1. Loving it without any clutter...

2. The way I'm playing it at the moment, who needs any sort of wang-bar?

3. Looks-wise, if I was going to put anything on the SG, I think it has to be a vibrola