Now that is really interesting, assuming I'm understanding you right. You're saying as you pull up on the bar, and the plate goes flat on the body, you get a change in tone...?
Umm... I was getting that on one guitar the other week, mainly on the top E.
I regard this effect as an absolute no-no, a set-up defect, and to be discouraged if at all possible! :lol: In the past, I've even stopped using a trem because of it.
I get rid of this by careful adjusting of the 1st and 6th screws holding the plate onto the body (assuming screws 2-5 are already lifted slightly, with the heads about 0.5 - 1 mm above the plate).
On this guitar, what was causing this effect was the 1st screw being "too tight". I figured it out by noticing that the bridge plate wouldn't go "absolutely flat" on the treble side, and reasoned that the screw was in just a spot too tight. So I yanked the bar up and loosened the screw until the plate would go flat - the change in tone/volume problem disappears when you do this (or does for me anyway!).
You don't want to loosen the 1st and 6th too much though, because then the thing seems to move about and not get back to concert pitch consistently. But if you get it just right, you don't get that sudden boost in sustain/volume when you pull the bar up as far as it will go...
If I hadn't managed to get rid of the effect, I'd have flattened the bridge and stuck all five springs in :lol:
:lol: Horses for courses! :lol:
Understand your point about the "setup defect" and the adjustments you made to correct it, which were obviously needed on that guitar. But I don't regard that change in tone/sustain as a consequence of a setup defect!
You get the same effect with the modern Fender tremolo and the Kahler Traditional series, probably with a Floyd Rose too. They can't have the "too-tight screw" issue because they're floating on two knife edges. I'm
sure the change in tone comes as the baseplate lies flat on the body.
Anyway, I
love that tone! Whenever I had a tremolo guitar I was always pulling up on the bar (or pointing it towards the end strap button and pushing down on it) to make the guitar sound more like a hardtail. I like the Hank Marvin gentle vibrato thing too, but I
hate bombing down to low notes because all the sustain dies.
