EVERY Guitar Tremolo Explained
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
- Vibrato bridges AKA tremolo bridges have always been part of electric guitar history.
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Videos mentioned/used
Mike Adams: / @puisheen
Transtrem: • Michael Hedges, "Point...
Kdh Kahler: • Kahler: The Worlds Mos...
0:00 Tremolos are old
0:38 Lyre Maestro Vibrola
3:13 Bigsby
5:10 Duesenberg Les Trem
5:50 Leo Fender’s Joke
7:06 Fender Tremolo
9:47 Vibrato Issues
11:47 Fender Offset Tremolo
14:07 Floyd Rose
17:37 Kahler
20:10 J Custom Research
20:54 Steinberger Transtrem
22:04 2 Point Vibrato
23:23 the truth
24:55 Floyd Rose Vs Ibanez
25:30 Gotoh Vs Wilkinson
26:23 Vegatrem
28:44 Tremol-no
29:28 Tremolo stabilizer/tremmory
30:27 Floyd Rose FRX
31:06 Sophia Tremolo
31:50 Vigier & Parker
32:10 Rick Toone Tremolo
Learn about the maestro vibrola or lyre vibrola, bigsby fender synchronized tremolo, fender floating tremolo, floyd rose, 2 point tremolo, kahler, rick toone tremolo, vegatrem, sophia tremolo, Wilkinson tremolo, gotoh 510, tremol-no, temmory, trem stabilizer, noiseless springs, floyd rose frx bridge.
I am now going to refer to trems as wiggle sticks
As you should.
You now use the same vocabulary as my dad
Billy G. was doin that talk LONG before
Rev Horton Heat wrote a song about the one on his guitar............at least I think that's what he was talking about.
Have you contacted Encyclopedia Britannica on this update?
Leo Fender called it a 'tremolo' bridge because it was intended to emulate the actual tremolo of the Leslie Organ, which, ironically, was intended to emulate vibrato. There is an element of tremolo, as you will hear a marked drop in volume when the string tension is lowered.
The Bigsby Vibrato can be found on Gretsch guitars straight from the factory. Paul Bigsby, inventor of this vibrato tailpiece, as pointed out in the video, was a motorcycle enthusiast. That big, visible spring on the Bigsby was actually a Harley-Davidson valve spring on Paul’s prototype vibrato!
this is such a rad fact. I'm also a motorcyclist and shadetree mechanic!
now I know why my Gretsch is leaking oil! Thanks sharing, man!
Epiphone guitars also come with Bigsby vibrato.
Bigsbys make great kick stands.
Bigsbys are the coolest looking. Gives a more RnR or blues and steampunk vibe.
Andre, i'm actually amazed by your approach to... well, everything.
I watched the strandberg experiment series and a bunch of other vids and i loved em all.
Huge thanks for your work!
Thank you!
@@andrefludd excellent unpack…great vibe…proper gramlar! subbed
I once did a patent search on Tremolos and I found one that was split in the center, had two bars so you could work the high strings and low strings separately, pretty cool!
That sounds sweet.
G&L Dual-fulcrum Vibrato, designed by Leo Fender and George Fullerton (1981)
I was wondering about that one. A slight upgrade from 2 pt Fender strat trem?
Leo Fender: "What the hell do I care about the name? I'm a saxophonist."
Kahler is still my favorite. Built in locking, stable palm mutes, constant string height, and minimal routing. Also a very easy design to adapt to multiscale tremolos. Makes me curious about the rick toone vibrato. That looks like it has all the advantages of a kahler without needing to solder the ends of youe strings. The holy grail would be a multiscale headless kahler style vibrato.
Do not forget adjustable string spacing.
I had an 8 string agile with a kahler a few years ago. Way cool.
I love my Kahler. I haven’t been able to find one of the older arms without the bullet tip. Being a little shorter gives it a little firmer feel, which I definitely prefer.
I had a good one on a Gibson Flying V. Why does everyone always buy, and talk about Floyd Rose, and they never mention Kahler at all?
@@michaelcraig9449 People are bastards.
This is a ridiculously in-depth and clear explanation. I love it. Subscribed.
There is another variant to the Fender-style “wiggle stick” that I like, which would also be good to mention. It’s the Super-vee Bladerunner. Unlike other S-type “wiggle stick” systems that utilize two-point or 6-point pivot points and knife edge, this system uses a single blade spring as a contact point for the bridge to the body. So, there is no friction involved to push or pull the arm. It’s a great system because it eliminates the mechanical influence of friction when balancing the spring tension and the string tension when you float the bridge.
I should have taken some Dramamine before watching this. I think I’m seasick.
My first vibrato guitar was an SG (never stayed in tune). My next was a Strat (with the same tuning instability). In the '80s I had a couple Floyd Rose locking trems (Kramers), which were boss until I needed to retune. I love that you don't flap your Ts when you say 'vibrato'.
Fenders deluxe 2 point floating "pop in" tremolo system is personslly my favorite trem system. The ability to just pop in and and pop out the trem arm quick and easy rather than have to screw or unscrew it out... also i love the changes with the trem arm height and length in general that solves fender strats notorious trem srm con of not being able to stand high enough to float over the cable when plugged into the football cable jack. I feel they also slightly mijimized the hot points of the tension spots on the 6 point trem bridge that was srv's main reason for breaking springs amd could only solve by ceaser diaz adding insulation under the strings. So if i want to totally push the arm outta the eay completely facing opposite to usage position i can do that without the cable stopping me or having to awkwardly turn it backwards/counter clockwise in order to get it on the opposite side of the cable when playing. Those things to me are HUGE. That is exactly why that trem system is by far my favorite. And of course you habe the choice to either float or defloat the bridge if you inly want to go down in register. I play mostly blues, and play hard and aggresive so the bridge being defloated and only going down in register helps with tuning.
Thanks for taking the time to do this, very useful.
Absolutely the best breakdown of wango-bango sticks I've ever seen!
Have you ever encountered the Trem King? it's like a two-point system except the bridge doesn't move itself, it moves underneath. It's weird.
Super in-depth, really appreciated this breakdown. Hadn’t heard of the Rick Toone or Tremel-No before, but they both sound great
Great job going over them all! You really explained them all comprehensively.
Best explanation of different trem systems I've ever seen. Thank you, sir!
Thank you for calling it a vibrato.
I get irrationally pissed when people refer to it as a tremolo
*TREMOLO*
@@burritoburlap it is unfortunate that they have fuckin officially named something after a thing that it explicitly doesnt do
You created the perfect reference for all things vibrato / tremolo(tm)! I've had good results with both Fender and Gotoh tremolos on Strats throughout the years.
Wow, great job! Thank you very much for this very detailled comparison 🙂👌
Great vid. Very thorough. Good job, man.👍🏻🤘🏻
Great summary of the different major vibrato (trem) systems. I like all types for what they are as each has strengths and weakness as you mentioned. Those JCustom units were clones of Steinberger units. I never used the JCustom parts, but have heard mixed things about the quality and longevity. The old Washburn Wonderbar was a nice unit, but never gained many fans. Great video and good info.
After watching this , I may start using tremolo again. I've always lock my trem system on my Strats. In the past my of my non guitar playing Band member would break my E-string playing around with my guitar -Sometimes right before a show-. So I use wooden blocks of plastic bottle caps to fit behind the tremolo block. But in doing this I had to learn to Vibrato with my hand and fingers.
Great video Dr. Fludd!
Awesome video, Andre!!
Finally! The vibrato solution I was looking for in an over the counter package.
Of course I enjoyed the presentation and subscribed +
17:46 very good video, just two little things.
First, even though there are two consonants between the A and the E the pronunciation is a hard A in the name Kahler as if the vowels were separated by only one consonant.
Second, the KDH video you recommend is almost entirely incorrect. It’s so incorrect actually that we contacted him and he knows it is almost entirely incorrect yet it remains up spreading misinformation.
Those are minor things though and not Major ones (see what I did there).
Congratulations on a great video and a fantastic UA-cam channel. Should you find yourself in Las Vegas you have an open invitation to the factory to get a look behind the scenes. You can also check out our huge guitar collection (because you have to pay attention to what everyone is doing).
Perhaps you would like to also be a guest on our podcast and discuss guitar musings in general.
Again, great video! Thanks for including our cam based vibrato system.
Thanks or the info! I'm a big fan of your bridge and would love to connect.
I really appreciate this video because for how many types of "wiggle sticks" there are, there isn't a whole lot of useful info on the differences. I had a bad experience with a cheap floyd rose a few years back and have since avoided all trem systems like the plague, but now i think i want a guitar with the fender offset tremolo system, or even a vibrola (although i've never seen one of those on a guitar in any store i've been to)
Good and informative video,. Thumbs &subbed😊
Very good video! Subscribed!
So rare to find a person who knows enough of the subject, knows how to explain it, humble enough to admit when he is not experienced enough with something and likeable enough to be entertaining full half hour, congratulations, great video!
Awesome video, I think a shoutout has to go to the Steinberger R-Trem too. While not as flashy as the TransTrem, it's super simple to work with, and has a very easy locking latch if you want to be sure you stay locked in tune.
This is super helpful, thank you
Excellent and easily digestible discussion of trems while still providing a great deal of technical info, useability advice and personal experience. Perfect combination of all those elements. I've distilled my personal knowledge of trems over a lifetime starting to learn about them from a technical perspective in 1984 as a kid who landed the dream summer job in the local music shop. Starting as a bass player, I had ZERO knowledge on the subject except... well, it was the 80's, so MTV music videos was how I knew the difference between the types. Floyds were the new hotness... but once I learned a bit, the OG Kahler was my favorite. Okay, my one criticism: say it with me 'KAY-luhr. KAAAAYYY-luhr.' Glad your vid popped up. Didn't realize I wasn't subscribed so I'm remedy-ing that right now. Laayyy-tuhr.
What an excellent explanation. Thanks, new sub.
This is an amazing comparison. Have you also seen the Perfecto De Castro Wiggle Stick Wankoff video posted a day or so before yours?! It’s a similar idea. Interesting to see the comparisons and how two of you approached this subject!
Love your videos Andre, they have been a great source of info and impartial gear reviews. I just had some things you might want to add going foreword if you ever made a follow up or addendum video to this one.
On Floyd Rose I would add…
Pro:
-can be adjusted with tuners, but then once locked, uses fine tuners in bridge.
-Floyd rose can flutter if perfectly balanced
Con:
-unlike most fender trems, you can’t just saddle height.
Under the two point trem section when you talk about which trem vs which other sounding similar, I would add the only very differnt one being the ZR trem. Because the mechanism now rotates around where the strings enter the saddle as opposed to before it, this makes the string height more stable when pulling far up or down on the whammy bar and also gives it a different feel.
And lastly, when discussing the adjustable trems features in the back like the trem stop, I would add the Ibanez Zero point system because it’s adjustability when the backing plate is on and without tools.
My all-time fave trem is the Ibanez ZR Trem with the ZPST Stabilization system. Smooth, durable roller bearing pivots. The ZPST automatically smoothly returns the trem back to zero point quickly and immediately. It's like a shock absorber in function while still retaining that smooth delicate trem travel feel. This trem was ueed by Ibanez for a few years before it was discontinued (long story). I have this in two of my S-Series and absolutely love them!
I use a Super-Vee BladeRunner. I can dive bomb on it and it comes back into tune IF I do a quick pull up on the Whammy Bar as the last movement on the Floating Bridge. The low E and G string return flat otherwise. The "Virtual Jeff" Digital Whammy is an interesting alternative that takes the problems of string tension out of the equation. Thanks
I have to do exactly the same with my BladeRunner!
This is, by far, the best primer on this subject that I have found.
By far the best, most complete video about tremolo systems, bar none.
Ned Steinberger had several vibrato designs.... with the Trans-Trem being the most complex. I think you've covered the lion share of the options.
Thanks for the review. I learned a lot.
Glad it was helpful!
Another great video mate, huge effort into this. Another trem comes from Trem King. The zero point on my one has an unusual zone before it engages. I’ve got one in a guitar from 2015.
Thank you! This took months. I filmed the whole thing and edited half of it and then deleted the file by mistake and had to start all the way over 😂.
Nicely done.
I want to mention a couple of others, the Trem-King which is OK, requires it's own routing, but my favorite is the Stetsbar. It is smooth, stable, double stop bends and drop D are no prob, and it fits without drilling.
really good video ! i hope u will review the stetsbar pro III one day !
The rant had me in hysterics. I just bought a boden nx 6t. I personally love the love design and as you guys demonstrated, no one can argue with the playability. The looks and neck stem from the ergonomics as its been designed yo be the ultimate comfort guitar.
There are wall hangers that you can buy from Strandberg directly, otherwise you could make a custom floor stand like I have
my sister's brother's cousin is related to both Jimmy Hendrix and Billy Corgan - it's not widely known, but both of them actually used Irin fuzz pedals from Aliexpress
Thank you very much for calling it a vibrato and not tremolo like 90% of the world.
Glad you touched on the string gauge vs stiffness issue; but it would be good to also mention that that is at least partially controllable when setting up a 2 point floating vibrato - set the saddles lower and the two posts higher (and slacken the springs or remove one) to get more stability and a softer feel (but less range) - quite a bit of adjustment is possible.
I love the Wudtone trems on my Strats and the Descendant on my Jazzmasters. Put the LesTrem on a semi hollow I made and it is so superior to the Bigsby as far as range, smoothness and staying in tune. Im excited to see the one you recommend. I build all my electrics, pickups too, and can't live without a little wiggle. Always looking for something better. Thanks for the video. I think Floyd Rose had the first 2 post Vibrato in 1979 or 80 and around the same time Rockinger had a locking term with needle bearings and it had great junk noise potential that I used extensively. It was the only locking unit you could get without a guitar attached.
The Bigsby uses a "compression" spring. The Fender uses "tension" springs. Tension means to pull apart or attempt to pull apart. The tensile strength of a material is the point at which it breaks when you pull on it in opposite directions from each opposite end. Shear strength is more like how hard it is to cut it with scissors. Compressive strength is how hard is it to crush. Torsional strength is how hard is the material too twist to a failure point. Some vibratos do use torsion, like some cars and trucks use torsion bars instead of springs. Thankfully, those vibratos are quite rare items that never sold well.
Slight nitpick. Torsional strength applies to parts, not materials. You use the shear strength of the material to calculate the torsional strength of the part.
Fantastic video and thank you for your insights Andre. Personally I prefer Bigsbys and Wide Swing Tremolos because I love getting those subtle blue note bends and waivers. They do that the best. I would tell you that Callahan does do upgraded Bigsby parts and models that may be worth looking into. That said their Bigsbys really start to fall more into Boutique prices ($240+ dollars for a modified Bigsby).
For Synchronized Tremolos I like to upgrade the block to brass and swap out the stock springs for softer ones. I also do the foam trick on the back. I'm mainly a Tele guy so I found a six screw trem that actually uses the three brass saddles like an old school Tele does (Haylon also makes a Jazzmaster style bridge that does this too, I'm going to try that on an Offset I own) and I look forward to that Strat/Tele hybrid I am searching for.
I personally have a new found love and appreciation for Gotoh as they are relatively inexpensive (especially compared to Boutique/Toy brands and parts) but you get that Japanese designed part that is better than what you get from a Fender or Gibson stock part.
Going into Offset guitars, most options really fall into the Boutique realm. The Fender AVRI is probably the best all around cost effective part (like if you upgraded your Squier Jazzmaster) otherwise you get into Boutique parts real fast.
In the end, even Import parts (like GFS) are pretty quality these days. I would say 2/3 of replacement parts really just fall into personal preference. The biggest one part change with a vibrato was a brass block to replace the OEM block on an Import Synchronized Tremolo. That was the only night/day change, everything else tends to be more subtle changes.
This is my favorite subject. My playing used to be floyd rose style driven. Imo the best open floyds on the market the ibanez Edge Lo pro, original edge, and the 1500 that schecter and a few other companies use are really good also.
Don't forget the Schaller ones. The Lockmeister is, apparently, amazing.
Great informative video. Even though replacement saddles was mentioned, locking saddles for non-double locking bridge wasn't. Currently, there are 2 manufactures that I'm aware of, that are making these locking saddles. One is Wilkinson and the other is Gotoh.
The Wilkinson WLS130 saddles has been around in the market for several years now, I think? And they'd also designed a new bridge, called the VS1300, which is quite similar to the other Wilkinson VS bridges, but they have locking saddles.
Gotoh locking saddles on the other hand, was released just recently, and they fit their 510 bridges.
great explanation
Love to see comparisons on whammy arm connections - screw on versus snap in.
My favourite is the Fender Dynamic Vibrato, yes Fender made one that was correctly named.
They can be found on older Mustangs, and some of the later Mustangs ( many of which are hard tails of some sort.
It doesn’t have the range of some others, but it is equally able to bend up or down.
Like some others it will go out of tune if you break a string, but I never have.
And as I normally use a subtle vibrato and like to bend up or down, it’s great for what I do.
A very informative Video😃
Beside of kahler, vibrola & bigsby, I tried many trem arms, but at least, I still enjoy it on my jaguar🙂
And floyd rose is wild for what you can tonewise achieve😆
I love 510s also. Great stuff!
Good video with some trems I haven't seen. One of my favourite trems that's not here is the Washburn Wonderbar.
Excellent explanations. I'm 70 and still get the oooh aaah from tinkering with my guitars.
1:59 I love that guitar of Mike’s. Thanks Andre for introducing me to the Toone Trem. I don’t know why Fender don’t offer them, they’re amazing. One day I’ll have something Toone-equipped.
I have a Squier Bass vi that I retrofitted with a Bigsby. Requires a heavier and taller spring and a Chet Atkins type arm. With all issues solved it’s a Fantastic mod. Recommended.
Good job with the title using Tremolo, so average folks know what you're talking about. However, as you state in the video, it's actually Vibrato that is occurring when you use the bar. Vibrato = pitch modulation, tremolo = volume modulation. Synth nerds like me know this.
Tremol-No cannot hold the bridge when the strings are completely loose if you need to clean your fretboard or adjust the truss rod, so for dive-only mode a simple L-shaped bracket will be more convenient, although it will require some drilling. I have also heard that the screws can become loose and fell off due to vibration or friction. I did not have such problem, since I used an easy access panel that did not need to be unscrewed, and therefore did not remove it.
As for tremmory-like stabilizers, I have them installed on two guitars and their advantage is that they can stay in tune in a fully floating mode with EVH D-Tuna / ToneVise Pitch Shifter. A stiffer feel is still more preferable to not being able to use the bar at all, although this may even cause some problems with the Push-In arms slowly popping out.
Thank you for collating all this bridge info at the same time as I've been fixated on them.
Youre my new favorite guitar youtuber. Boom. Just like that.
Note that you dont necessarily have to cut the ball end for the floyd rose, you can hust feed the strungs through your turbers first
I bought a JB Player in the 80's (Strat style HSS) and when the stock locking tremolo failed I got a Kahler. Years later I bought one of their first runs after recovering to replace that worn out Kahler. I'm adding locking tuner to that guitar soon. My actual Strat has them and it's made me a believer.
Awesome video. Dont forget Gibson also used those weird looking Maestro sideways Vibrola tailpiece as well on their SG. Where the whammy bar folded up and the bar was sideways when you pushed on the whammy bar. Im probably in the minority who hates bigsbys and Floyds but loves kahler tremelos lol. Setting the action and intonation on a Kahler is kinda tedious and a hassle but once everything is dialed in, its a perfect system. You can hard tale them like you mentioned, and because of the cam system theres no limit to how high or low you can push or pull the whammy bar. I have a Kahler on my 81 les paul custom. During the early 80s Gibson was putting kahlers on the LP custom models straight from the factory.
The most comprehensive tremolo/vibrato comparison I've seen. Thanks.🔥 I now understand the differences. I'm really wondering for so long what's the difference between a Floyd Rose and an Ibanez Edge. It's almost the same after all. So thanks a lot of mate.👏
P.S -> The guitar you are holding at 16:18 is probably the most wicked shred guitar I've seen. The fret access, the multiscale and the 27 frets? It could trump any shred guitar including the Shawn Lane Vigier or the Parker Fly hands down. 🎸
About the Floyd rose frx, apparently you can adjust it so that it snaps back into place firmly, becomes fully floating, dive bomb only etc
SFT-70a had one 20 yrs ago, even made a video or two way back on my channel. I went overboard abusing the trem & afterwards my B or G was a few cents off. Very underrated ,mostly forgotten trem
For me the Offset Trem is my personal pick because of its ability to play the “Glide” style of guitar. Behind it would be “ E,A,D,G,B,e Benders” and there’s now contained units out there that don’t require carving into your guitar, they allow you to get that pedal steel sound out of your guitar. I really hope the new contained units catch on because Benders were really expensive before due to their routing requirements and only used by real high paid country studio musicians but things like the Duesenberg Multi Bender are affordable and easy to install. I plan on buying one because I feel like it will help separate me from the other local players. Maybe in the future I’d get a Floyd Rose but i’m not much of a shredder however I love the Issac Brock harmonic things he does.
7:27 that's why I keep the backplate off of all my guitars 😂
I would love to see you try the Virtual Jeff Pro, which works like a digitech whammy but much smoother with a trem bar. You also get the advantage of bending all notes in tune like your favorite bridge and you also keep perfect tuning since it doesn't actually change the string tension.
I think the best is Keisel- "Hipshot". It is their very own & will not be seen on any other guitar. I have a LP style guitar with one. Very versatile. It can be removed by pulling it out. If you want a fixed position-a bit of scotch tape. Please check it out. Great video-Thank you.
My favorites are the Gotoh 510 for delicate use and the Floyd (specifically the original Ibanez Edge and lo pro) for extreme tricks :)
Been keeping up with you and your kittens on IG lately lol. Great content as always.
Thank you! The Kitten journey for me has been intense 😂
The old parker fly had a compressed flat spring that could explode out of the front of the guitar. I locked mine down for that reason. Im interested in trying the digitech whammy attachment. It seems better than one might expect having seen a lot of gimmicks
I have a Kahler with Sperzel locking tuners. Love it
Saw a great interview on YT a while back with elderly Mr. Sperzel himself, who spends half an hour explaining in extreme detail how all other mfgrs' tuning machines are inherently afflicted with 10 potential engineering flaws. He says even fancy tuners like Schallers & Grovers suffer at least 7 or 8 of these flaws, so he made it his mission to solve and eliminate all 10 problems on his tuners. May sound dull from my description but I found it fascinating -- and sure to give you a new appreciation for your Sperzels.
Oh my I want that red Steinberger so bad, that thing is awesome looking
I own a Cort G300 which has a Cort proprietary 2 point bridge, locking tuners and a graphtech nut. It stays in tune well and has most of the nuance of a floyd rose. It's by far the most bang for buck i've gotten from a guitar. Similar to an Ibanez AZ, but half the price.
First you need to know about Tone Vise for locking Vibrato systems. Yes you likely will need to grind the back of the nut to get it to be correct height on your neck. Good news is any FR one will work so if you mess it up you can just get another nut or shim it up a little. Next you need to have your spring loaded stabilizer installed and set up correctly to have it work. I have several and it is only stiff when I want it to be at base. I still can back bend 3-5 frets and dive as smooth as ever. It makes tuning more stable but yeah I have to drop D then very minor adjust the other strings about 5 sec thanks to tone vise. Another thing you likely know is you block your FR blade type vibrato then tune. You remove the block guitar is out of tune again. You then use the screws on claw to tune it back. I go to the hardware store and get harder screws with socket and phillips slots. This balances the spring tension with the string tension. It also makes tuning WAY quicker. In case you did not know. If you needed any installs done correctly contact me I do many of them. I am not fast but I sure as shit am one of the best. My action is just under 1mm at the 24th fret with almost no rake to 1st fret. No buzzing or dead bends areas. Smooth as shit! I also grind my heels away on LP kits I make so playing is slick as shit! But that mod is not about Vibrato
Little correction on the Jazzmaster bridge, the lock feature doesn't make it a "hardtail" exactly - it does only stop you from being able to bend *up* in pitch, but it's meant as more of a switch so that a broken string won't throw the rest out of tune - you adjust the screw next to it until it doesn't change your pitch when engaged, and then if you break a string mid-performance you just flip the switch and you're back in tune, just you can't bend up 🙂
If you rewatch it, he said "it can lock it into a hardtail" meaning you can make it function so similarly as such that the term is interchangeable. The way he said it I could tell basically what you explained was exactly what he meant. And I don't even have much knowledge on that trem system and still I could tell what he meant. The way he breaks it down makes me feel and know that he understood what he meant. Yes maybe he can confuse others, but for me, I perfectly understood. That it locks it from coming up in pitch.
I wish you would have covered the Leo Fender designed “Dual Fulcrum” tremolo found on G&L guitars.
Perhaps in a future video?
Thank you so much for referring to these as vibrato bridges.
I had a khaler and the back of the cam where the strings rest developed gouges (as if the strings were acting like a saw, digging into the metal. Not unlike zero fret problems that are common). And then I started having very frequent E and B string breaks. I ended up putting strips of thin plastic between the cam and the strings and it helped a lot (my strings came in plastic packages so I just cut strips from it, and used a paper hole punch to keep the adjust screws accessible). I really liked the tuning stability, feel, and range (way more range than a strat - not quite as much as a Floyd) and I thought the design that kept the saddles as a constant height was brilliant. But that "string touching the cam" design was bad. Surely they could have come up with a better design.
fun and some grammer too! Love it
One of the greatest guitar videos, thank you Dr Fludd! I know Rick Toone has been looking for manufacturing capabilities for his vibrato. Are we able to purchase the Toone Tremolo yet?? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated thanks again.
And no Stetsbar, yeah. Well, as Stetsbar Pro II user I can say it has bad zinc alloy. Mine already became bent tuneomatic bridge and teared saddles just in a year. And you can not just replace with other tuneomatic, because it uses 6 mm stops with thread in bridge. Saddles I replaced with Graphtech. And one more thing - main plate is attached to body with only two screws onder bridge, so string tention bends this plate. I added two screws on the back of the plate. and now it feels solid.
So now this trem is very stable, and even can do smth like divebombs. But it still have problems with sustain.
Nothing beats the Fender Floating Tremolo for me.
Anyone who plays Jaguar/Jazzmaster minus the wiggle stick is missing out!
I really want to acquire a Fender Mustang eventually and give it the Adrian Belew treatment by retrofitting a Kahler or TransTrem!
completely agree. 2-point way outclasses any other trem. fender don't seem to always make it an option - why not?
Andre, I love your playing. I am pretty picky on my Jazz and I love Cool Jazz and West Coast Jazz bands (and Spotify playlists). I also really love the Nat King Cole Trio. Are there any newer artists that channel that Cool Jazz vibe you might recommend? Usually I just end up listening to older 1945-1965 songs (not complaining as I love these).
Again, I love your insights and playing. Cheers!😉👍✨
Thank you! Honestly, I also prefer older jazz like yourself. As far as Cool Jazz goes my go to 3 are Miles, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond.
"Complexity Continuum"? Great name for a band! Also, great essay! Thanks!
After about 22 years of using Wilkinson trems on my partscaster and therefore the requirement to carry around those little hex wrenches to tighten the little plastic collar that held the arm in place, I eventually decided I prefer the usual Floyd Rose arm mounting method much more, so I experimented with completely removing the original arm mount from the main bridge "plate" and replacing that whole part of it with a Floyd Rose arm/mount, therefore customizing my Wilkinson with an arm that simply screws into place and tightens perfectly. And now I do not need to carry around hex wrenches anymore (or lose them!).
Kahler Spyder FTW. We generically refer to the Kahler flatmount bridges simply as 'kahlers', but that's only one family of their designs. IMO, their best design is the Spyder, which is like a floyd rose with extra features and upgrades including an option to lock it in place. The flatmount Kahlers, I used to love those because the installation is easy on a newly made body (less routing) and they are forgiving with alignment since you can adjust string spacing. They're also much easier to match the radius to the fretboard (no shims needed like on FR). But my issue with kahler flat mount trems, I had to solder the string wrap near the ball-end on the 3 treble strings (or they would come apart with use, mostly the high E), they also need to be pre-bent with a little arch, and the saddle rollers need to be lubed. After all this, the pitch return is still pretty bad. It's not susceptible to going out of tune when resting your palm on it (like a floyd), it has less warble/flutter when picking hard, but its really hard to get a deliberate bar flutter unless you weight the end of the arm with a solid metal knob (guitar volume knob) like Randy Coven did on his bass kahler. With the flatmount Kahlers, the distance between strings and pickups doesn't change when you use it like it does on a fulcrum trem. This seems to make it good for ultra-low action scenarios or use with finicky GK/MIDI pickups. I like that the kahlers (back when I used them) were all USA made from quality metals, with good machining. Whereas there were tons of different Floyd Licensed units often of poor quality. Kahler was really good about adjustability, with grub screws for the arms (no slop), adjustable string spacing, etc. These days though the only trems I use are the OFR, 1500 (1000 with stainless hardware and push-in arm) and the Gotoh 1996T. Otherwise I use fixed bridge. I'd say a floyd rose is LESS finicky than a flatmount kahler when you consider the roller lubing, the string soldering, etc. The floyd has the best pitch return after use...BUT it goes out of tune much easier when playing double stops or resting your palm on it. I had to adjust my positioning when switching back to Floyd from fixed, I was resting too heavy and bending it all sharp.
Also I noticed way less sustain with the Kahler flat mounts.