Gibson Maestro Lyre Vibrola Survival Guide
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- This one's been a loooooong time coming. Presenting the Vibrola survival guide, where I'll show you my process for ensuring the Gibson Lyre Vibrola will work at its full potential. I should note that everything in this video can be applied to short and long frame variations of this vibrato, as well as actual vintage and modern reproductions, the latter of which can vary a bit in quality and feel.
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Man!! I bought one of these SG's like 6 months ago, and I had to go through hours and hours of internet search to get to THIS very information right here. You're going to make a lot of people happy. Thank you!
For the price of these it sure would be nice if Gibson took care of this before they shipped it.
The Maestro in me honors the Maestro in you.
Absolute gold. And that includes the playing.
New Puisheen Video, always makes my day.
Thats some beautiful playing mate. Might add this Les Paul looks stunning!
Mike: I had one of those SGs and the bar did become loose over time but the plate that the flathead screw goes into is also threaded and essentially sets the tension. The nut underneath is a jam nut to hold it. When my arm would get loose the jam nut was NEVER loose, just as tight as I left it. It seemed that the arm became loose from fatigue/wear/compression of the nylon bushings after repetitive motion, not from the nut or screw loosening.
Blue Lock Tite on that tremolo arm nut.
Before I watched this video, I honestly thought that this vibrola was a hopeless piece of trash but you totally set me straight, man.
It is great to see someone giving the old vibrola a fair evaluation. I have one on my SG Special and I love the resistance that it gives and how that makes for a very smooth fluctuation in pitch.
Great! I have to dig up my blue SG with vibrola that have been lying in my unplayed guitars pile for more than ten years! Thx bro!🎉
Very similar to the RIC Accent vibrato, which stays in tune quite well and the handle stays at just the right tension. 👍👍
Exactly what I was looking for to fix the tuning issues on my 61 SG Maestro. My old '67Standard never had any problems , however. Thanks Puisheen.
My SG came with a roller bridge, and I'm charging it back to the ABR tuneomatic, definitely more stable,feels more solid and looks more original,and once you learn how cut your nut and saddles,like in this video,your guitar will stay in tune, no matter how hard you dive,thanks man great video.
I'm afraid you have done the research already,thru your own trial & error, the company should be calling on you, to help set up their guitars, before shipping them out,to unsuspecting buyers,Gibson needs to hire you brother.
Mike could we potentially get a vibrato arm technique video from you, a bit like your playing behind the bridge one? Your ability with it is always super inspiring
Mike, you’re the best. Truly a legend. Thank you for sharing your knowledge
I am the proud owner of a 1967 Gibson ES 345 with that tremolo system. Organically wonderful effect with no issues. 1:31
says it all.
That’s amazing. I love how you managed to get one of these bad boys on the les Paul there. Love the one pick up and blocked out cavity. I’ve not ceased to be impressed by some of the Gibson studio and tribute Paul’s on the used market that have some great worn in charm. I have a 61 RI sg and it’s a joy !
The maestro is a bit of a wild bull but that’s my favourite thing about Gibson electrics. Even if you get it near perfect set up wise it will still regularly require a bit of tuning and tlc but it makes them feel more alive and personable. I love my strat and modern guitars and how reliable they can be. Reliable modern guitars often feel sterile in comparison to Gibsons I’ve played where the set in neck can make the pitch wobble incrementally and the Klusons require a little more attention.
Excellent video
Hey Mike, another reminder that set up that is relevant to the style of the Guitar, and is the first thing you check if something is off.
I have found your Jazzmaster/Jaguar set up tips invaluable and my Squier CV Jag and my Hosco Kit Jazzmaster are great to play and stay in tune after a proper set up.
From that experience I also found a fix for a set up issue with my Squier CV Starcaster (yes the Semi hollow Offset).
The Tune-o-matic style bridge was really high and the tailpiece was low and this meant the strings touched the back of the bridge and it rattled. When I raised the tailpiece to the right height it was really high. So both had a lot of thread exposed above the inserts and It still sounded buzzy.
I checked the Neck and it had a lot of angle on it. Ok I thought why not do a reverse neck shim to get a better angle.
I had spare neck shims and turned one around and reset everything lowering the Bridge/Tailpiece so they have clearance, while getting the action the way I like it. It has made a huge difference to the feel and sound of the Guitar.The shaped shim sticks out of the top of the neck pocket so I'll get a blank shim and tidy it up.
Cheers
Pete
That trem looks awesome on that studio. Making me consider putting one on mine!
The guitar doctor strikes again. So cool.
Thanks!
I have the Epiphone version of this in the olive drab green. Did a pretty similar treatment with the nut, but so far haven't had to file the saddles yet and the vibrola hasn't given me any issues whatsoever. I did put locking tuners and a string butler on it as well (but those are pretty standard actions for me with this style of guitar anyway 😂) and I couldn't be happier with it! Great video! 🤘
Love the whole video and I can’t wait for the information you are researching!
You know, I've watched your videos on properly setting up Jags and Jazzmasters many times over and it's been my reference to getting those guitars setup properly as I have had an infatuation with those guitars for quite some time now. So, I just got a new SG standard 61 with the Maestro- and wouldn't you know it you made a video working on the tuning issues of one of these too. I'm so glad I found this before I began to start tinkering- because there is a lot of people having problems with these and I think they're doing things that maybe aren't going to help with the issues- and quite frankly are a bit drastic. To be honest though- I was skeptical with some of their solutions just from having worked on the Fender/Squiers using your suggestions.
Thanks much for the info- it just makes playing these wonderful guitars so much more enjoyable.
Merci pour cette vidéo. Je vais enfin envisager d'avoir une SG vibrola. Avant ta vidéo, j'avais des doutes sur la qualité de ce vibrato, alors encore merci
i'm not much of a les paul guy, but I like yours. The more hacked up a Gibson gets, the better I tend to like it. I tend to use roller bridges and half round strings or flats on non locking trems.
Babe wake up, new Puisheen video dropped
You da man Mike! This was great.
This is so sick. I’d just accepted my SG being out of tune after using if my vibrola. I’m gonna step up me set up game now!!
This is so friggin good. 🤘
looks so good too!
and the guitar aint bad either! 🤣😂
The various vibrato systems work well WHEN SETUP PROPERLY, and all contact points lubricated. I want to use it for the three plain strings, but have the three wound strings wrapped around the bridge. There is a video somewhere out there showing someone using that setup brilliantly. There are others who leave the vibrola on, but wrap the strings around the bridge, so the wang-bar isn't connected to the strings. I'm trying to decide on the best hardware to use, still looking...?
Great stuff! Thank you Mike!
Amazing video. Thank you.
I usually would lubricate the nut and bridge on my guitars, two Strats and my pride and joy, my Epiphone Lucille that I slapped a Vibrola tail piece on it!! Check out Frank Marino and Allan Holdsworth for crazy dive bombs on the Vibrola!
This video is golden baby'o, I would love to see a instalation video, I've been dying to install one of those on my sg, but there is no info how to do it, and in my country you cant even take it to a guitar tech because is a very unusual mod
This is fantastic.
I had a '66 Jr for years. Never had tuning issues with the vibrola. Had tuning (well, intonation) issues with the stock bridge and the vibrola seemed to sap a little sustain, but I always felt like that was more a function of the distance and geometry between the vibrola and the bridge than the vibrola itself. A Leo Quan bridge solved those issues, but I always missed the bar. Still miss that guitar.
My 64 CS SG thanks you.
nice video man, thanks
It would be great if you could show the solution to the loose term arm fix that you found.
What a revelation this video is. Top, top, top tips. Amazing playing too. Such a beautiful touch.
Subscribed.
Mike, what pick ups are in this guitar? It sounds magnificent.
Tnx man,learned a lot👍btw you sounds like JPetrucci😊
@puisheen Great video. I would like to fit a lyre vibrola in a three knob sg. It would end up sticking out like in your LP Studio. Does this placing of the vibrola has any disadvantage compared to the placing seen in the SG standard with longer neck that can fit the whole vibrola on the top of the guitars body?
I believe people use these wrong. These aren’t made for dive bombs. I heard someone say it’s made for more of a shimmer. I have one on my SG and I barely push on it and it stays in tune fine. I believe that’s what they were meant for. It’s not a Floyd Rose.
I think the issue that you mean is how warbly the sound gets on an SG in the chord area, it’s like having a Bigsby
Good stuff! Would this also make the sideway vibrola usable or is that system a lost cause?
Lost cost.
I have welder’s torch tip cleaners. I’m planned on trying those to file the slots. Do you recommend against that?
Sounds great man. Next test is playing some rock solos with string bending...will it come back to pitch??
Hi, are you planning on doing a Jaguar parts master build from start to finish? could really do with your help and knowledge?
@puisheen any advice on spring angle? Mi maestro I bought from Crazyparts is too steep for my guitar. The arm sticks up at a steep angle and the strings touch the front of the flange before the bridge!
Just fitted on my SG standard with my usual 11 -52 string set.
Is there a limit on string thickness here with this vibrola? The arm is pulling to the body 😢
brother make a video on the mosrite whammy
How do you get it to stop making the noisy vibration buzzy noise?
Let's see what you can do with the sideways vibrola next!
Wondering what nut files you are using? Man those things can be quite pricey.
He mentions they’re from StewMac.
I’m surprised the vibrola falls above a Bigsby for you!
WE NEED A SG61 REVIEW PLS!
What grit and diameter do you recommend with the abrasive cord?
I have five sizes that correspond with each string, but I will say I use the tiniest the least
What size and grit of abrasive rope please
I remember when you first said about the gibson nut/string alignment thing... those string butler jagoffs just made a bunch of headstocks ugly as hell then laughed all the way to the bank.
Edit: Also whats that bass neck with the split diamond inlay in the pile of necks next to the guitar rack?
That bass neck is the bane of my existence!
@@Puisheen Sounds like it'll be a juicy video then! ;)
@puisheen I’ve come across a couple of custom shop Gibsons with traditional ABR-1s and vibratos, which were rock solid in terms of tuning, but where the bridge posts rocked in the body as opposed to the bridge rocking on the thumbwheels.
How would you remedy that or is it even an issue?
some heroes don't wear capes....
the gibson headstock is a flawed desighn for the fact it breaks clean off at the nut every time it hits the floor.
Roller bridges should be standard on any guitar with a vibrola
Bigsby next pls!
I think vibratos get a lot of trash talk from people that don't have them. I've had a Bigsby B-7 on every les paul I've owned and haven't had any of the wild tuning problems that people talk about.
I had a les paul studio from around 07 or 08 and I kind of regret selling it 😢
Have you ever tried purple loctite (one step down from blue)? i used it on my jag, cause i had it on hand instead of blue (i prefer it for small electronics), and it is holding up well but doesnt need heated to make adjustments, even days later. I know you often recommend blue in many videos, so i don't want to presume its something you haven't tried, since you are far more skilled and knowledgeable than i, but i also have noticed a lot of people only know about the blue and red even though theres a whole bunch more kinds.
Purple Loctite probably wouldn’t be strong enough to hold a bridge in place against the posts when all six strings tuned to pitch are pulling against it.
I’ve used purple to hold screws in place on bridges but loosening them again required very little in the way of extra effort. I’m fairly sure a string at full tension, let alone 6 of them, would be capable of breaking the connection.
@@colmkelly5524 its holding up on my jag really well so far. i will try it out on my jazzmaster next i think, but might be worth a try just to confirm it for yourself.
@@GillamtheGreatest Do your Jag and JMs have Tuneomatics or offset bridges? I’m talking about using the purple in the context of locking a Tuneomatic to its posts.
Purple is fine for securing screws or individual saddles on an offset or really any bridge.
@@colmkelly5524 im using it on the two offset style bridge screws that keep the the bridge from being decked onto the pick guard, like he does in many of his other videos. so its for keeping the posts at the same height, and resisting downward string tension, similar to the tuneomatics, but the angles on those may be different enough where purple may be enough for the offset type bridges.
@@GillamtheGreatest The downward string tension alone isn’t causing the screws to loosen/move downwards on your offset bridges, it’s the vibration of the strings AND the downward pressure. Like if you set the saddle height, tuned up, and then didn’t play it or just wiggled the vibrato arm, the saddles would stay where they were.
In this video, Mike is talking about using Loctite to resist the force of the strings moving/pulling the bridge when the vibrato is being used by securing the bridge against the posts. I have tried and failed to prevent this movement of the bridge by hand on a Les Paul with a Bigsby, while I know that screws secured with purple Loctite are easily unscrewed with little extra effort.
Also Loctite is a “thread locker” - screws and saddles are threaded and lock into one another, while a Tuneomatic sitting on a thumbwheel and posts, even though the posts are sometimes threaded, doesn’t have threads to lock. Maybe I’m wrong, but considering the force acting on the bridge and the lack of any threads to lock, I don’t think purple Loctite would work.
Being a lefty, I am almost immune to vibrola tuning issues (since finding a lefty with one is damn near impossible).
You should try a String Butler on that bad boy. The truss rod cover variant (V1) is perfect for these Gibson headstocks.
Is that a bending bridge or a floating bridge?
It's a tune-o-matic. It rocks ever so slightly
"The Lyre vibrola is my 2nd favorite tremolo" Me: What?
"Behind the Jazzmaster vibrato system" Me: *WHAT?!*
👌👍💯🤠
I have a VOS SG '69 with the Lyre. The necka´ angle is wrong so to have som kind of proper string height, strings are poping out from the saddle. Gibson's reponse was "contact the original saler". This one was traced to originally been sold from some store i Holland and i'm the 3rd/4th owner way up in Sweden.
Customer care, nah. Been sitting in a storage for 10 years. Well spent $2000. Sad because it's beautiful but useless..
If only Mastery made a bridge for these.....
WHY CAN'T THEY JUST DO ALL THIS IN THE FACTORY??? FFS.
Yeah. Was questioning myself the same thing.
Help: My 2023 61 Maestro has a weird rattle to it when I hit the string. I get it even when fretting the last fret so it's not fret buzz. Any ideas on how to diagnose?? Here is a video of it. ua-cam.com/video/F8bLNFQSy9U/v-deo.html
Promo sm
Happy and healthy I get…but honestly I’m always a little unsure what you’re hoping I’m safe from….🤔 ominous
swiss cheese guitar
Don't call me a lyre
So let's do to a les paul what the company should have done themselves. Whole lot of bull
This vid needs to be shared with every person who owns a vibrola equipped guitar.
Yep!
Not only that: with every guitarist who owns SG and/or LP that is NOT equipped with vibrola (=many among these people do not even know that their guitar can be easily "armed" with one).
Your LP Studio is fast becoming my favourite guitar sound on UA-cam.
Amazing. Wish I had this video to reference earlier in 2023. I might have to give a Vibrola another try in 2024...
Mike the Vibrato Master
& that ain’t no lyre 😉
I'm a big fan of the Lyre/Maestro. Mike is spot on. Aside from the pivot point of the arm itself there are no moving parts, just a stout bent piece of metal that flexes. For all its maligned reputation just remember that it's fitted to a Gibson which virtually always has rough cut nut and bridge slots from the factory. Zero reason it can't be stable with a little TLC. I also like the position of the arm - very natural.
EDIT: With my old SG I used to wrap the strings ABOVE the holes in the tuning posts to slightly decrease break angle and allow the strings to slide even easier through the nut slots.
Why don’t gibson just set up the maestro system guitars like this before they ship it 🤔
Why not replace the bridge with one with rollers?
Definitely an option but can change the tone and sustain slightly. The vibrato itself already makes the guitar a bit snappier and brighter than one with a stop bar or wraparound and it will sustain slightly less. No biggie if you're playing AC/DC but if you do a lot of clean fingerpicking you'll notice it more. A vibrato equipped SG is super versatile. Better yet, install a treble bleed or drop in some humbucker-sized p90s and you can really turn down the volume control on the guitar for some sparkle.
Trickier depending on which roller TOM bridge you end up getting. Some have those roller saddles taller than your standard ABR/Nashville style TOM where the saddles are lower/closer to their enclosure. Which in turn will affect the overall set up (since the strings will sit a little higher off the fretboard in the 15th-22nd fret region). Some exist where the rollers are lower set (like Schaller, or the likes).
@@maxpeck4154 yeah I installed one on mine and I plan to install on a Les Paul when I get one. Thanks for the tips, the pickups I have on my SG are super bright to it might control them a bit if that’s the case.
@@maxpeck4154 thanks for the tip, will consider that.
There's also the thing where roller bridges stop rolling after a while. With corrosion they often end up freezing, defeating the entire purpose of the bridge. I hate those things
Mike is The goat of guitar tech videos. Second note: Do I want an SG now? Probably.
Now im interested in whether the lyre maestro vibrola can be added to any guitar with gibson style bridge. If so, where can one get parts for it?
Excellent and helpful video 🙂🙂 on top of that I really like the looks of your Les Paul Studio with the removed neck pickup and the empty unused holes...
I have modified many of my guitars like that...
Is there any difference in tuning stability with the short Maestro that came on the Specials vs the Maestro with the tailpiece that you show in the video? Just curious as was thinking of putting a short one on my SG Special. Great Video!!!
You are so Invaluable Puisheen! Had my Vibrola on my Tri-Humbucker SG Guitar for a long time and didnt know the proper steps to checking and seeing if this was the main issue! Will have to put it on the bench and double check these symptoms with your tips here! Hope to see a Future Video with this going forward! Also, hope you are doing well! You are one of the Masters of Offsets and Odd ideas! Love your vids!
I haven't used it on any guitar projects, but Permatex makes an orange thread locker that supposed to be a strong as blue, but removable with hand tools. Might be worth a try?
"vintage and modern reproductions, the latter of which can vary a bit in quality and feel."
This is survivorship bias. All the shit vibrolas from back in the day didn't make it lol
Definitely the worst vibrato system for guitars I've ever used. Nice to know someone out there is enjoying it. Hope yall have a good string budget ;)
I know it sounds weird but I wanna put a sg style looking trem arm on my jaguar. Any pointers?