Ventura
Well-known member
Please expand, just interested in hearing your side of the story...TeleBlaster":2m8ppo1f said:
V.
V.
TeleBlaster
New member
It's about energy transfer. A floating trem will give you more neck tone and the body has less influence on the tone, as the energy of the vibrating strings is less efficiently transferred to the body, for two reasons.
1) The contact points between the bridge and body are limited to the knife edges to the screw posts to the inserts, and the springs. The knife edges are very small, the threads of the posts are another degree of separation from the tone wood.
2) The springs absorb more energy than they transfer. The claw screws to the claw, the claw to the springs, the springs to the tone block all are very small and inefficient contact points to vibrate the body.
The best way is "decking" if your guitar does not have a recess routed behind the bridge. The bridge is installed in such a fashion that the base plate sits flat and even on the body. The spring tension is increased significantly over that of a floating trem to hold the base plate firmly and evenly against the top of the guitar.
The best energy transfer from the strings to the saddle blocks to the base plate to the body is straight down to the top of the guitar, and this is what you will have if you "deck" the bridge. The springs and posts' role in transferring sound energy to the body has been greatly minimized, whereas in a floating setup they're all you got.
If you have a guitar that is floating, then set it up decked, you can readily hear the difference when playing the guitar acoustically. It will be much louder acoustically and have a different tone as you vibrate the body more because of the much better efficiency of energy transfer. You may be able to feel the body vibrating where before most of the energy was absorbed before it got to the body.
This is why some say the old six screw Strat bridges sound better than the modern two point. Even when set up properly for a pull up, the front edge of the base plate is pressed evenly against the body where the two point floats.
The next best thing is to block the tone block, permanently install a hardwood block perfectly fit between the tone block of the bridge and the body. This will allow you to crank up the spring pressure again and have solid contact between the bridge and the body, though not quite as efficient as the bridge pressing directly on the top of the guitar, this method will again radically change how the guitar behaves when producing sound through the vibrations of the strings.
1) The contact points between the bridge and body are limited to the knife edges to the screw posts to the inserts, and the springs. The knife edges are very small, the threads of the posts are another degree of separation from the tone wood.
2) The springs absorb more energy than they transfer. The claw screws to the claw, the claw to the springs, the springs to the tone block all are very small and inefficient contact points to vibrate the body.
The best way is "decking" if your guitar does not have a recess routed behind the bridge. The bridge is installed in such a fashion that the base plate sits flat and even on the body. The spring tension is increased significantly over that of a floating trem to hold the base plate firmly and evenly against the top of the guitar.
The best energy transfer from the strings to the saddle blocks to the base plate to the body is straight down to the top of the guitar, and this is what you will have if you "deck" the bridge. The springs and posts' role in transferring sound energy to the body has been greatly minimized, whereas in a floating setup they're all you got.
If you have a guitar that is floating, then set it up decked, you can readily hear the difference when playing the guitar acoustically. It will be much louder acoustically and have a different tone as you vibrate the body more because of the much better efficiency of energy transfer. You may be able to feel the body vibrating where before most of the energy was absorbed before it got to the body.
This is why some say the old six screw Strat bridges sound better than the modern two point. Even when set up properly for a pull up, the front edge of the base plate is pressed evenly against the body where the two point floats.
The next best thing is to block the tone block, permanently install a hardwood block perfectly fit between the tone block of the bridge and the body. This will allow you to crank up the spring pressure again and have solid contact between the bridge and the body, though not quite as efficient as the bridge pressing directly on the top of the guitar, this method will again radically change how the guitar behaves when producing sound through the vibrations of the strings.
TeleBlaster
New member
.....so what's happening with a decked or blocked trem is that the bridge is behaving just like a hardtail when not diving.
The bad points are that you can't pull up or flutter.
The good points are superior tone, best tuning stability even over a hard tail, instant D-drop, plus you can still dive and it always always returns perfectly.
The bad points are that you can't pull up or flutter.
The good points are superior tone, best tuning stability even over a hard tail, instant D-drop, plus you can still dive and it always always returns perfectly.