How many forumites own whammy equipped guitars but don't use them?

arjunmenon · 2011-04-26T09:28:32+00:00

I know a fair share of people here own whammy equipped guitars yet don't use them or block them. Reasons?

arjunmenon

Mr T wrote I like the "natural reverb" effect that you get from a trem, but I'm not a whammy user, so I block mine. I prefer the sound of a blocked trem over a fixed bridge.

Interesting point Mr. T. I've heard it mentioned before (i.e. that it creates a kind of hollowness) but haven't really paid attention to it.
I should probably listen more attentively.

Warren wrote Thanks Arjun. I only really use it for 1 above, so I have 4 new things to work on. Uh...thanks, I think! ?

You're welcome man. Anything to expand the mind ?

Norman86 wrote And i know that playing with the whammy is gonna whip my poor strat outa tune ☹

Not necessarily. You shouldn't have any issues if:

1.The guitar is strung properly.
2.The spring tension vs. the string tension is adjusted properly.
3.The nut is properly cut & lubed so there's no snagging.

If you've got locking tuners & a teflon coated nut, then that takes care of many of your issues.
Tuning will change as the strings stretch out, but once they settle in you should experience hassle-free whammy usage.
I've played Mojo's custom shop strat and it doesn't have any issues (of course Mojo knows how to set up his guitar).

singemonkey wrote Arjun you should consider doing a little workshop on this. I don't have any real intention to play Jeff Beck style, but I know I'm totally underskilled when it comes to using the bar. I use it for dips in surf music and I'm just starting to figure out - now that I've got the bigsby on an LP - how to do some of the Brian Setzer type stuff.
I also don't know about the set up on my Pacifica. It's very stiff, and hard to do graceful dives. But I'm worried that if I set it up easier that I'll have big problems using the guitar in the multiple tunings it has to do.

I'd love to make a workshop out of this at the next Graemestock. Re the Pacifica, sounds like your spring tension is quite high compared to your string tension. Bob's got the same issue i think.. This can be remedied by loosening the spring claw (keep an eye on the bridge while you do this).
But if you're playing in alternate tunings, then it does pose a problem.

Hammeron, IINM you have 2 floyd equipped geets. Sounds like you need to find the right balance between string & spring tension.
I'm sure Alan can provide us more info on setting up vibrato units properly.

arjunmenon

Alan Ratcliffe wrote I already do that with my LH. I can vibrato specific notes within a chord too (BTW - Is that weird? Someone pointed it out the other day and seemed surprised, but it's natural for me - particularly to make a melody within a chord sequence stand out).

Not weird at all. I'd say that's a pretty avant-garde technique. It's a great physical take on the B-bender.
Akin to Jerry Donahue's behind the nut bends 8)
Come to think of it, it's a pretty neat way of voice-leading.

ActionArnie

Got a strat a couple years ago and the first thing I did (before even trying the guitar) was take the thing off ... because I didn't know how to use it. Saw the Pink Floyd tribute okes at the theatre the other day which inspired me to put it on and give it a try. I realise I don't know what I'm doing with it and removed it promptly again.

I'm keen to stick a bigsby on my epi dot when I get around to pimping it, but that'll be more because I like the way the bigsby looks rather than any intention on my part to actually use the whammy.

Norman86

Arjun Menon wrote
Norman86 wrote And i know that playing with the whammy is gonna whip my poor strat outa tune ☹
Not necessarily. You shouldn't have any issues if:

1.The guitar is strung properly.
2.The spring tension vs. the string tension is adjusted properly.
3.The nut is properly cut & lubed so there's no snagging.

If you've got locking tuners & a teflon coated nut, then that takes care of many of your issues.
Tuning will change as the strings stretch out, but once they settle in you should experience hassle-free whammy usage.
I've played Mojo's custom shop strat and it doesn't have any issues (of course Mojo knows how to set up his guitar).

Specifically because im still new, my strat is setup with 5 springs, screwed all the way to the back!
Its not blocked though, only the springs!
To start fiddling with the trem is going to require taking springs out, and getting it to float...
While it would be nice to play with, its just a gimmick for me at this moment, so until i can play half as well as you guys here, its not even a consideration yet! Its too much work! lol!

The strat is strung with 10's, but still has the standard Fender nut!
I havent replaced that! Hell, if its good enough for Fender custom shop strats...?
But i wouldnt mind getting a better nut on there! But surely this would be cut properly already?
Anyhow... How would you lube the nut? ???

i also dont have locking tuners...

AlanRatcliffe

Hammeron wrote Interesting...explain why you prefer the sound of the blocked trem over fixed bridge.

The springs add a little resonance and "reverb" to the body sound. Anything that affects the way the guitar resonates ultimately affects the way the strings vibrate (via the bridge) too, which the pickups sense directly. Every pickup is also at least slightly microphonic (especially with gain), and this picks up some of the body vibration directly and feeds it in to the mix.

Arjun Menon wrote Not weird at all. I'd say that's a pretty avant-garde technique.

Listening to the better classical players, I would have said it's pretty commonplace in other styles of music. Violinists too - listen to Isthak Perlman's version of the 24 Caprices and he really makes those intervallic phrases sound like two violinists playing with different phrasing and expressiveness.

Akin to Jerry Donahue's behind the nut bends 8)

Yeah, I do that too ...since seeing him. ? The only way to vibrato/bend an open string. An absolute cow to control properly though. I also bend the neck quite a bit a la Adrian Belew.

I think it all boils down to learning to use a whammy. Like any other guitar technique, it takes time to get the hang of it. If you don't have one or don't use it, you usually build up other techniques to compensate to a degree. You also accept that there are certain things you can and can't do without one (I can fake the intro to Barracuda, but there are many parts of The Attitude Song that are impossible ...actually there are parts that are impossible with a whammy bar! ?).

Bob-Dubery

Alan Ratcliffe wrote I already do that with my LH. I can vibrato specific notes within a chord too (BTW - Is that weird? Someone pointed it out the other day and seemed surprised, but it's natural for me - particularly to make a melody within a chord sequence stand out).

I've seen other players do that. A friend of mine, Mike Burger, does that sometimes. As Arjun suggests it's a nice way to make one note in a chord stand out, that one note grabs your ear a little harder than the others.

It means doing the vibrato with your finger rather than from wrist. I'm working at that. It seems to me that it means I have to get my fingers more perpendicular to the finger board, which is no bad thing.

Wizard

Alan Ratcliffe wrote The springs add a little resonance and "reverb" to the body sound. Anything that affects the way the guitar resonates ultimately affects the way the strings vibrate (via the bridge) too ...

One of the most effective upgrades I've done is the Callaham bridge block.
Many mock it as a waste of money.
But ... think about it ... for a soft tail, it's a pretty essential resonating part of the sound train ...

arjunmenon

Norman86 wrote The strat is strung with 10's, but still has the standard Fender nut!
I havent replaced that! Hell, if its good enough for Fender custom shop strats...?
But i wouldnt mind getting a better nut on there! But surely this would be cut properly already?
Anyhow... How would you lube the nut? ???
i also dont have locking tuners...

Big bends nut sauce lubes the nut well. I've heard pencil lead works well too.
The customs shop strat i played didn't have locking tuners either.
The point is that if points 1 - 3 are followed you can acheive hassle-free whammy usage.

Cleric

I went through a very whammy heavy phase when I got my Ibanez RG. I was playing a lot of Van Halen at the time and really enjoyed using it.

But a few years on I got annoyed with the sub-par whammy of my guitar and blocked it so my guitar would hold tuning better.

(ps off-topic: if ANYONE knows where I can get a left-handed Epiphone Les Paul, please let me know)

Norman86

Cleric wrote (ps off-topic: if ANYONE knows where I can get a left-handed Epiphone Les Paul, please let me know)

Marshall Music is your best bet!

DonovanB

Hammeron wroteHammerons.....

There's more than one? ?

I think for some it's hard enough learning to play the guitar, now you add another dimension with a tremolo or Floating bridge it's hard to get going.

arjunmenon

Lol ? Well said Don.

Seventhson

I love using it. I can get such creepy sounds from it. And also it adds colour to ones solos?

Malkav

Such heresy going on here...

I have edge equipped guitars (floyd rose style), all of them Ibanez, and can't really understand the desire to permanently block...That would be why I got one of these ? Now I can block and unblock at will ?

It's kinda funny cause when you're playing heavier styles of music with really tight distortions that whole reverb effect the springs give is f***ing annoying. I put rubber tubes down the centers of my springs to prevent that extra resonance ? Nothing ruins a heavy track more than having the springs go "boowwmm" after every palm mute...

DonovanB

Arjun Menon wrote Lol ? Well said Don.

?
It's odd though cos I'm not knocking people who don't use them or like them, it just took me long enough to play without one.

A bad floating bridge can be quite horrendous. I've had a few below average ones and I cut my teeth on an Ibanez, before they got much better bridges.

as for Biggsby's.. ptui..

Hammeron

Right, after this discussion I have decided {after this coming Sunday} to thread a whammy bar onto one of my guitars, and start using it. ?

Just by the way, who coined the term "Whammy bar", dare I say it was Mr. F. Zappa ?

singemonkey

Donovan Banks wrote as for Biggsby's.. ptui..

? Played one or just conceptually?

A Bigsby's like a Les Paul: Old fashioned. Uncomfortable. Extremely limited.

But what it does, it does best, and it looks fantastic doing it ?

Yeah. Old Leo Fender and his confusion between vibrato and tremolo that's plagued us ever since. Vibrato arm. Vibrato tailpiece. Vibrato system. Gibson came up with Vibrola. They're all more accurate but they never seem to stick.

And I can't bring myself to say whammy bar. Sounds like something out of an ad for a hypermarket sale.

Riaan-Combrink

Hammeron wrote Just by the way, who coined the term "Whammy bar", dare I say it was Mr. F. Zappa ?

Well, Wikipedia repeats the explanation I first remember hearing; guitarists started using the phrase with reference to the sound Lonnie Mack got from a Bigsby on the 1963 instrumental hit "Wham!".
But then I also recall reading that this is disputed, as (uncredited) sources used whammy bar in the 50s with reference to certain tremelo arms.

BMU

Good thread.

Early on I whammied like a demon (slayer influence.) But for many years I've blocked them 'cos I'm lazy. The extreme timewasting tedium of balancing the trem after a string change makes me never change strings. Ever. So effectively, a whammy KILLS my tone HAHA.

And I do love hearing what a heretic I am... y'know for playing Vai signature guitars with a blocked whammies. (I'm sure CAB will concur.) Sacred cow slaying is always fun.

PS - I should add, on my Ibby with an Edge Zero trem, I haven't blocked it. Yay Ibanez, they got it right. But I still don't use it 'cos it's not part of my style any longer. Maybe some day. They do add flavour in the right hands.

WantzChas

I use the tremolo bar on my Ibanez quite often, Satch, Van Halen, Slayer, Nightwish type stuff. Not so much on my PRS though. I can play around with it and torture the neighborhood's animals for hours.

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