If you're going to deck it, you may as well block it.

My 2¢.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

+1

And use 5 springs:



I use a machined aluminum block along with 5 springs. I have found that slight adjustments of the spring claw can alter the sound and sustain of a blocked trem. Tighten the springs too much and enough tension can be put on the trem block to pull it away from the aluminum block. I can't measure it, but you can hear the difference if you put you ear against the upper bass bout of the guitar.

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Bill

Bill. Any reason you used aluminum vs something soft like balsa wood?

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Gary

You want something hard and solid that will transmit vibrations from the trem block to the body. Balsa is too light and soft. Most people use maple blocks. I just happened to have a machined aluminum block lying around in one of my junk drawers (it was actually the blade holder of an old matt cutter I had) that with a little sanding was a perfect fit. It acts just like an extension of the trem block in transmitting vibration to the body.

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Bill

Ha! Gotcha.

Thanks guys.

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Gary

If I owned a strat I'd definitely block it, I'm a confirmed hardtail man. I'd also want no contours. And for it to be a Telecaster.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

I made my own wedges out of beech and tapped them in with a mallet quite firmly. It will be a job to get them out if I ever decide to. Beech is harder than maple as well as cheaper and easier to find.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I used some Maple from a tree that fell on my property.

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

What trem?

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

i rarely use the trem but i enjoy owning a guitar that has one and will stay in tune. i use it to coax feedback and sustain notes. i'm taking that guitar to practice today for the first time. depending on how many beers i drink, i might come home with the trem bar inserted in my eye or some other orifice.

I too rarely use my tremelo arm. I leave it off 90% of the time. But yes, I have my trem set to just barely float. It's about 1/8th" or less from the body.