OK, you sold me on it! Though I'm interested to hear what the difference was you noticed. Are we talking sustain or tone? Or both?

BTW:



NICE!!

Cheers - C

Thanks! Yeah, I went on the starvation diet for a bit over that one, but it was worth it!

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

so I should feel good about getting the aluminum bridge and tailpiece for my LP project? Good news.

I don't think there is one "right" material to make guitar parts. it just may be different materials work well together, and you need to find the proper part for what you want to hear.

on your LP do you string from the front to the back of the tailpiece, and then wrap around over it, or just in from the back?

all the pictures I have seen of factory LP's from the early days, have the strings through from the front, and wrapped over the tailpiece. Supposed to be better for tone and sustain. it lets you lower the tailpiece further into the body, thus transferring more vibration. Just don't drop it all the way, or the down pressure can collapse the bridge over time.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Zak wylde (is he kim's son) wraps his lp's the same way saying it lessens the break angle between bridge and tailpiece and therefore cuts down on breakage.

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No no and no

I string it from the front and over the top after seeing that is how the Rev. Billy F. Gibbons strings Pearly Gates

And yes, I think once you have your LP project done, you'll be happy you went with aluminum. It makes me sound like a total snob, but after hearing the difference between the chrome plated bridge and tailpiece on an LP Std and the aluminum, if I ever bought an LP Std, the first thing I would do is change the bridge and tailpiece.

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

On that last, I thought most of the point was precisely to screw the thing all the way down so's it's rock solid to the timber. Maximum vibration transference - better sustain. The break angle of the strings is still less than with it strung the other way, so it must be putting less pressure on the bridge.

That's the way I've done it for a good while now anyway, and I notice Joe Bonamassa does the same... (Proves nothing, I know.)

Anyhow. All this has solved my LP tailpiece upgrade questions. Next, should I go for the Peter Green pickup set?

Oh, BTW: what was it lomitus asked at the top of the thread?

...Sorry, Jim...!

- C

Science gets lost when the "snake oil" gets sold!

I lived through, and I well remember, the good old "BRASS" days of guitar replacement parts. I don't recall why all of the BRASS bits lost favor. Perhaps the people who thought it improved their sound (and sustain, I guess) came to realize otherwise and quietly dumped it all. But that's how all of these trends go, no?

Nowadays, boy, steel (again?) is the way to go, for a little while at least. So those aftermarket companies better make their money now!

Man, you can buy a whole guitar (Squier) for what some will sell you a replacement tremolo. And it's worth it because they say it is!

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I'm waiting for uranium, iridium or osmium tremelo blocks to come out before I get on board... although rhodium and platinum are starting to come down in price -- not much more than gold, now...

There is nothing to think about. Buy the Callaham upgrade kit and be done with it.

I have a brass nut on one of my strats and the Malmsteen comes with one. I actually like the tone and sustain of them. I wouldn't put one on every guitar though. Just nice to have something different.

I was looking at different trem blocks for FR's on ebay and saw there's a titanium one...but at $160, it's a pretty hefty price tag! Especially considering that's what I paid for the whole FR unit itself. A brass one is only $40.

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

Haha - well there's already titanium bridge saddles! Though titanium blocks are a new one on me:



I must get one immediately! My guitars won't sound right till I do...!

- C

PS There's also titanium snare drums (Kitanodrums.com). The price helped make up my mind on that one...

Well first I have to say thank you to everyone here for contributing! I didn't really expect this thread to take off the way that it did.

Clearly here we are talking about two seperate issues...tone and sustain. The one thing that I'm getting out of this more than anything is...well...like so many things guitar related, at least as far as tone goes, is that it's a bit subjective. Obviously some folks spend their entire lives in search of that "perfect" tone that they always seem to hear in their head. Some find it, others don't. In that regard, I'm fairly open minded...I know the tone I'm after, I've heard it from a couple of guitars over the years and I'm fairly sure that my issue there is going to be more related to pickups more than anything like the wood of the instrument, the material the trem block is made of, etc.. Basically, every guitar I've heard that has had "the tone" I want, regardless of brand (2 Japanese Strats and 1 Kramer Strat clone), the instrument had a set of EMGs. So from that point of view, I know where I'm going to go......eventually.


Now as far as sustain goes...
Certainly "trends" are an issue here...steel, brass, zinc, steel...seems to change every decade or so as to what is "best". As others have stated, trends come and go...hard to put stock in them either way. I also get what some of you are saying about the science...steel being denser then zinc, etc., I would venture to guess that something like brass for example would typically have a "brighter" tone with the sustain being on par with steel...but that's not what I'm really concerned with here....I'm not really interested in buying a brass block anyways (or platinum, aluminum, or plutonium, etc). My main concern here is really the steel vs. zinc alloy issue.

I'm sure that the steel block would provide more sustain than zinc but in regards to just sustain (not considering tone for a moment), I have to wonder how significant the difference really is. In the case of my '96 MIM, obviously the large steel trem block from Callaham made a big difference over the small stock zinc alloy block but there we're not only talking a difference in the material, but a rather significant difference in physical size and mass. I wonder how much of a difference there really is between a zinc and a steel block of the physical same size? I'm sure there -is- a difference and as Twelvebar mentioned, if they were the same size, the steel will have a bit more mass, but is that difference really significant or is it something that can only be measured by precise scientific instrumentation...see my point?

Ultimately what I will end up doing is just trying the new trem as is and see how it sounds. Being a Mexican bridge, I can easily obtain a steel block for it later if I choose. To be completely honest here, most of this is really just to keep my mind (and hands) busy while the damn lacquer sets anyways! LOL!!! I -really- want to put that puppy together and see how she sounds, but I don't want to mess up the finish...it's that whole impatience thing. This way as I'm sitting here in the evening playing around with the new bridge and such, it gives me something else to think about other than "Lets slap that sucker on!"...a good debate like this will keep my mind going in circles for days .


BTW...



Actually, it's very close. The two outer-most screws are exact but a couple of the inner screw holes on the body aren't precisely lined up...close, but not precise (another indication of a cheap import body). I think it's close enough so what I'm going to do is try it as is and see how it feels. If it feels decent I'll leave it but if it binds or anything, I'll take the trem back off, plug the holes that are off and re-drill. Since this type of repair is going to be hidden by the bridge, it's not a big deal.


Ok...again many thanks to everyone for their comments and opinions. Gives me a few things to think about while I'm biding my time.

Peace,
Jim

Cheers!

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72 Custom Tele
50's Strat
Sqiuer Classic Vibe 50's P bass
Blues Junior
DG acoustic
Sparkly Thong

I agree with the steel block it does sustain more

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Torrance and Heather forever!