If I play an open string and then bend a higher string the lower string goes out of tune about a half step flat. I think the bend is taking pressure off of the bridge which has three tremelo springs. Anything I can do to stop it?

I really doubt the openstring is going out a half step, unless your bending around 3 maybe four whole steps.

The ultimate answer is to block the trem. Other than that you can change to higher tension springs. If thats still not good enough add more springs but reduce the amount your tremclaw is screwed in, to keep the bridge floating. If thats what you want.

If you dont want the bridge to float at all, simply screw the tremclaw in more.

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No no and no

When I bought my most recent Strat it had the same problem and I solved it by doing as Nik suggested and setting it flush to the body,problem solved.It didn't bother me to do that as I never used the pull back option on a floating vibrato.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

You have about 5 Options.

1. Fixed bridge - add springs or spring tension (claw screws tighter) to prevent bends moving the bridge.

2. Disabled bridge - front blocked - inside the spring cavity, use a small piece of wood wedged in between the body and the bridge block on the claw/springs side. Tighten the springs to clamp it in place.

3. Tremsetter or similar device - control the exact amount of tension of your floating tremolo. Also allows you to set a limit on whammy/trem bar movement.

4. Disable bridge - rear blocked - inside the spring cavity, use a small piece of wood wedged in between the body and the back of the bridge block (effectively on the opposite side of the intonation screws). The wood should be wide enough so that when tuning up the strings tension keeps the block in place. The springs don't add any functionality to the guitar so you slacken them off.

5. Floating bridge - add more springs or stiffer springs (especially if you using a higher string gauge than 9s) which will counteract bridge movement when you do a bend. Make sure the bridge is set to the correct floating height. Fender spec is a 1/8" (3.2 mm) gap at rear of bridge.

And one more option.

Till I read people talking about it on this Forum I'd never heard of this issue. Why wasn't it causing me problems - I do plenty of unison bends?

I examined my playing technique and discovered that without even realising it my fingers had learned to do this, to keep the unbent string in tune:

Fretting the G and B strings unbent:



And with a two step bend on the G string while sounding the B string as well:



Turns out, my second finger is also bending the B string a touch to keep it at pitch as the force of the bend brings the back of the bridge up and detunes all the other strings a little.

I mentioned this before and someone asked me what I did when playing my non-vibrato guitars. I went and checked and it seems in that situation the fingers leave the unbent string alone. So it is an unconscious interaction between ear and fingers. They just didn't bother to tell me about what they were doing!

Of course, this method doesn't work with bent strings played against open ones. For that, some people use an up-pull on their whammy bar to keep the open strings in tune.

In other words, there are playing technique solutions to this problem as well as hardware ones...

Cheers - C

Your nut could need some ajustment ( file) where srtings go. The groove should be the good size too.

You should tell us which guitar you have , vintage bridge, or modern ?

Send us picture of you nut I'd tell you if its good or wrong.

Or bring your guitar to a good tech for a tun-up. Good tech will fix your problem

When you have played enough and have enough experience for your fingers and ears to work together without you working hard to make it happen,like you said,then you're becoming a good guitar player!
Keep up the good work.

All good ideas. Unison bends aren't really a problem though. I discovered the problem while playing some muddy water type stuff. In particular if I hit the low E string and and do a whole step bend on 15th fret of b string the low E goes to about an Eb. I will probably just block it in the back. I have a 2009 American deluxe since somebody asked.

Something sounds loose.

I'm wondering how you got there from that?

Shockwarrior,

Sorry I can't translate, understand what you said.

If you can said in others words....

Hi again aldric_m. What you describe is indeed a unison bend, whether you do it against an open string or further up the neck. Two strings are sounded and in this case one is bent and the other is not. On a guitar with a vibrato bridge the unbent string will go out of tune. Laws of physics.

Cause and solutions have all been identified above. If you plan to permanently block the bridge the method involving a little wooden block shoved in from the back is a good strong one (which is where the name "blocked" bridge comes from, after all).

Good luck - C

when I think of unison bends I think of holding a note and bending another to a unison pitch. Fifth fret b string and seventh fret g string and bend the seven on the G to up a whole step to match. Maybe Im wrong though...