I've always wondered, I've seen most legendary guitarrist with it removed...isnt it dangerous ?

Dangerous? Only if you have a hairy belly.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Hahahaha, well Im asking cause of the cable thats in there and stuff.

It's not really dangerous. it's just a ground to the body. I'd say some players don't like when the screws on the back plate cover get boogered and then pull places on their shirt or scratch their stomach. Probably makes it easier for them or a tech to do quick fixes. still, I wouldn't use the trem too much right up against you. more chance of damage from the spring to you than any kinda shock.

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TOO MANY GUITARS, TOO LITTLE TIME!

Current Stable:
Fender Stratocaster MIM 07
Squire II Stratocaster MIK 89?
ESP LTD MH-100QM
Jackson KE3 Kelly MIJ

I've never heard of anything bad happening because the back trem cover was off.

I usually keep the cover off of my strats (string changes are easier with it off).

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Ok thanks for the help! Yeah i thought the trem thing but i dont go mental on the whammy bar, i take a more gilmour approach to it. But thanks for clearing that up lads

I leave mine off now cuz it looks cooler when I play my guitar with my teeth.

Lame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrL5APQHMxY

Way cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLRu3hYziQ

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Bill

The habbit started in 60's when some (Oh Jimi. With all the talent you got, you could've done better than leaving some surperstitious-type beliefs behind) people mistakenly thought, that keeping it open would give more tone to guitar.

Faster string change?!? All my strats have come with backplate with a hole for that in it

And where would you use them saved 9 seconds anyways

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SRV should really be sold under "drums, hammers and explosives" cathegory

I got to take it off anyway when I change strings because the tremelo moved.....just made sense to keep it off. I don't want to strip the holes where the screws go over time.

+1

If you are in the middle of a gig, those saved 9 seconds could be very important!

YMMV.

Anything to make life easier at a gig is a plus.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Nope. In the whole mess they mean nothing.

Easy for me to say. The strings i use rarely break anyways and i do carry at least 2 to gig anyways. THAT saves some real time.

And with lock tuners finding the string through your trem block is really not the time taking part. Messing with tuner in the dark, swetty hands, pliers lost, endless tuning - bending - tuning etc take so much time, the little more effort in aiming the string in is nothing.

However people may do whatever they wish in this. Since it has been years, since i last had stomach area fit enough to show without shirt covering it (i actually could go with the rest of old blues players and get a jacket already ), I keep the cover on just to keep the ground wire safe. Avoiding a 5-spring version of bikini shave is not the reason.

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SRV should really be sold under "drums, hammers and explosives" cathegory

Hell yeah its dangerous!

I left mine off and 8 seconds later Eric Johnson crawled in the back of my Strat and stole my Tone!

Backplates are there for a reason folks.

Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

+1!!!!!!!

I took mine off but I have a hairy belly and that hurt when I got the hair caught i the springs whilst doing some serious diving.................. I decided to shave a patch in my belly hair and that worked great until one day I swooped on the whammy bar and it stuck...........on further investigation I found a chunk of belly button fluff in the springs so the next day I put the back-plate back on..........

The lesson I learned is that back-plates save you money on hair removal and protect from belly-fluff........................

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

Ever tried to change strings on a Strat where the trem block didn't line up with the 6 little holes on the back plate? Not an issue on modern-style Strats with the large rectangular hole but on a Reissue if you say deck the trem the holes on the back plate are pretty far off the holes in the trem block.

I have in the past gotten a second trem plate and enlarged the holes to accomodate having the trem decked on the various Reissue-style Strats I've owned (that way I keep the "stock" plate perfect for those who demand such things when they buy a used guitar). It's six of one/half a dozen of the other whether you enlarge the holes on a vintag-style plate or re-drill the mounting holes on a modern plate (the holes on the sides are in slightly different places on a Reissue versus an American Standard/American Deluxe).