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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:09 am
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woops the pictures got a little bigger than they should!.....

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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:16 pm
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bluestube wrote:
woops the pictures got a little bigger than they should!.....

That's ok, it makes it easier to see how your bridge sets.

Thank you!


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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:39 pm
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wickedmartini wrote:
The gap at the back of the plate is one thing, the entire bridge floating above the body because the screws are too loose is another.


OK - I see it now. It must be that the pivot screws are up too high.

Remove the strings and springs. Loosen all six pivot screws about 1/4". Adjust while the strings and strings are off the strat. Push the plate down and forward. Tilt the bridge plate the desired amount (1/8" typical). Bring the two outside screw down until they just barely touch. (you can use a thin strip of paper to test... place the paper between the bridge plate and the pivot screw... as soon as the paper move stop adjusting)... now do the same with the inner screws. Replace the trem springs and string up and you should be good to go!


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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:26 pm
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bluestube, is your bridge touching your body?


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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:54 am
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Italian Whammy -

I concur with some of the other statements made here; the front of your bridge should not be floating above the body.

The idea behind the Fender trem is that it acts as a lever/fulcrum with the front screws acting as the pivot point. When the bridge is as far above the body as yours is the pivot point shifts from the front of the bridge to somewhere in the middle allowing the front to shift position at the same time the rear does but in the opposite direction, i.e. rising when you pull and lowering when you dive. As a result you lose control of pitch, and i would imagine that some of the tuning problems you describe are a result as well.


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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:54 am
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uteowl wrote:
Italian Whammy -

I concur with some of the other statements made here; the front of your bridge should not be floating above the body.

The idea behind the Fender trem is that it acts as a lever/fulcrum with the front screws acting as the pivot point. When the bridge is as far above the body as yours is the pivot point shifts from the front of the bridge to somewhere in the middle allowing the front to shift position at the same time the rear does but in the opposite direction, i.e. rising when you pull and lowering when you dive. As a result you lose control of pitch, and i would imagine that some of the tuning problems you describe are a result as well.


Hey, that makes sense! I tightened down my bridge last night and didn't feel like I lost any sustain. I'll check it tonight and see how it stayed in tune and intonation over night. Thanks for that explanation!


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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:05 pm
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Furthermore, in case you either don't know or haven't figure it out yet, to adjust the amount of float you have or the distance between the BACK of the bridge and the body you adjust the claw screws holding the springs in the back of the guitar.

There are many threads here regarding the number of springs, configuration of them and the optimal tension. Do a search and you'll find them.


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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:13 pm
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I have a question.
is it normal that my guitar goes a bit out of tune when I'm tuning it. I mean, if i turn one tuner for about 1/2 turn, other string go out of tune a bit, and the same happens when I turn the other tuners so the tuning takes me about 3 minutes every time. I've got a floating two point tremolo which is paralell to the body.


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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:21 pm
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uros55 wrote:
I have a question.
is it normal that my guitar goes a bit out of tune when I'm tuning it. I mean, if i turn one tuner for about 1/2 turn, other string go out of tune a bit, and the same happens when I turn the other tuners so the tuning takes me about 3 minutes every time. I've got a floating two point tremolo which is paralell to the body.


I've found that that's the nature of the beast because of the floating bridge. Until you have the thing tuned up what happens is as you put tension on one string the other strings loose tension (because of the springs) so you're incrementally tuning each string until all are tuned to pitch.

This makes it difficult to do alternate tunings on the fly like you can with hard tails or stop bar bridges.

You'll also find threads on this topic under restringing - all at once or one at a time. In a recent thread on this subject someone pointed out that OLD Fender instructions suggested blocking the trem in place while restringing (and tuning).


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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:21 pm
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uros55 wrote:
I have a question.
is it normal that my guitar goes a bit out of tune when I'm tuning it. I mean, if i turn one tuner for about 1/2 turn, other string go out of tune a bit, and the same happens when I turn the other tuners so the tuning takes me about 3 minutes every time. I've got a floating two point tremolo which is paralell to the body.


I've noticed this too, and although I don't know for sure, I would say that it is normal because of the physics of a floating bridge. As I have been adjusting the bridge lately, my strings have sometimes been a half step sharp or flat after an adjustment. When I retune, the tension of the new tuning throws all the strings. Then I start over and retune until I get very close with all strings and I'm making very minute adjustments to the tuning.

I hope that made sense. :)


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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:25 pm
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I still change my strings one at a time. Old habit I guess but it seems to do the trick.

Been meaning to check in on you Whammy. How's that Strat coming? I see some other players jumped in with some good advice. If you regularly use 10's, you should be more than fine with three springs and evenly adjusting the claw from there. Like I said before, there are a million different ways to set up a Strat but there are also some wrong ways. If everything is set up properly you should be able to lay into the bar pretty good and still have it hold tune fairly well. There are still some great players out there with heavy whammy technique and a standard tremolo and they make it work. Watch Jeff Beck for example. He has a fairly unique setup too.

Good luck. Hope you're jammin' soon!

http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/pdfs/g ... k_gear.pdf


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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:16 am
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guitardudemd wrote:
bluestube, is your bridge touching your body?



yup it is completely flush with the body!

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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:49 am
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wickedmartini wrote:
I still change my strings one at a time. Old habit I guess but it seems to do the trick.

Been meaning to check in on you Whammy. How's that Strat coming? I see some other players jumped in with some good advice. If you regularly use 10's, you should be more than fine with three springs and evenly adjusting the claw from there. Like I said before, there are a million different ways to set up a Strat but there are also some wrong ways. If everything is set up properly you should be able to lay into the bar pretty good and still have it hold tune fairly well. There are still some great players out there with heavy whammy technique and a standard tremolo and they make it work. Watch Jeff Beck for example. He has a fairly unique setup too.

Good luck. Hope you're jammin' soon!

http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/pdfs/g ... k_gear.pdf


Hey thanks for checking on me Martini. I tighted the two outside screws down on the bridge and the middle four a little bit, but not so they are flush with the bridge as per the setup guide. The top of the bridge plate is just a hair lower than the top of the pickguard. The back of my bridge is up off the body probably a 1/16 of an inch or less. I have the springs and the claw set where I like it; the string and pickup height feel and sound good; I'm not getting any fret buzz or dead notes and the susutain and intonation are great! I think I've got her set up perfect for me! Thanks to everyone for the great advice!


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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:17 pm
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If you're having trouble with sustain, back down your pickups some. Pickups have a magnetic field and the string going through them create the music. If the magnets are too close, they disturb the stiing's vibration and cause poor sustain and also can create a muddy sound. Checking on this a lot and talking to people and reading this forum I've learned that you generally want to back your pickups away a good distance to get the defined sound and sustain we all love.


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