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Post subject: How to break your whammy
Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:32 pm
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I remember reading a post about a strat player breaking his whammy bar. I thought to myself "how is this possible"?

I was just now looping some Buddy Guy "Sweet Tea" and playing along when I realized that I was actually twisting the bar like you might do if you were trying to break it in two.

I found this to be the easiest way to produce a micro controlled, fast, vibrato with a wide pitch excursion.

Now I know at least one feasible way or reason a player might break the trem bar on the strat!


Last edited by Strataholic on Wed May 28, 2008 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:38 pm
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Ha! I know just that finger movement you are talking about. Nice sound...

On the other hand (so to speak), legend has it that Pete Townshend impaled his hand right onto his whammy so hard he had to go to hospital to have it removed. But the vibrato survived: those things are strong.


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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:41 pm
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My bar once broke off at the sustain block, requiring replacement of the block. Fortunately, this wasn't too expensive and I was able to replace it myself. I got a stainless steel bar later on, and eventually got a bridge with a 1/4" thick bar. I don't know if they're available nowadays . . .


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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:56 pm
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Ceri wrote:
Ha! I know just that finger movement you are talking about. Nice sound...

On the other hand (so to speak), legend has it that Pete Townshend impaled his hand right onto his whammy so hard he had to go to hospital to have it removed. But the vibrato survived: those things are strong.


That's the way I heard it. I met him briefly once at a Holiday Inn after a concert at Atwood Stadium in Flint, Michigan and he was showing me all the scars on his head. I really couldn't see them 'cause be had all his hair way back then ('64 or '65 I think )!


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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:43 pm
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I also met Buddy Guy, at a free concert at the University of North Florida in '74 (I think). He was very approachable. We sat in his van and talked for a short while. In those days I was a major Hendrix fanatic, so I was very impressed when he said Hendrix had played through his amp (perhaps a Fender Super Reverb) . . .


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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 9:25 am
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Satch a memories :wink:


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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:47 am
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Strataholic wrote:
Ceri wrote:
Ha! I know just that finger movement you are talking about. Nice sound...

On the other hand (so to speak), legend has it that Pete Townshend impaled his hand right onto his whammy so hard he had to go to hospital to have it removed. But the vibrato survived: those things are strong.


That's the way I heard it. I met him briefly once at a Holiday Inn after a concert at Atwood Stadium in Flint, Michigan and he was showing me all the scars on his head. I really couldn't see them 'cause be had all his hair way back then ('64 or '65 I think )!


Yeah, that had to be a long time ago. The Who received a lifetime ban from Holiday Inns quite early on... A worthy honor.

My father-in-law got very drunk in a hotel bar with Ozzy Osbourne once, around the period of the bat incident. He had no idea of who he'd been drinking with till later, but he found him to be "a quiet and interesting gentleman". Tells you about my father-in-law...


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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 3:38 pm
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jclind wrote:
I also met Buddy Guy, at a free concert at the University of North Florida in '74 (I think). He was very approachable. We sat in his van and talked for a short while. In those days I was a major Hendrix fanatic, so I was very impressed when he said Hendrix had played through his amp (perhaps a Fender Super Reverb) . . .


You luckey dog! I'd trade all my encounters ... for a minute with Guy!

I'm sure he gave JMH a few lessons! Rumor has it that peops saw Hendrix at a Guy concert where Jimi was on his knees bowing to Buddy, the god of all things blue!

I have a dream to look him up during a weeks vacation that I'm taking near the end of June. I'll also bring a guitar for him to sign. After all, Buddy Guy is the original electric guitar God!.... and he is still with us.


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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 4:13 pm
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you guys are lucky old people, getting to meet all these awesome people at the heigth of their careers. Being a teenager and growing up around hip hop and all there aren't many people for me to meet.

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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 4:18 pm
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zaf11 wrote:
you guys are lucky old people, getting to meet all these awesome people at the heigth of their careers. Being a teenager and growing up around hip hop and all there aren't many people for me to meet.


Yeah, it's harder when you have to visit a prison to meet your hero's.

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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 10:48 am
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Ceri wrote:
Ha! I know just that finger movement you are talking about. Nice sound...

On the other hand (so to speak), legend has it that Pete Townshend impaled his hand right onto his whammy so hard he had to go to hospital to have it removed. But the vibrato survived: those things are strong.


yup. did it doin the famous windmill...and seeing as how strats have capped bars which make them pretty blunt...that had to be some force he was putting behind that swing.


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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 4:01 pm
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Quote:
yup. did it doin the famous windmill


At the risk of dating myself, I remember seeing an interview with The Who on TV (it may have been the Mike Douglas Show!) in which Pete Townshend referred to it as "bowing". I should stress I was in elementary school at the time. My brother once met John Entwistle at a CVS Pharmacy in Baltimore in mid '84 . . .


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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:56 pm
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jclind wrote:
Quote:
yup. did it doin the famous windmill


At the risk of dating myself, I remember seeing an interview with The Who on TV (it may have been the Mike Douglas Show!) in which Pete Townshend referred to it as "bowing". I should stress I was in elementary school at the time. My brother once met John Entwistle at a CVS Pharmacy in Baltimore in mid '84 . . .


How cool is that! The "bowling ball" was from the Smothers Brothers show. This is where Keith blew up his kit and had underestimated the strength of the explosives. It caught Petes hair on fire and he caused him hearing loss and tinitis... sad bit that.


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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:10 pm
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Strataholic wrote:
How cool is that! The "bowling ball" was from the Smothers Brothers show. This is where Keith blew up his kit and had underestimated the strength of the explosives. It caught Petes hair on fire and he caused him hearing loss and tinitis... sad bit that.


The Kids Are Alright. Still the best rockumentary out there [waiting to be howled down on that one...].

The Who were the real thing, alright. A formative experience for me was being pressed right against the front of the stage all the way through a Who show, with my nose just peeping over the edge of the stage, right between Townshend's monitor wedges. End of the 70s, this was. Every so often he'd come and put his foot up on a monitor while doing a bit of arpeggio or whatever, so I could see very clearly that by the end of the evening his fingers and thumb were covered in blood from the windmill and other antics.

For me, the show of a lifetime. For him, just another day at the office. Imagine going out night after night knowing you're going to do that to yourself? Man...


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