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Post subject: floating bridge springs.
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:33 am
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I have played stratocasters all of my playing career. I have always played slinkys 8s now 9s with 3 springs. This year I have noticed that I hardly ever use the trm bar and I want to go up to slinky 10s. A. Guy at the music store told me for 9s I need 3 springs 10s 4 springs and 11s 5 springs. Is this the case if I don't want to use the trim? I'd rather just put 5 in and be done with it.


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Post subject: Re: floating bridge springs.
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:37 am
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Also I play alot of blues so I do alot of bending. I'm thinking if I use 5 springs with 10s my tremolo will be flush or sitting on the body that way the trem does not move and when I bend the open strings will not go out of pitch.


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Post subject: Re: floating bridge springs.
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 8:01 am
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matthew420 wrote:
Also I play alot of blues so I do alot of bending. I'm thinking if I use 5 springs with 10s my tremolo will be flush or sitting on the body that way the trem does not move and when I bend the open strings will not go out of pitch.
If you want to deck the trem then regardless of string gauge, 5 springs with perhaps some tightening of the claw will do the trick.

Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: floating bridge springs.
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:33 pm
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I just got a strat and I had too set it up to hold tune. I use 3 springs and have them positioned lll straight far right middle and far left position not V. Anyways, I use 10 GHS and bed lots and this guitar stays in tune but only after a lubed all friction points with graphite and vaseline. I do not use the trem heavy but I do enjoy slight trem action when playing this guitar. I personally do not believe you need 5 springs to use 10s.


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Post subject: Re: floating bridge springs.
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:20 am
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matthew420 wrote:
I have played stratocasters all of my playing career. I have always played slinkys 8s now 9s with 3 springs. This year I have noticed that I hardly ever use the trm bar and I want to go up to slinky 10s. A. Guy at the music store told me for 9s I need 3 springs 10s 4 springs and 11s 5 springs. Is this the case if I don't want to use the trim? I'd rather just put 5 in and be done with it.


First and foremost, what the guy at the music store said, should probably be taken as a rule of thumb as apposed to being carved in stone. At it's surface, the theory is that the number of springs compensates for the tension of the strings...heavier strings produce more tension and thus require more springs. The truth of the matter however is that it's not really THAT simple. First and foremost you have an adjustable claw attached to those springs, so the tension of the springs can indeed be adjusted to some degree. Also, older springs that are heavily worn won't have as much tension as brand new springs. Even string gauge can't be an end all determining factor...after all, what constitutes a set of ".010's"? I use GHS Boomers myself and .010's can actually range from 10 - 46 to 10 - 52...quite a bit of difference there regarding string tension. And none of that considers a player's personal choice of feel, technique, etc.. Again there's actually a few things to consider there.

That said, as Bluer Monkey already pointed out, if you don't use the trem, you may wish to simply deck it...just add 5 springs and crank the claw down a bit (this -may- require a slight truss rod tweak as well to compensate for the additional tension). If nothing else, some folks argue that this actually produces better sustain with most Strats and it usually produces a bit tighter feel.

Good Luck!


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Post subject: Re: floating bridge springs.
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:11 pm
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Good advice already.

I will add the following:
If you're going to deck your trem you might just as well go ahead and block it as well. A block of any hardwood shaved down until it fits rather snugly between the cavity wall and the trem block is what most people use. I have one Strat so blocked and I went one step further and gently drove a custom fit wedge of hardwood into the other side of the trem block, forcing it into harder contact with the body wood and seriously stabilizing the trem block. Once I did that I was able to remove the springs altogether. Some may argue the point but I believe the springs do contribute somewhat to tone. They are a vibrating mass of a material with entirely different properties from the wood. I wanted to remove that component from the tone of that one guitar.

Once blocked and decked you "may" notice a slight increase in sustain but I never have and I think I have pretty good ears. You may also notice the strings seem harder to bend with a blocked and decked bridge. This is a misleading feeling. A floating bridge will lift the plate up from the body as you bend because you are increasing the tension on the strings which will upset the balance between string tension and spring tension. Thus the springs stretch a little in compensation. This has the effect of detuning the guitar during bends which appears to make the strings easier to bend. What really happens is that it does feel easier to push the string a given distance but the distance required to achieve a given pitch will be greater so you'll have to push farther. Another thing that happens is that the other strings will detune somewhat so if you are bending one string and then playing another string open, the open string may be slightly flat. In reality the force required to bend to a given pitch will be the same in both scenarios but the floating bridge will give the illusion of being easier. I mention this only to give you a heads up that blocking and decking your trem will alter the feel of the guitar. It should be noted that larger bends (greater difference in pitch from the fretted note) will seem like there is less difference between the two setups. This is because as you bend farther you begin to include greater tension from the neighbouring strings which also get bent in the process.

On the subject of sustain, any increase in sustain from blocking and decking will be subtle, if it even exists at all. A replacement steel block in place of the pot-metal stock block will be a greater improvement.

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