Advice on Supervee vibrato system

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A mate has recently had a Supervee trem installed in one of his strats. I asked him how he rated it and he says he's not totally happy with the current setup. 

He uses 10's but says since he had the new trem installed the strings feel 'tighter' and harder to bend. I offered to try and get it playing more to his liking. 

It's currently set up with 3 springs & at a considerable angle upwards allowing for quite a bit of up-pull. Sorry for crap iphone pic below 

My first thought was to reduce this angle a bit but leave it floating as that's the way he wants it. Next thing to try would maybe be using 2 springs only. 

Just thought I'd ask on here before further research as I'm aware that some players use them on here. 

Any advice would be very gratefully received!

Seemed like a good idea.....

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Comments

  • DrBobDrBob Frets: 2998
    In the picture above it looks like the mounting screws at the front edge of the bridge aren't screwed all the way down, would that be right ?

    I ask because I think I'm right in saying that they should be screwed down on the Supervee trems as the floating movement is created by the steel sheet spring that sits just behind these screws.

    Don't know if that's the root cause of the problem but if that front mounting plate isn't screwed hard down against the body I imagine that would cause a few issues
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  • DrBobDrBob Frets: 2998
    Also, it's worth pointing out that other Supervee Bladerunner owner/users round these parts have reported the trem feeling 'stiffer' in use than a regular vintage style trem. 

    That said, the trem feeling stiffer in use isn't the same thing as the strings feeling stiffer in operation
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    Yeah you have to completely deck bridge and screw it down tight. 

    I don't think the strings felt any stiffer on mine when I installed it 

    They are a lot stiffer than a normal strat bridge. I use mine with three springs and 10s and it's got just over a tone of back pull. 
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  • citizen68citizen68 Frets: 172
    @DrBob - yes those screws aren't tight so thanks for that..I'm thinking now maybe my mate equated the stiffer feel to more tension on the strings?

    So it still floats even if it's decked Nick? Good to know - thanks both
    Seemed like a good idea.....

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  • citizen68citizen68 Frets: 172
    edited October 2014
    On a totally diff topic are anyone else's avatar's looking peculiar?
    Seemed like a good idea.....

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  • citizen68citizen68 Frets: 172
    Had another look at this tonight - it's a Supervee Bladerunner so not sure if the advice changes? If I want this to float then I have to set it angled slightly upwards rather than decked? Sorry for the probably stupid questions...
    Seemed like a good idea.....

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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    Yeah the blade runner always has to be screwed down tight. The movement comes from the blade flexing, not rocking on the pivot like other systems. 

    You will need to set the spring tension so it's not completely flat.
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    citizen68;375252" said:
    Had another look at this tonight - it's a Supervee Bladerunner so not sure if the advice changes? If I want this to float then I have to set it angled slightly upwards rather than decked? Sorry for the probably stupid questions...
    Bit of confusion here. For a blade runner, the front screws (those near the bridge pickup ) need to be screwed down firmly. The back section ( where the strings attach) should be floating, usually with the back edge 2 - 3 mm off the deck. This is different to a 'standard' 6 screw strat term , where the 6 screws ARE the pivot point and so are left slightly unscrewed to provide clearance. Hope this clarifies.
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  • citizen68citizen68 Frets: 172
    Thanks for the tips - going to play with it tonight - will let you know how I get on - anyone try it with 2 springs? (10 gauge strings)
    Seemed like a good idea.....

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