Strange one... Just pulled a spring from my strat and..

Aidanspaghetti · February 2015

The guitar is waaaaay more resonant and lively. Ringing like a piano now... I'm guessing because she was pulled tight to the term recess in the back (dive only) the body was just dulling the vibrations? Not entirely sure but she sure is ringing now... Weird but happy result! Anybody else have a similar experience?

ICBM · February 2015

Yes, that's exactly what I find as well. Just said that in the 'blocked' thread

. I find the biggest difference between floating and flat, and a smaller difference between flat and blocked.

Floating sounds miles better, to me.

Aidanspaghetti · February 2015

Sorry ICBM, didn't read your thread....thought it was about plumbing or something lol! Yea, big difference alright. Can't wait till the kids get out of the house so I can crank it

ICBM · February 2015

lol... no need to apologise, it wasn't my thread

.

Dave_Mc · February 2015

Yeah everyone talks about blocking trems so they sound better, and while I haven't exactly done scientific experiments, I always suspect I prefer the tone of floating, at least with strat-style guitars.

littlegreenman · February 2015

I'm guessing Leo didn't think "I know, I'll make a guitar with a vibrato tailpiece that'll sound better if you try and make it just like a hardtail?" :P

Aidanspaghetti · February 2015

There's so many variable as to what it could be... But it's good so it's staying! Plus plenty of wankery on the ol bar

Dave_Mc · February 2015

littlegreenman said:

I'm guessing Leo didn't think "I know, I'll make a guitar with a vibrato tailpiece that'll sound better if you try and make it just like a hardtail?" :P

haha

ICBM · February 2015

Astounding Tone Discovery

I've been doing a little work for ESchap on a parts Strat of his that has an incredibly vibrant, ringing tone - almost like an acoustic guitar it's so lively. He wanted me to set the trem up so it was capable of a more Gilmour-like pull-up range - before it was almost flat to the body, although it was just floating. So I did that first - no difference to the tone.

But it also had a most odd arrangement of five trem springs - three ancient and very weak ones, which seemed to be under hardly any tension at all, and two much stiffer ones. He asked me to put on three normal springs. So I did… without adjusting anything other than the claw - not even the tuning, I simply moved the claw until the strings were back in tune, proving that the set-up is exactly the same otherwise.

And it killed the magical tone of the guitar. It wasn't bad, but as he said when he heard it - "it just sounds like an ordinary Strat now".

So we put it back to the odd springs - again without adjusting anything other than the claw, he watched me do it so I have a witness

- and the vibrant tone came back… really noticeably, this is not a "you think you can just hear it" kind of difference. I could even feel the extra vibration through the neck.

I suppose if you think about it, it shouldn't be *that* surprising, since the springs are clearly part of the resonant 'path' of the string energy, on a floating trem. But I was still amazed how big a difference it makes just changing the particular springs.

richardhomer · February 2015

^ That's very interesting @ICBM. Raw Vintage make a set of lower tension springs - they recommend using all five - which are supposed to do exactly what you say.

I've always been highly skeptical - I might just order a set now and see what happens....

Maynehead · February 2015

Was this all plugged in through an amp or just played acoustically? I have a jackson that sounds dead acoustically but when plugged in sounds more lively than all my other guitars... I have found that the acoustic qualities of an electric doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the quality of the sound when plugged in.

ESchap · February 2015

It's all true, I was there. The old "loose" springs do seem to add quite a lot of magic.

You should Patent it @ICBM ;

ICBM · February 2015

Maynehead said:

Was this all plugged in through an amp or just played acoustically?

Acoustically - but it was a big difference, and you could definitely feel it too. I did listen to it through an amp, and it seemed to be so, although harder to tell for sure.

ESchap said:
It's all true, I was there. The old "loose" springs do seem to add quite a lot of magic.
You should Patent it @ICBM ;

Sounds like someone already has…!

richardhomer said:
Raw Vintage make a set of lower tension springs - they recommend using all five - which are supposed to do exactly what you say.

Aidanspaghetti · February 2015

Funny alright! There was three springs on my strat and now there's two.. We could be onto something her lads

ToneControl · February 2015

ICBM said:

Astounding Tone Discovery

I've been doing a little work for ESchap on a parts Strat of his that has an incredibly vibrant, ringing tone - almost like an acoustic guitar it's so lively. He wanted me to set the trem up so it was capable of a more Gilmour-like pull-up range - before it was almost flat to the body, although it was just floating. So I did that first - no difference to the tone.

But it also had a most odd arrangement of five trem springs - three ancient and very weak ones, which seemed to be under hardly any tension at all, and two much stiffer ones. He asked me to put on three normal springs. So I did… without adjusting anything other than the claw - not even the tuning, I simply moved the claw until the strings were back in tune, proving that the set-up is exactly the same otherwise.

And it killed the magical tone of the guitar. It wasn't bad, but as he said when he heard it - "it just sounds like an ordinary Strat now".

So we put it back to the odd springs - again without adjusting anything other than the claw, he watched me do it so I have a witness - and the vibrant tone came back… really noticeably, this is not a "you think you can just hear it" kind of difference. I could even feel the extra vibration through the neck.

I suppose if you think about it, it shouldn't be *that* surprising, since the springs are clearly part of the resonant 'path' of the string energy, on a floating trem. But I was still amazed how big a difference it makes just changing the particular springs.

very interesting

I just added 2 springs to my drop top Anderson, and it sounds much better now, much more resonant acoustically, and the tuning is more stable

Niallmo · February 2015

I've always had better results with the bronze colour springs which I think are the lower tension ones. The bright steel ones that most guitars now seem to ship with feel/play stiffer and don't have the zing and openness of the others. I like the springs to be under tension and slightly open when in the "zero" position as again this seems to aid the typical Strat tone in the 2 and 4 positionsi think its case of balancing the tension to keep the springs "active" and using however many you need to achieve it.

Niallmo · February 2015

Oh, putting the backplate back on seems to help too as clothing/spare tire against the back of the guitar can dampen the effect!

welshboyo · February 2015

ICBM said:

Astounding Tone Discovery

I've been doing a little work for ESchap on a parts Strat of his that has an incredibly vibrant, ringing tone - almost like an acoustic guitar it's so lively. He wanted me to set the trem up so it was capable of a more Gilmour-like pull-up range - before it was almost flat to the body, although it was just floating. So I did that first - no difference to the tone.

But it also had a most odd arrangement of five trem springs - three ancient and very weak ones, which seemed to be under hardly any tension at all, and two much stiffer ones. He asked me to put on three normal springs. So I did… without adjusting anything other than the claw - not even the tuning, I simply moved the claw until the strings were back in tune, proving that the set-up is exactly the same otherwise.

And it killed the magical tone of the guitar. It wasn't bad, but as he said when he heard it - "it just sounds like an ordinary Strat now".

So we put it back to the odd springs - again without adjusting anything other than the claw, he watched me do it so I have a witness - and the vibrant tone came back… really noticeably, this is not a "you think you can just hear it" kind of difference. I could even feel the extra vibration through the neck.

I suppose if you think about it, it shouldn't be *that* surprising, since the springs are clearly part of the resonant 'path' of the string energy, on a floating trem. But I was still amazed how big a difference it makes just changing the particular springs.

Oh Well, the rumours are true then... @ICBM is Eric Johnson :P

ToneControl · February 2015

Niallmo said:

Oh, putting the backplate back on seems to help too as clothing/spare tire against the back of the guitar can dampen the effect!

probably wise if you play in the buff like RHC in the old days or shirtless with a hairy stomach

ICBM · February 2015

welshboyo said:

Oh Well, the rumours are true then... @ICBM is Eric Johnson :P

I really hope not! That would be very confusing...

(I can't stand Eric Johnson… sorry!)

richardhomer · February 2015

Niallmo;525413" said:
Oh, putting the backplate back on seems to help too as clothing/spare tire against the back of the guitar can dampen the effect!

Touching cloth is definitely a bad thing....

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Strange one... Just pulled a spring from my strat and..

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