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What does an Eric Clapton Style blocked Tremolo do?


thunder100

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Posted

Hi dear All

 

Can somebody explain me how on the Clapton Startocasters the tremolo is blocked?

 

What does it to the sound and the sustian?What does it to other things?

 

I want to do this(let it do) to my Highway 1 as I almost never use the tremolo arm

 

Give me some pro and cons please

 

thanks

 

Roland

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a piece of wood is stuck behind the trem block. it increases the sound and sustain, those are the pros. the cons is you can't use the trem and lose some of the squishy feeling of a strat

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For me, the strongest pro is that it completely stabilizes the tuning, which is important if you like changing tunings or even just retuning one string (drop D, etc).

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Can someone explain to me why blocking the trem is so advantageous over just putting a couple of extra springs on the trem?

 

The Strat I play the most has 5 springs in the Trem. I can still dive bomb if needed, but I've never had an issues with tuning stability or down tuning.

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I doubt you would hear a substantial difference in the sound or sustain of the guitar. It might be a little snappier, like a tele, but not much.

 

If you put in 5 springs and tighten the trem claw it's pretty much the same effect. If you never use the trem though, blocking it will get you a little closer to a hardtail.

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Posted

 

Can someone explain to me why blocking the trem is so advantageous over just putting a couple of extra springs on the trem?


The Strat I play the most has 5 springs in the Trem. I can still dive bomb if needed, but I've never had an issues with tuning stability or down tuning.

 

 

if you don't use the trem at all, its better to put in more wood then more metal

 

clapton blocks his trems because he never uses the trem, but doesn't like the sound of a hardtail, thats pretty much the reason why to do it

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Posted

 

if you don't use the trem at all, its better to put in more wood then more metal


clapton blocks his trems because he never uses the trem, but doesn't like the sound of a hardtail, thats pretty much the reason why to do it

 

 

But that's kinda my point, by adding a chunk of wood?? (I haven't seen one) to the trem cavity, isn't that esentially turning it into a hard tail?

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But that's kinda my point, by adding a chunk of wood?? (I haven't seen one) to the trem cavity, isn't that esentially turning it into a hard tail?

 

 

Nope .. the trem springs add a slight natural reverb to the sound, which is why, even though he doesn't ever use the wigglestick, Ry Cooder doesn't have a hardtail as his main Strat.

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But that's kinda my point, by adding a chunk of wood?? (I haven't seen one) to the trem cavity, isn't that esentially turning it into a hard tail?

 

 

you've still got a large chunk of wood missing where the springs are,

and the fact that there are some springs in there.

 

the only person who knows why he prefers it is Clapton himself.

 

remember some guitarists claim that the tone is better when you take off the plastic cover over the trem springs, we're a fickle bunch who are pretty set in our ways

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Posted

 

Nope .. the trem springs add a slight natural reverb to the sound, which is why, even though he doesn't ever use the wigglestick, Ry Cooder doesn't have a hardtail as his main Strat.

 

 

This is what I was curious about.

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Posted

you've still got a large chunk of wood missing where the springs are,

and the fact that there are some springs in there.


the only person who knows why he prefers it is Clapton himself.


remember some guitarists claim that the tone is better when you take off the plastic cover over the trem springs, we're a fickle bunch who are pretty set in our ways

 

:thu:

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Posted

But that's kinda my point, by adding a chunk of wood?? (I haven't seen one) to the trem cavity, isn't that esentially turning it into a hard tail?

 

I've read that EC believes that the Strat's trem saddles/bridge/block sssembly contributes to it's unique sound and a hardtail bridge just doesn't sound the as good. So blocking the trem keeps what he likes but increases the sustain over having the floating trem.

 

I can certainly believe that the block of wood in there (rather than extra springs) would change the way things reverberate somewhat. For me, though, that's the least of my problems. :lol:

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Nope .. the trem springs add a slight natural reverb to the sound, which is why, even though he doesn't ever use the wigglestick, Ry Cooder doesn't have a hardtail as his main Strat.

 

 

+1

 

A hardtail Strat has a much faster and more aggressive attack on the note over a blocked trem, it's truly a big step toward Tele tone. With a blocked strat, you still have some of the springy feel and tone, and the attack on the note is still attenuated because of lost rigid bridge.

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Posted

 

+1


A hardtail Strat has a much faster and more aggressive attack on the note over a blocked trem, it's truly a big step toward Tele tone. With a blocked strat, you still have some of the springy feel and tone, and the attack on the note is still attenuated because of lost rigid bridge.

 

 

 

Wyatt and CSM are correct. The springs give the reverb/squishiness. I've actually just blocked a trem with a piece of wood and there's a noticeable difference. The tone goes "KRANG" instead of "SHRANG".

 

BTW, unlike Patuney's photo, I blocked my trem block on both sides with wood and took the springs completely off.

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Posted

 

Wyatt and CSM are correct. The springs give the reverb/squishiness. I've actually just blocked a trem with a piece of wood and there's a noticeable difference. The tone goes "KRANG" instead of "SHRANG".


BTW, unlike Patuney's photo, I blocked my trem block on both sides with wood and took the springs completely off.

 

 

Cool. Anybody know which way the EC strats are blocked? With or without the springs?

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