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Whammy Vibrato


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Posted

Hi All,

 

Am I right in thinking that to do whammy bar vibrato effectively you need a floating trem?

 

I just can't get it to "happen" with my trem blocked. Something seems "not right" about having "down only"...

 

GaJ

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Posted

 

Hi All,


Am I right in thinking that to do whammy bar vibrato effectively you need a floating trem?


I just can't get it to "happen" with my trem blocked. Something seems "not right" about having "down only"...


GaJ

 

 

 

EVH's wasn't floating; therefore in my "whammy days" I pinned mine back as well (plus I'm lazy and I hate tuning floating trems). My feeling was that I can bend notes sharp, so why do I need a whammy for that.

 

However, if you want to do those Steve Via - like whammy tricks, it needs to be floating. Also, guitarists like Jeff Beck and SRV use a floating trem very effectively (albeit more subtly than Vai).

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Posted

 

Hi All,


Am I right in thinking that to do whammy bar vibrato effectively you need a floating trem?


I just can't get it to "happen" with my trem blocked. Something seems "not right" about having "down only"...


GaJ

 

 

You can learn to coordinate finger bends into the process. Digitech makes a Whammy pedal. Even harmonizes. Prolly not good for subtle stuff though.

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Posted

Jeff Beck uses a traditional bar ... he just loosens off the springs to allow it to go sharp. So it sits up a little when in neutral position. I have mine set so that i can only go flat ... I keep thinking of doing the beck thing but just havent had time to execute. Try it

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Posted

 

Jeff Beck uses a traditional bar ... he just loosens off the springs to allow it to go sharp. So it sits up a little when in neutral position. I have mine set so that i can only go flat ... I keep thinking of doing the beck thing but just havent had time to execute. Try it

 

 

By floating I meant that you can pull notes sharp. I think most strats are set-up that way when you buy them.

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Posted

If you loosen the spring tension a bit it will pull the the bridge forward a bit allowing you to pull up just enough for the upward side of vibrato. But you'll sacrifice some stability when resting your hand on the bridge, it can go sharp on you depending on how much pressure you put on.

 

This also true with floating trems, and even more of a concern..

 

For those who want the stability with a floating trem either block it or put something under the back of the bridge to keep it from going up or being effected by hand pressure or when a string breaks. Notice the quarter screwed in under EVH's bridge on his old guitar.

 

To perform so of the Steve Vai stuff you need to loosen to springs like the tandard bridges or, ala Steve, route out the wood behind the bridge allowing it to travel upward further for playing lines/pitches, with it more so than just vibrato effects.

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Posted

 

Hi All,


Am I right in thinking that to do whammy bar vibrato effectively you need a floating trem?


I just can't get it to "happen" with my trem blocked. Something seems "not right" about having "down only"...


GaJ

 

 

I don't know if you need a floating trem, but it helps.

 

I had my trems tightened to only go down until a few years ago. Now I have them set to where I can pull up a minor 3rd on the G string.

 

I find I use them a lot more for vibrato than I ever did previously.

 

I also break the bar off less often.

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Posted

Right - I wasn't referring to the "technology" (IE do you need "synchonised trem, floyd rose, whatever), I was referring to the simple fact that you need to be able to go up as well as down... and accept the tuning and string break hassles.

 

I'm not thinking "tricks" a-la Beck/Vai (which I wouldn't call "vibrato" so much) as much as just "vibrato" a la David Gilmour...

 

... now that I've read your comments, I can't quite see what the problem is so much. With finger vibrato you can only go up and it is fine. With (blocked) whammy vibrato you can only go down, this should be fine?

 

Maybe my whammy springs are just too tight, so I have to use too much force just to get "a bit", so when I use it it's not fluid, and this is the problem.

 

My ears (and my eyes, watching people cover Gilmour) tell me that "going up and down - a vibrato "around" the note" - is what is going on though...

 

GaJ

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Posted

and accept the tuning and string break hassles.

 

It's a rainy public holiday Monday here. I decided to refloat my bridge this morning.

 

Now I remember why I blocked it. It's not the tuning hassles and string break on stage issues (daunting as they are) it's the "this string changes tuning while you're bending that one" that really makes ongoing work!

 

Ah well, I've done it now, I'll stick with it for a while & see if suddenly I sound like David Gilmour :D:lol:

 

(I guess I better go and actually _play_ for a while :cop: )

 

GaJ

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Posted

Wow, I love how the whammy frees up when it's floating. I'd forgotten all about that. It's great!

 

But Wah! How the hell do you pull off:

 

CgUAAA.jpg

 

... does your little finger bend the B string a bit to compensate for the sag from the G string being bent up from E to F#? Even worse:

 

CwUAAA.jpg

 

Two strings to correct with the pinky!

 

:cry:

 

GaJ

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Posted

In the first example you could correct the pitch of the B string by slightly bending it with your pinky.

 

In both examples you could correct the pitch of the unbent notes by applying slight pressure to the bridge with the palm/side of your picking hand.

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Posted

With distortion, those contrasting bends are a classic sound of 80's shred on a Floyd Rose. Most people just rested there palm on the bridge to off set the counter bend a bit.

 

Playing clean though, like country, they just don't fit. plus the FR sounds brittle without distortion. That's why there's not a lot of country players with FR's :)

 

I've had a Floyd Rose since about 1982 or 1983 and have NEVER blocked it. All the nuances of the FR are THE SOUND of someone using a FR. I never oiled the pins or springs or used any other gizmo's as all those creaks and snaps are part of recording history...and why use a FR if you're not going to let it sound like a FR (good or bad sounds)?

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Posted

I am with Gennation on this one. With many techniques there are pros and cons which need weighing. It depends on what you can live with. Those are very much indicative of a floating bridge system as Mike says. Let it be that.

 

You have to determine if you are a floating bridge player. Do you use it often enough? Does the positive aspects of using that setup outweigh the negative ones in your specific playing? Do you use a lot of sustained open strings and double stop bends?

 

The quirks are what make things as they are. They also provide an opportunity to create something different. Tom Morello made a career out of just that type of thing.

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