Members badpenguin Posted September 22, 2015 Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 Rarely if ever. My guitar synth guitar, yes, since it's so nice to bend a piano. Out of 6 others, 2 with a Bigsby styled trem, 3 are blocked, are the other 3 are rarely used. Although, the Ibanez AFS75 with a bigsby can be fun with LOTS of verb and trem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrguitarhack Posted September 22, 2015 Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 Only for subtle effect. No dive bombing. Usually just to give a little trem to my chords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted September 22, 2015 Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 . . . I use to physically block mine with wood' date=' but it kills the "Strat" sound for me.[/quote'] When I blocked the trem on my Fernandes, I used a gizmo of my own devising. I took a pair of T-nuts: A pair of hex head cap screws: And a pair of rubber washers: I glued the washers to the bottoms of the T-nuts with contact cement and threaded the cap screws into the T-nuts. I slid the resulting assemblies between the trem block and the side of the cavity, and expanded them until they blocked the trem. There was no block of wood to absorb sound and there was still mostly empty space. This only works with a small thickness trem block, and the rubber washers can mess up a nitro finish, but it worked for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I have some guitars with bars, and some without. As often as not I don't bother putting the bar on my Strat. but I do occasionally use it. I usually have the bar installed on my '71 Competition Mustang and my Bass VI, and the Bigsby on my Gretsch is always ready to go... but I don't have anything with a Floyd on it, and I don't use the bar for big dive bombs - it's usually just for more subtle shimmer and shake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orourke Posted September 23, 2015 Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 In the 70's when I started gigging I had an SG that had a "Gibsby" vibrato that was just useless so I disengaged it and played with no vibrato. In the late 70's and early 80's I was in a power-pop band and got a Stratocaster and started to learn how to wiggle the trem but didn't do much with it. In the early 80's Van Halen came in and working the vibrato was all the rage. I mainly played my Strat so I didn't do a lot of dive bombing but I definitely became adept at using a vibrato. In the 90's vibrato's were out and I learned to love a Les Paul, I played the heck out of that and an SG. But when the mid-2000's rolled around I started to miss using a vibrato so I had Rick Kelly build me a custom guitar with a nice Glendale start system. Recently, I got myself a PRS Studio, it has a wonderfull vibrato system and I use it. I'm doing classic rock covers and it comes in handy. My favorite use of the vibrato is when I do the moogy synth solo on Pink Floyds Run Like Hell. If you use a phaser and delay and then wank the bar like Neil Young you can get it to sound just like an analog synth. I go to jams and most guys don't use vibrato's. I think they really don't know what to do with it. They're missing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJ6stringsting Posted October 11, 2015 Members Share Posted October 11, 2015 Trems are not just only for dive bombing or shaking chords.You can use them for accenting notes, lowering the pitch to the lower registers of a scale and use it melodically. I love the Floyd Rose and Wilkinson two pint tremolo systems. My favorite masters of the tremolo bar are Adrian Belew,, Brad Gillis, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.Brad Gillis was one of the original pioneers on the Floyd Rose tremolo, oddly enough many of his techniques have been attributed more with Vai and Satriani. Just listen to Ozzy's " Speak Of The Devil" CD and you'll hear what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted October 12, 2015 Members Share Posted October 12, 2015 I have two Strats with trems and a Bigsby on a Les Paul. The Strats don't even wear the trem arm and I don't touch the Bigsby as it knocks everything out of tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted October 12, 2015 Members Share Posted October 12, 2015 I have two Strats with trems and a Bigsby on a Les Paul. The Strats don't even wear the trem arm and I don't touch the Bigsby as it knocks everything out of tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members *BLEEP* Posted October 12, 2015 Members Share Posted October 12, 2015 Well... if someone was pointing a gun at me and ordering me to do so, I would use a tremolo/vibrato mechanism. Otherwise, I have exactly zero use for such silly nuisances. I have in fact test driven every single major wammy bar system out there -- even one of those TransTrem systems -- and I know without a doubt that I have virtually no use for them. The one Strat-a-like that I own, it's vintage wammy system is blocked. I no longer own anything with a Floyd-Rose. But, when I did, it was also blocked. I have never owned anything with a hideous Bigsby boat anchor, thankfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tom Mc1 Posted October 15, 2015 Members Share Posted October 15, 2015 The only guitar I own with a tem is a 70's MIJ strat with a Shaller kind of a Floyd Rose trem with a locking nut. I leave the nut unscrewed because it's a pain to tune from the bridge. As far as using a tremolo, I've never seen the use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Apple Slim Posted October 16, 2015 Members Share Posted October 16, 2015 I have a couple of Bigsby equipped guitars. I use the Bigsby sparingly for flavor, no tuning issues as long a you don't abuse the thing. set up is crucial with a Bigsby. I bought a G tailpiece to De-Bigsby my Gretsch but I just can't bring myself to do if. I hate Strat vibrato units. Springs tight to body or blocked, arm tossed, is the only way I can play one. Never wanted or owned a Floyd or locking system. A Jag or JM is still on my bucket list to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.