whammy bar

[steve]

other than performing dive bombs what are whammy bars good for??? are they just like bending strings??? Also I hear good things about a floyd rose (I think that's what there called) what is so special about them??

[ESP_Viper]

A whammy bar is good for bending whole chords. It can do more extreme note changes than a bend can.

Floyd roses are so special because they are "floating" bridges. Meaning, the bridge is suspended on springs. The tension of the strings is dependant on the springs in the back, and visa-versa. The other 'special' thing about them is the nut locks. If you look on most floyd rose guitars, the nut has 3 screws (4 screws if it's a 7 string). You tune the guitar and tighten the screws down to keep the strings from sliding. Slippage in the nut is a problem for fixed bridge guitars, this makes it difficult to keep a guitar in tune. You can pull and push on that whammy bar all you want, and it will stay in tune. Though, there are big disadvantages of a floyd rose. Since it is floating, the tension in one string is dependant on the rest of the tension. Because of this, they are a pain to get in tune. The bridge has screws that are used to fine tune each string once the nut is locked, the machine heads no longer have anything to do with the tuning of the strings. So let's say you drop the E string down to D, the rest of the guitar is out of tune because the tension has dropped within the entire system. A floyd rose equipped guitar cannot be changed to different tunings as easily as a fixed bridge guitar. There are a lot of little adjustments required to go to different tunings. So once the guitar is in one tuning, it is smart to keep it there.

I probably left lots of stuff out... but I'm just getting this all of the top of my head :) Floyds are fun to play with, but not fun to maintain.

[steve]

Hey thanks alot, I have another question though, how can you tell if you bridge is a "fixed" bridge or a "floating" bridge. I can see some springs right before the strings on my guitar, does that mean it is a floating bridge?? I mean the springs are right before the strings, not under. So the bridge isn't really suspended....

[ESP_Viper]

A fixed bridge is like a tune-o-matic like a les paul or SG have. It has no whammy bar at all. It's stationary. A strat's bridge can be pushed down w/ the whammy bar but is not floating. It too has springs in the back, but the tension of the strings and springs aren't dependant of eachother. A floating bridge is where you can pull up or push down on it. The bridge is 'floating' in the sense that the springs' tension and the strings' tension are keeping the bridge inplace. Some floyd rose guitars don't have a locking nut, but from my understanding they don't stay in tune very well. A strat's bridge is not floating nor is it truly fixed. There are floyds that are not floating as well. It is a non-recessed floyd so it cannot be pulled up. It's like a strat bridge where it only can be pushed down, and the tensions are not dependant on eachother. Hope this helps.

[steve]

that helps alot, thanks!!!

[Andrew]

I thought that a strat's bridge is floating. If you tighten one string then the others will get tighter and will sound higher. Does this not make it floating?:confused:

[disturbed_pyro]

floating= can bend either up or down
fixed trem=can only bend down
stop tailpiece=no trem at all

Floyd Rose trems are usually floating. Strats usually have fixed. Les Pauls have stop tailpieces.

[ESP_Viper]

Pyro: What you said is generally true and is safe to say. But for the record, I have a non-floating tremolo on a guitar that can pull up and down. It's a really old guitar, and it itself is not common, so this type of bridge/tremolo aren't common either.

[Andrew]

My strats trem can bend up and down! It is a fender strat and I havent changed the trem.the tension of the strings and springs aren't dependant of eachother

On my strat, if you pull on the strings, the bridge will go down, so the springs must be stretching.

[ESP_Viper]

How far can you get it to bend up? If it's just a little bit it could just be stress on the neck that is bending the notes sharp (which is very bad on the guitar!). If it's a lot... what kind of trem came on your strat?! I wanna see this thing.

[steve]

I have .010's on my electric and I can bend (on my lowest string) 1 and a half steps (so the string sounds like it's 3 frets higher). On my highest string I can bend a full step...... It's harder to bend on the higher strings.

[Andrew]

My strat is Fender USA from about 20 years ago and i havent changed the trem. It definitely isnt locking. It can bend up 4 semitones and down till slack on the low e string. It has a cavity in the back, with springs.