Headstock Vibrato

I've seen a few people do it in videos, but they are people who can afford new guitars by the dozen. Joe Walsh comes to mind.

I would think that if you are going for subtle Jeff Beck type bends on occasion, then you should be fairly safe.
But if you are planning on divebombing, or going up several steps, then you might want to make sure your guitar has an easily replaced bolt-on neck.

Somebody on one of the guitar boards I've hung out on said he was doing that on an old Danelectro and it just sort of blew up. Completely broke the body and collapsed. I've done it, but I don't think it's to be recommended.

I have a one word answer. SNAP!

I have a one word answer. SNAP!

Is the snapping the guitar neck or my thong?

The only guitar I'd risk trying it on is my Squier but it has a whammy bar anyway.

I do it on occasion, but I would rather not bend the headstock. I press up & down strings above the nut, which is common.

Pressing on the headstock or bending the headstock itself doesn't do much for me. I want to hold a chord, so I bend the whole neck! That bending includes both ways, and sometimes torsion or rotational twist. Dunno, always had some power in the upper body - mine! :shock:

So, whether it is acoustic or electric, I also do the common holding the chord, really tight, and press down with the right hand on the upper bout of an acoustic, or the horn of the electric, or totally common: the upper bout of the Telecaster which isn't a horn, but is flat and rounded.

I assumed that was what we were talking about, levering the neck against the guitar body.

For heaven's sake, DON'T!

(Okay, if you want to press on the strings, go for it. But DON'T bend the neck, or even worse, the headstock.)

I saw a punk/grunge indee kind of show about a year ago where the lead singer/second guitar guy did exactly that...and the headstock splintered. Just destroyed his guitar. And this was NOT the sort of band where he could afford another one.

He didn't actually sit down on stage and cry, but he sure looked like he wanted to. I probably would have.

There just isn't enough flexibility in the neck of most guitars to get very much vibrato that way without seriously overstressing something. And if you start overstressing it...it can give out, at any time.

The thing about most times I've seen vibrato done this way is that it doesn't even sound that cool- and it does flex your guitar in ways it shouldn't get flexed.

Best,
Ande

PS- The snap being discussed here is the guitar's neck. Not anything else! ;-) But if I catch anybody trying to turn the neck on MY guitar into a whammy bar, other snaps are certainly a possibility.

The thing is that you can only raise the tone of the notes - down-tuning is prevented by the truss rod. You can achieve that by pressing on the strings between nut and tuner, without the danger or pulling the headstock off. It works nicely for single strings, too.

Hmm. Bending down the way Blue Jay mentions is the only way I've seen and done it. Pushing against the back of the neck and the upper bout of the body. The truss rod didn't prevent it.

Bend it like Beckham!! I've done it a few times myself without any problems but I don't use my whammy much so this isn't something I do much of.

I mentioned this already, I vibrato on these two principal areas on both Tele's and on acoustics and some on Les Pauls & similar bigger hollowbodies. I didn't actually say that I use my right palm to push really hard on strings in that very small zone between where the strings come out and where they go over the saddles. Similar is true for the stoptails and TOM's.
Perhaps more unusual, since I am self taught and creative anyway, I vibrato acoustics the same, pushing on the pins and the saddle and trying not to break them. I can pull back the neck on just about any guitar till the vibrating strings in play, stretch and sharpen, and hit the frets, while holding the chord. Yes Ricochet and Ande, we should try to leave the necks and headstocks ON the guitars! Works better like that. :lol:

I have a one word answer. SNAP!

Is the snapping the guitar neck or my thong?

The only guitar I'd risk trying it on is my Squier but it has a whammy bar anyway.
:lol: :lol: :lol: Being I'm a guy and likely old enough to be your father I will stop there before I get in trouble. :roll: Yeah, it's pushing on the head stock one direction and the neck the other. I had always heard it referred to as neck bending. I saw a guy doing it with a Les Paul in a band once. It was like watching a balloon being blown up and waiting for the pop. He was a kid fresh out of high school with 2 Gibson Les Pauls so I suppose he didn't much care. I did though. :lol:

Note: That was back when you only had to be 18 to drink in a bar and I was so much older and wiser than he at the age of 23.

oh yeah, I will do it if it elicits the right effect -- the surprised scream is best.

and then there's neck or headstock bending: I will do that too. occasionally. if it's musically effective. but I'm braver than most, as I've got a pretty good feel for what a guitar can take, and how to fix the damage it if I were to go too far, and have back-up guitars. it's best for a nice shimmery vibrato on chords and multiple string natural harmonics. but neck flexing won't give you a good dive-bomb unless you are ready to really wail on it -- not good for tuning stability, screwed-on neck joints and especially for Gibby-style mahogany headstocks in which have grain run-out at the tilt back (usual point of snappage). GB: it's entirely possible to bend down, as the truss rod rarely reinforces the entire length of the neck.

generally: guitars are a lot tougher that one might suspect. the problem is that the collapse is fairly catastrophic. the trick is staying away from that cliff and also doing any extra maintenance that might be required due to the flexing stresses and resulting strains (checking and tightening neck joints, relief tweaks …)