hard pickin' on a guitar with a floating trem will bring out the most severe trem gargle. if you absolutely must do it (pick hard), make sure the trem arm is hanging 90 degrees from the strings that lowers the bridge's inertia moment and allow the springs to snap the bridge back to neutral position ASAP with the least over shoot.
as much as that sounds like BS, try this on a floating trem guitar and listen: position the trem arm parallel to the strings (either forward or back), now either pick a nice fat, strong note on one of the higher strings and listen. hear that warbling? now try it with trem arm hanging at 90 to the string. should be less. if this drives you crazy -- after hearing it, some are perpetually annoyed by it, you can either fully or partially block the trem to prevent it. setting up a vintage-style (six screw pivot) Strat trem for down-only action, by tightening the springs to pull the bridge plate hard against the body will fix this. with careful partial blocking, it's possible to do the same for a floating trem.
I haven't looked for one, but I'd wager that someone has produce a damping, shock absorber type device to reduce trem gargle. it would go in the spring cavity. and it would probably make the guitar a bit less lively and resonant.
-=tension & release=-
ditch the Fender Bullets, they are total garbage. they snap way too easily and die within minutes. rubbish strings. My experience is that a strat with floating trem (that I use quite a lot) will do fine with Ernie Balls, or any other ball-end string. The bullets are just marketing hype and poor quality product.
This is interesting. I know I got rid of my MIM Strat to join the PRS SE owning masses, but this one has the strat style bridge/trem system. I don't get any of the gargled mess on it that I did with the MIM. gneases's notes and suggestions might have helped the MIM, but I'll never know.
Thinking back, I do know I had the bridge flat for some of it's duration. I wish I remember for sure, but I'm pretty sure I was irritated with it even at that point. Alas, the reason escapes me. My SE incarnation of this style is doing fine and adide from one single string guage change, I am touching ot as little as possible. Who knows what I may have done.
U2bono, I have a very heavy strum/pick hand. I've been working on it a lot lately. I think it even messed me up on something I was trying to record this weekend. I know it messes me up when I play power chords.
Scrybe, I'm with you on those bullets. I gave away any remaining pairs of them I had after I discovered my dislike for them. Nastiest sounding strings when the least little thing went wrong with them, and that never took long in the south-eastern U.S. humidity.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
ditch the Fender Bullets, they are total garbage. they snap way too easily and die within minutes. rubbish strings. My experience is that a strat with floating trem (that I use quite a lot) will do fine with Ernie Balls, or any other ball-end string. The bullets are just marketing hype and poor quality product.
+111
cannot believe they still make these.
-=tension & release=-
