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To whammy or not to whammy

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(@briank)
Estimable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 122
Topic starter  

I'm looking around to buy my first electric. I've used my brother's and friend's Squire strats and, frankly, I've grown a little tired of them- I've always been a fan of the LP look.
But I don't have a lot of money to spend, so my choices are essentially a Squire Strat or an LP copy (and, according to some of you, the Dean Evo is a good guitar for $100).
Maybe I'm simplifying it too much, but the choice seems to come down a guitar with a whammy bar (a strat) or a guitar without one (an LP).
This seems like such a hard decision. One one side, my friend tells me that whammy bars are just little "tricks" that spice up music- in other words, working the fretboard is more important then slamming down a piece of metal to lower the pitch of a note, and whammy bars take the guitar out of tune. But then again, I'm a big fan of music from the 60s where the whammy bar was an important part of the music. And maybe I'm underestimating the fact, but I don't have a problem with having to retune frequently- heck, as long as they all go out of tune together, I shouldn't be able to notice the relative difference in the notes, right?
I know I can learn (am learning) to use finger vibrato, but that can only do so much between two frets, and you can't do those slow whammy bar dive-bombs or very heavy vibrato with only your fingers.
So it seems that before I go any further, I should decide- a whammy bar or a fixed bridge? It would be great if anyone had any insight on their reasoning to go with or with out a whammy bar. This question has been bothering me for a while, and any advice would be much appreciated.

"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"


   
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(@greybeard)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5840
 

You could buy a guitar with a vibrato unit, like the Strat and put a block of wood between the string block and the body of the guitar (like Eric Clapton has). You get the best of both worlds. If you want a "hardtail" put the block in and, if you want the "60's sounds" take it out.

I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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(@met_k)
Active Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 7
 

You can bend the neck to replicate the wammy bar. So if you are firmly against getting one with a wammy...

Another option is to screw the floating bridge flat against the body. It is how I have my Strat setup and I adore the full sound I get out of my wammy. I added another spring to it as well (so it uses four) to increase the tension. It is a trick I picked up from Gilmour and it is as close as you can get to having a hard tail guitar with a wammy...

-Bryce


   
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(@greybeard)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5840
 

You can bend the neck to replicate the wammy bar.

You'll never get the range that a vibrato unit will give you.

Secondly, there are few more certain ways to damage your neck (if not break it). Pushing the headstock forward (apart from coming very close to overstressing it) will put extra strain on the truss rod. Either the truss rod is strong enough to stop any bending (which negates any "vibrato" effect) or it has to bend - and may stay bent, which results in a weakened truss rod and a bent neck.

I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN


   
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(@anonymous)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 8184
 

sounds like you want a guitar with a whammy bar.


   
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(@met_k)
Active Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 7
 

You can bend the neck to replicate the wammy bar.

You'll never get the range that a vibrato unit will give you.

Secondly, there are few more certain ways to damage your neck (if not break it). Pushing the headstock forward (apart from coming very close to overstressing it) will put extra strain on the truss rod. Either the truss rod is strong enough to stop any bending (which negates any "vibrato" effect) or it has to bend - and may stay bent, which results in a weakened truss rod and a bent neck.

I never said that you would get the exact range. I only said you can bend the neck to replicate the wammy bar. Just as a tremolo pedal is no replacement for a real Leslie.

And I can think of a lot worse things for a neck than bending it a little. ;) Not saying it isn't bad for it - but a little bit won't hurt. I'm not talking dive-bombing it, just enough to get a very small, tasteful vibrato out of the bugger. :)


   
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(@briank)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 122
Topic starter  

I think one problem is appearance- I would much rather have an LP body then a Strat body; I just think LPs look a lot cooler.
The problem seems to be that there are no cheap LP copies with a vibrato bridge- an LP-type bridge fitted for a whammy bar costs above $100, and I can't afford to spend that much on just a bridge.
I love the looks of those guitars with Bigsby (?) vibrato systems, but all of those guitars are out of my price range.
I'm not talking dive-bombing it, just enough to get a very small, tasteful vibrato out of the bugger.
I know I can do some vibrato with my fingers, but I really love those heavy dive-bombing riffs.
It's almost like the battle is between appearance (LP vs. Strat) and function (fixed bridge or whammy bar). Do I go for a Strat with a whammy bar that would not look cool to me, or a cool-looking (to me) LP copy with no vibrato?

"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
 

Forget about dive-bombing if your budget is $100. Those squier bullets and the like go immediately out of tune if you look at the whammy. And an out of tune guitar is the last thing you need. If your budget is severely limited I would only look at hardtails. And if you don't believe me, do some dive-bombing in a store and then hit a chord.


   
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(@briank)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 122
Topic starter  

Forget about dive-bombing if your budget is $100. Those squier bullets and the like go immediately out of tune if you look at the whammy. And an out of tune guitar is the last thing you need. If your budget is severely limited I would only look at hardtails. And if you don't believe me, do some dive-bombing in a store and then hit a chord.
I thought you didn't have to worry about strats going out of tune because they didn't have "floating" bridges, even though they can have whammy bars, so you didn't have to worry about spending a lot of time carefully retuning the entire guitar. I don't know much about the different guitar bridges, can someone enlighten me?

"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"


   
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(@u2bono269)
Noble Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 1167
 

My Ibanez has the standard floating tremelo, like a Fender. I find that if i use it, even a little, all 6 strings go sharp. If I use it alot, all the strings go almost a semitone sharp. And the G string gets wildly out of whack. So it's fun to do, but once you do it, the guitar's pretty much worthless, i think. But that's what Floyd Roses are for, to dive bomb and stay in tune. the fender style is good for like, calm, subtle bending to add a little flavor, but you'll have to retune after the song.

http://www.brianbetteridge.com


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 10264
 

I asked the same question about a year ago, when I got my Squier Strat....someone, I thimk it was Wes Inman, suggested playing it without the whammy bar for a month ago, give it a chance to "bed in"....then try the whammy bar...so I did exactly that, but I got sick of re-tuning every time I used it....took it off and never bothered since. Maybe now I've had it so long, I may try it again....

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@steve-0)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 1162
 

I used to do alot of whammy bar stuff on my guitar and it went wildly out of tune, I thought i was hopeless until someone on this site told me to oil and lubricate all the points of contact for the strings (bridge saddle, nut, string trees, tuners) and it was like playing a new guitar, now I can do alot of whammy bar stuff and it usually stays decently in tune... without locking tuners, locking nuts or a any locking system whatsoever, and it's a floating tremelo.

All that being said, without a locking system it WILL go out of tune occasionally, but that's just something you have to live with.

They're frustrating at times, but normal tremelo systems CAN work decently.

Steve-0


   
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(@briank)
Estimable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 122
Topic starter  

Do all strings go out of tune together? Or do, for instance, the wound strings "catch" and go out of tune slower/faster?
All I really know is that on strats, pushing the whammy bar down torques the bridge up diagonally, and lowers the tension and pitch of the strings. Can someone please explain how the different bridges and vibrato systems work?

"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"


   
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(@hairballxavier)
Estimable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 93
 

I know guys that can make any POS whammy crippled guitar stay in tune.

I personally don't use them because I just think they are not worth the trouble.

But I also thought that about fingerpicking, slides, FX units,etc.etc. etc. andf I later proved myserlf wrong.

The thing is that if you like the sound of a guitar, get it no matter what it takes. You only live once.

But if I was you I'd go for a really stable guitar. If you dont klike the fact that it dont have a tbar, just bend the hell out of the strings and neck until it gets the message and grows one.


   
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(@andrewlubinus89)
Estimable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 181
 

I have an ibanez s470 dx with a zr bridge and it stays in tune pretty well even after dive bombing. After all day of playing and dive bombing all the strings were less than half a semitone sharp except the g string which was about a semitone sharp. Fun stuff.

A hoopy frood knows where his towel is....


   
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