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Tech: Setup, Repairs and Mods Guitar workbench discussion such as setup, repairs, mods, installing new parts and more.

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  #1  
Old 10-20-2007, 02:15 PM
SRVoodoo  is offline
 
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A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Hey everyone!
I'd like to share with you a little trick...actually THREE little tricks I've devised.

1. the unwanted "warble" (when playing with a floating bridge you pick a string which makes the bridge vibrate excessivly....ie same sound as when you roll your "R's" with your tongue)
to stop that without all the time, expense, frustration & routing required for some of the "backstop" or "tremsetter" products out there I simply cut a piece of foam and fit it between the block & body on the spring side. Voila! no more unwanted warble but you can still do the
Steve Vai warble effect by using the whammy bar.

2. speaking of whammy bars... y'know the Ibanez Edge/Lo-Pro/Edge-Pro whammy bars that have the two white nylon spacers or washers on them? well their purpose is to keep the whammy bar fitting snuggly in it's place. They wear out & the whammy bar gets loose.
Rather than going through the frustration of trying to find where to buy new nylon washers
I simply take a piece of "surrand wrap" (same stuff you use to wrap up a left-over hamburger)
and apply it to nylon washer portion of the whammy bar. voila! the plastic wrap makes up the difference between a brand new washer & a worn out washer.

3. Spring Noise... When using the whammy bar sometimes the springs in the trem cavity will make noise. I use a Weather Stripping (a sort of mix between rubber & foam).
simply cut a piece long enough to cover all your springs, insert the piece between the body & springs & it acts as a dampener.

Note: If done properly, none of the above suggestions should interfere with the normal operation of your trem. These are just things that I"VE found useful on MY guitars.

p.s. if you're into the headstock pickholder ala Steve Vai, I've found that if you insert a piece of weather stripping inside the pick holder, it will hold your picks tighter than the plastic piece alone
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  #2  
Old 10-21-2007, 02:29 PM
RG462  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


sweet dude you just repeated things i've heard 1000 times =]
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  #3  
Old 10-21-2007, 02:45 PM
SRVoodoo  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


RG462 while I appreciate you facetious demeanor I'll politely ask that you keep those kind of comments to yourself as there may be others on this forum who are not as fortunate as you to have already learned of these helpful tricks.
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  #4  
Old 10-21-2007, 07:53 PM
sleepyone  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Didn't know the warble trick!
Already taken care of tricks #2 & #3 (Y) hehehe
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  #5  
Old 10-21-2007, 08:09 PM
scotte_za  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


yeah, i didnt know any of this stuff, useful tips for my next setup
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  #6  
Old 10-21-2007, 08:15 PM
SRVoodoo  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Keep in mind for #1 that the foam should be soft or spongy enough
to allow the trem to return to zero & offer Just enough pressure to deaden the unwanted vibration.
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  #7  
Old 10-21-2007, 09:36 PM
Dee  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Electrical tape is my favourite spring dampener. It's been discussed on here, too. Search for "Noisy Trem Springs". For the sloppy trem bar, many of us use plumbers tape.

Last edited by Dee; 10-24-2007 at 03:06 PM.
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  #8  
Old 10-22-2007, 01:53 AM
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jim777  is offline
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Didn't Rikk Beatty just hear from Thomas Nordegg that he takes a lighter to the nylon rings for a second or two and they simply expand again? I wouldn't do it to mine, but it sounds cool :-)

All this kind of knowledge is great for guys just starting out, it can take years to figure out on your own and we haven't all been playing since '72

jim
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Old 10-22-2007, 03:35 AM
David McCarroll  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Of course if you are a Sonic Youth fan (like me) you may find string warble, spring noise and other horrible trem side effects actually fairly appealing..........
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  #10  
Old 10-24-2007, 01:15 PM
Shredder87  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Re: tip number 2. I suffered this problem with a Strat and it did my head in for ages until I tried PTFE tape (Plumber's tape). Wrap it around the bar insert and it solves the problem as good as anything else.

'87
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  #11  
Old 10-31-2007, 02:53 AM
kaizzen  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Quote:
Originally Posted by jim777 View Post
Didn't Rikk Beatty just hear from Thomas Nordegg that he takes a lighter to the nylon rings for a second or two and they simply expand again? I wouldn't do it to mine, but it sounds cool :-)

All this kind of knowledge is great for guys just starting out, it can take years to figure out on your own and we haven't all been playing since '72

jim
The lighter trick works really well for me. Lasts roughly 2 weeks before going loose. Also it stays precisely where I want it, increases flutter slightly and sensitivity due to making it such a glove tight fit in the arm holder.

On the other hand plumbers tape only lasts me like 4-5 hours. (dunno if that's just me?)
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  #12  
Old 10-31-2007, 09:33 AM
SRVoodoo  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Actually the lighter trick DOES work very well.
I fire the bushings just until they blacken a bit then, once they cool down,
the bar is a perfect fit again. I don't know how long the bushings will last overall but it is definately worth trying!

...Still, surrand wrap works too
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  #13  
Old 11-01-2007, 07:57 PM
bammbamm  is offline
 
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Re: A Few Useful Guitar Tweeks


Saran wrap.
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Tags
arm holder, noisy trem, noisy trem springs, rikk beatty, steve vai, trem springs, whammy bars


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