could somebody introduce me to the world of electric guitar bridges?

[ninelives1980]

the types that's available, their pros and cons, to what style of playing they're most suited for, etc.

thanks in advance.

[shredfreak]

Well there are basicly three different bridge styles. Hard Tail, Vintage trem and Floyd Rose(locking bridge). You can play any style with any bridge. So it's more like what you like to use.

Check this site out. There is some info about bridges.

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/brid...floyd_original

[ninelives1980]

Originally Posted by shredfreak

Well there are basicly three different bridge styles. Hard Tail, Vintage trem and Floyd Rose(locking bridge). You can play any style with any bridge. So it's more like what you like to use.

Check this site out. There is some info about bridges.

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/brid...floyd_original

thanks, but i've looked through warmoth's site prior to this.

1. it's quite a standard term isn't it, that people refers to electric guitar's tremolo as 'trem'?

2. what's hard tail? is it fixed bridge?

3. how does fixed bridge compares to the other bridges?

4. is it true that retuning like say, from standard tuning, i.e. E to drop C is possible on fixed bridge but not possible for the tremolo bridges?

5. vintage trem - is it a 'non-floating' bridge? and is it what some people know as 'vintage fender tremolo'?

6. floyd rose - is it true that there are a lot of variations under these category, and the top 3 ones are
- original floyd rose
- the edge series (ibanez's version of floyd rose)
- schaller's floyd rose

7. what is floating tremolos and 'non-floating tremolos'? and how does the 2 compares to each other?

and does the other tremolo bridges, like wilkinson tremolo, bigsby tremolo fall under the category of 'floyd rose' bridges too?


A bit lengthy here, but could someone help me out here? Since it's a once-off thing.
Many thanks in advance.

[RSVampire]

hard tail = bridge doesn't move in any shape or form providing the best sustain and tuning stability

vintage trems = usually "dive only", meaning they can only lower pitch. The sustain is still great and so is tuning stability as long as you don't use it.

Floyd Rose or Floating Trem = full floating means you can raise and lower pitch with the trem. Sustain is much lower with these trems and tuning stability is also much less.

there are the pro's and con's of each bridge man. I still love my floating trem, it's just what I prefer. If you prefer another bridge... don't let anyone else tell you different.

[David McCarroll]

1) a hard tail is a fixed bridge

2) A "floating tremolo is "balanced" on it's springs -they equal the tension of the strings - hence because the bridge floats free of the body you can pull up (sharpen) or down (lower the pitch)

3) You CAN detune a Floyd style bridge, but you will spend ages trying to balance up the tuning against the spring tension, at which point the bridge will probably have shifted from it's neutral position, hence altering the action of the guitar. If the bridge sits hard on the body, you should be able to detune the guitar, but it is still a pain in the nether regions

4)There have been a number of goes at producing a true locking tremolo system, however the only one that genuinely seems to work effectively is the Floyd Rose system - Floyd, not being stupid patented his system, and consequently systems like Edge and Schaller tremolos will have "licenced by Floyd Rose" stamped somewhere on them - whether one is better than another is pretty subjective.

5) Wilkinsons, Bigsbys etc are closer in style to I guess "vintage" trems - they do not lock the strings, but rely on really good engineering and things like graphite (low friction) nuts to retain good tuning - PRS and modern Fender strats have relatively good trems which return to pitch pretty well.

Hope that helps.

[elcid]

Vintage Trems can be set to pull up also.
I have seen Fenders set up to get a 1/2 step sharp when the trem is pulled up.

[ninelives1980]

and what is locking tremolo?
Is it a system where-by the bridge with tremolo lock the strings so as to retain strings' tunings when the tremolo bar is being used up to the extent of abusive tremolo bar playing?

Originally Posted by David McCarroll

3) If the bridge sits hard on the body, you should be able to detune the guitar, but it is still a pain in the nether regions.

nether regions?
nether as in lower?
what do you mean by the bridge sitting hard on the body? Is it like non-floating trems?

Originally Posted by RSVampire

vintage trems = usually "dive only", meaning they can only lower pitch. The sustain is still great and so is tuning stability as long as you don't use it.

so it's like it's there but you can't use it, huh?

[shredfreak]

Originally Posted by ninelives1980

and what is locking tremolo?
Is it a system where-by the bridge with tremolo lock the strings so as to retain strings' tunings when the tremolo bar is being used up to the extent of abusive tremolo bar playing?

Yep that's locking tremolo bridge. And mostly people use locking nuts with locking bridges, it locks the strings from the nut so the strings are locked from the both ends.

Originally Posted by ninelives1980

nether regions?
nether as in lower?
what do you mean by the bridge sitting hard on the body? Is it like non-floating trems?

Kinda like non-floating trem. The bridge doesn't move anywhere. It stands still if you understand what I mean.

Originally Posted by ninelives1980

so it's like it's there but you can't use it, huh?

It's there and you can use it. Using only little bit it doesn't go out of tune or if you have new good strings and good tuners you can sometimes use it more. Check out some Jeff Becks or Yngwie Malmsteen's stuff. Those guys use very much their vintage trems and stay in tune.

[King Knall]

For avid floating trem users, check out Vai and EVH.

As for me, I use a vintage trem and I can pull it up by about a 1/2 step without making any special setups. It doesn't go out of tune when I use it for more subtle stuff, but goes out of tune almost immediately when I (try) to dive bomb.

[ninelives1980]

1. don't mind me being petty on this -->
so, locking tremolo refers to a bridge with tremolo (be it floating or non-floating bridge) where-by both ends of the strings are locked at the bridge and at the nut?

2. as detailed above is floating trems; what about non-floating trems, how are they like?

3. so, should it be safe for me to assume that retuning like say again, from E to drop C would be a problem for floating trems and non-floating trems?

4. the vintage trems, including but not limited to, say 'vintage fender tremolo', wilkinson, bigsby are non-floating trems?