New Suhr has "dead" notes :(

I know this thread is old, but I just happened up it for the first time. I had to add my weird experience with dead notes:

I had a Gibson Shred V with a Kahler that had the same dead notes regardless of what string they were played on. I replaced the import Kahler with a USA one (not for the dead notes, but for tuning stability), and the dead notes shifted up slightly, but were just as bad (so was the lousy tuning stability). I finally said screw it and installed Hipshot Tone-a-Matic bridge, and the dead notes completely disappeared on the guitar altogether, along with the tuning instability. So it was totally just the bridge. Not surprisingly, with the Tone-A-Matic, the sustain went through the damn roof. I had never thought a bridge of any kind could be the cause of dead notes, but in my case that was totally it. I'm sorry to read that even after waiting all this time, getting a new neck on the Suhr, that the problem still remained. If I were John Suhr, I would've tried that new neck on some different bodies sitting at the factor until I found one that worked with the neck without causing any notes to do that. My Gibson was the only guitar I've ever had with dead notes, and I don't think it's something ever to accept as just being part of a guitar. To me that's part of QC. If you were at the factory and drilled a hole in the wrong spot, you don't just pawn that off to the customer; you start again, more slowly and carefully. And when you're making a really damn expensive instrument, you make sure there are no fret problems, and you make sure there are no dead notes. If someone trusts your company enough to pay that much money, the customer deserves ten minutes of your time to make sure the instrument is completely right out of the gate. Very cool that John Suhr worked on your guitar directly; too bad he apparently didn't QC it too.
 
So it was totally just the bridge.
The mass of the bridge or the way it couples with the body could affect the resonance...

I am still surprised in all my years of playing and many guitars that I never encountered it before this. It's apparently really common.

The guitar is still damn nice and I enjoy it. It's improved after the new neck but still have to work those 2 notes on the G string to get them to sustain.
 
The mass of the bridge or the way it couples with the body could affect the resonance...

I am still surprised in all my years of playing and many guitars that I never encountered it before this. It's apparently really common.

The guitar is still damn nice and I enjoy it. It's improved after the new neck but still have to work those 2 notes on the G string to get them to sustain.
Tone-a-Matic?
 
@dave Merill hahaha! It killed me to get rid of the trem, since that was the main reason I got that guitar, but if I had to choose between tone and trem, I'll go for tone. @unix-guy I'm talking without direct experience here, but I'm guessing the highest quality Floyd upgrade would be a Coherent Sound in Light Sophia. The guy who makes those is the inventor of the great ZR Trem that Ibanez used to make. And for the locking nut, Bill Edwards all the goddamn way!
 
@dave Merill hahaha! It killed me to get rid of the trem, since that was the main reason I got that guitar, but if I had to choose between tone and trem, I'll go for tone. @unix-guy I'm talking without direct experience here, but I'm guessing the highest quality Floyd upgrade would be a Coherent Sound in Light Sophia. The guy who makes those is the inventor of the great ZR Trem that Ibanez used to make. And for the locking nut, Bill Edwards all the goddamn way!
It's not really about "quality" as much as it is just the actual mass of the bridge and how that affects the overall resonance of the guitar.

IMO there is nothing better than the original Edge trems but this one is very good. It even comes with a brass block... If anything, I might try swapping the block as that's fairly cheap and easy to do.

The Sophia bridge and the cool "thumb wheel" spring adjustment is pretty cool, though!
 
It's not really about "quality" as much as it is just the actual mass of the bridge and how that affects the overall resonance of the guitar.

The quality aspect does make a difference in how quickly the posts and baseplate knife edges will wear. That's the thing with the cheaper alloys used in knock-off Floyds. I'm not crazy about any Floyds, just because I feel like I can never trust them necessarily to return to zero. The only one I dealt with that acted perfectly for me was the Floyd Speedloader, may it rest in peace. In case you couldn't see, I had to genuflect after that.

My first instance of worn posts and baseplates was actually on an Edge from the mid-90's, and that's what set me down my never ending search for the most reliable trem that doesn't suck tone.
 
The quality aspect does make a difference in how quickly the posts and baseplate knife edges will wear.
True... But we're discussing dead notes on a brand new guitar. That wasn't really relevant ;)

My first instance of worn posts and baseplates was actually on an Edge from the mid-90's
Did you by chance adjust the bridge posts while without slacking the strings? I have about 20 Ibanez guitars with Edge trems and have never had a problem with posts or knife edges except the first time I learned the hard way ;)
 
I have about 20 Ibanez guitars with Edge trems and have never had a problem with posts or knife edges except the first time I learned the hard way
I only ever had one Ibanez, and I was a kid when I had it. I definitely did not know how to work on one properly back then, and I don't know if I adjusted it at tension, which would completely destroy a knife edge, and the post divot. I'll take your experience as a good point of proof, though. I'll have to give one of those a try again in the future.

How do you feel about the tone and sustain of the Edge trem?
 
The Original Edge and Lo Pro Edge are excellent in tone ad durability the only shortcoming it the finish comes off more easily than a original Floyd. They are built by Gotoh and is spite of the zinc baseplate and block the saddles and locknut are hardened steel and pretty much indestructible.
The zinc is not a sintered casting process so the tone is fine too.
 
I know this thread is old, but I just happened up it for the first time. I had to add my weird experience with dead notes:

I had a Gibson Shred V with a Kahler that had the same dead notes regardless of what string they were played on. I replaced the import Kahler with a USA one (not for the dead notes, but for tuning stability), and the dead notes shifted up slightly, but were just as bad (so was the lousy tuning stability). I finally said screw it and installed Hipshot Tone-a-Matic bridge, and the dead notes completely disappeared on the guitar altogether, along with the tuning instability. So it was totally just the bridge. Not surprisingly, with the Tone-A-Matic, the sustain went through the damn roof. I had never thought a bridge of any kind could be the cause of dead notes, but in my case that was totally it. I'm sorry to read that even after waiting all this time, getting a new neck on the Suhr, that the problem still remained. If I were John Suhr, I would've tried that new neck on some different bodies sitting at the factor until I found one that worked with the neck without causing any notes to do that. My Gibson was the only guitar I've ever had with dead notes, and I don't think it's something ever to accept as just being part of a guitar. To me that's part of QC. If you were at the factory and drilled a hole in the wrong spot, you don't just pawn that off to the customer; you start again, more slowly and carefully. And when you're making a really damn expensive instrument, you make sure there are no fret problems, and you make sure there are no dead notes. If someone trusts your company enough to pay that much money, the customer deserves ten minutes of your time to make sure the instrument is completely right out of the gate. Very cool that John Suhr worked on your guitar directly; too bad he apparently didn't QC it too.
The Kahler with roller saddles is the biggest tone suck you can put on a guitar short of a string damper.
All wooden guitars have the potential for this problem ,in fact more than half the guitars I see have it too a variable extent. It also is affected by how much you play and what notes you play the most. It is practically impossible to prevent all occurrences of this in the factory.
 
It's not really about "quality" as much as it is just the actual mass of the bridge and how that affects the overall resonance of the guitar.

IMO there is nothing better than the original Edge trems but this one is very good. It even comes with a brass block... If anything, I might try swapping the block as that's fairly cheap and easy to do.

I've had 20* guitars (probably more :) ) with Edge and Lo-Pro trems. Loved all of them.

FWIW I tried a titanium block in my Modern and actually made the resonance issue worse. YMMV of course. Maybe a heavier block is the answer.
 
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