New Suhr has "dead" notes :(

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.
That was Leo's observation with the Strat vibrato bridge design, IIRC from the Forrest White book....
 
Whoa, this is a lot of useful information, and really has me reconsidering Ibanez. I'm wary of anyone using completely proprietary hardware in general, but Ibanez is ubiquitous, so that allays that concern.

Sorry to hijack this thread inadvertently, but thank you to @unix-guy, @Andy Eagle, and @rickboot for sharing your experience with the Edge and Lo-Pros. This is making me question my experience from decades ago. Weird thing with that; I was sure my observations from the past were infallible!
 
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.
Did your Modern have the brass block to start with? I don't really want to add more weight or deal with a bigger one...
 
Did your Modern have the brass block to start with? I don't really want to add more weight or deal with a bigger one...
My Modern has a Gotoh 510 with the default block which I think is steel. I went with titanium to lighten the weight but it made the dead note more dead. I admit I have not tried the titanium block since Suhr swapped out the neck.
 
My Modern has a Gotoh 510 with the default block which I think is steel. I went with titanium to lighten the weight but it made the dead note more dead. I admit I have not tried the titanium block since Suhr swapped out the neck.
Ok... I was thinking of trying a steel or titanium just to see if the mass difference helped. In my case I've got the Gotoh Floyd with brass already.
 
Deep thoughts

Can you have them make another just like yours and send it to my address?


I'd like to check it out and really see what the fuss is about. I'm sure Suhr won't mind.
He'll see this and say "sure....why not". ;)

FYI - Suhr hasn't made contact yet.
 
If you have a resonant frequency issue the more you can change the mass the better . But it can also bring the change and subsequent dissonance in the wrong direction sometimes. This would just end up with different dead notes.
 
They built a completely new neck for me with a slimmer profile, which I assume would change the mass in a significant way.

The same 2 notes on the G string still don't sustain as much as other notes anywhere else on the neck, but it's better than before.

I might eventually try to replace the trem block to see if that helps...

FYI: I replaced the trem block at my Suhr Modern Satin with a brass block. That didn't eliminated the dead note issue. It neither improved anything. No differences at all.

That just made me lose even more money when I sold it.

20210922_165143.jpg
 
Mine came with a brass block already ;)
Only in the Floyd version. The regular comes with steel and for the satin and cheaper models zinc. The zinc that comes on the 510 is not an issues though. It's only the Floyd versions that you should try a swapped block because you can get them with a significant mass difference, the 510 replacements are too similar.
 
I came across this post only today!
I was thinking of getting a Suhr, but I start to think that I was really lucky with my 2 Ibanez (RG and AZ) for what concerns playability and sustain.

Really sorry for the OP and all the pain... @unix-guy at the end are you happy with your Suhr?
 
I came across this post only today!
I was thinking of getting a Suhr, but I start to think that I was really lucky with my 2 Ibanez (RG and AZ) for what concerns playability and sustain.

Really sorry for the OP and all the pain... @unix-guy at the end are you happy with your Suhr?
Suhr are excellent, but you need to look for dead spots in ANY guitar whatever the price.
 
Suhr are excellent, but you need to look for dead spots in ANY guitar whatever the price.
This topic taught me a lot, thanks everyone for all the contributions!
Sometimes I see a little bias when commenting high-end guitars / stuff (understandable after a "high-end" payment), but that's not the case.

By the way, I love Suhr design (as my Ibanez AZ aka poor-man-suhr)
 
I came across this post only today!
I was thinking of getting a Suhr, but I start to think that I was really lucky with my 2 Ibanez (RG and AZ) for what concerns playability and sustain.

Really sorry for the OP and all the pain... @unix-guy at the end are you happy with your Suhr?
I am... It's a great instrument.
 
I have an idea for a workaround.

We used to confine all our Eb songs to a set for easier re-tuning, but one song really wanted to be in the standard-tuned set. But since it was so simple, (Song 2, Blur) I only tuned the low E down, then transposed the song, and just altered the way I played my 'Root-5' chords, i.e., an open E chord would be open 6, 1/5. No problem.

So for a live setting, where you need the sustain of a dead note, for just that section of the solo, why not use the Pitch Block, say down 2 steps, and just transpose a portion of the solo, and at that specific part, turn on the Pitch Block?

I sorta got the idea from working on some 7-string songs, using the Pitch Block for the lower portions of the song, but when the solo parts got into the higher register, I'd just turn it off.
 
I have an idea for a workaround.

We used to confine all our Eb songs to a set for easier re-tuning, but one song really wanted to be in the standard-tuned set. But since it was so simple, (Song 2, Blur) I only tuned the low E down, then transposed the song, and just altered the way I played my 'Root-5' chords, i.e., an open E chord would be open 6, 1/5. No problem.

So for a live setting, where you need the sustain of a dead note, for just that section of the solo, why not use the Pitch Block, say down 2 steps, and just transpose a portion of the solo, and at that specific part, turn on the Pitch Block?

I sorta got the idea from working on some 7-string songs, using the Pitch Block for the lower portions of the song, but when the solo parts got into the higher register, I'd just turn it off.
I play a lot of improvised stuff... So that doesn't help me ;)
 
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