Vibrato on a Les Paul?

[Andy Eagle]

That looks sweet!

I've got a Stetsbar on one of my old LP's, mostly because it covers up a giant crater the previous owner left in there when they installed a Kahler :s

Is it neatly routed? Gibson did fit Kahler on some models.

 

[2112]

Is it neatly routed? Gibson did fit Kahler on some models.

It had been chiseled out rather crudely unfortunately. It's one of the Norlin era Les Paul Artist models.

 

[Dave Merrill]

These are interesting but the feel is not good (yet?)

Hadn't heard of that, interesting.

There's a $100 of holiday deal, fyi, but still not cheap.

 

[Andy Eagle]

It had been chiseled out rather crudely unfortunately. It's one of the Norlin era Les Paul Artist models.

Quite repairable. It would need to be routed and a neat block fitting and then the top refinishing

 

[iaresee]

I personally think a Les Paul is hardtail and that's just how it's best. However if you must they are a reasonable choice.

The ability to expirement with this without permanent damage or modification to the guitar was the attraction.

 

[Andy Eagle]

The ability to expirement with this without permanent damage or modification to the guitar was the attraction.

Totally agree. I've taken off a lot of surface mount trems over the years though and they always sounded better afterwards.

 

[Rock Chalk]

Totally agree. I've taken off a lot of surface mount trems over the years though and they always sounded better afterwards.

But then none of those guitars could use the trem they had before either. I guess thats why people have more than one guitar……some with, some without. Best of both worlds.

 

[vetteboy79]

I had an old Explorer that someone had put a Kahler trem bridge on (maybe factory?)...that thing seemed like the sloppiest bridge ever to me. Those two little springs didn't stand a chance.

I was young at the time and ended up finding a few bits out of an Erector Set that had the right spacing, and swapped those in place of the springs to make the Kahler trem rigid. Much more stable and pleasant to play after that. The guy I ended up selling it to later didn't even mind and was kinda glad I had made it fixed.

Never really liked the 500T pickup but the 496R in that thing sounded fantastic.

 

[JoKeR III]

The Duesenberg trem is one of the best I've used, great feel and tuning stability.

 

[Andy Eagle]

The Duesenberg trem is one of the best I've used, great feel and tuning stability.

I would have to say this is only true if you are looking at surface mounted units exclusively . And tuning stability on a non locking system is mostly down to other things and even the players ability to understand the limitations and work within them.

 

[svl]

What guitars does it work well on?
What roller bridges work well with it?

Have them on a couple Dean Caddys, an Ibanez Iceman, two Reverends (Tricky & a PA), an Explorer, a Tele and a Les Paul. Rollers vary, I use Rev rollers for the Reverends, and Tone Pro and Schallers on the rest. Best tuning stability out there and a great variety of tricks (they mimic most trems easily- I can divebomb without going out of tune like a Floyd or Kahler, and flutter to my hearts content like a Bigsby, plus everything inbetween). I do not use locking nuts, but do use locking tuners.

Disagree on the tone suck comment about roller bridges, have never had an issue.

 

[Andy Eagle]

Have them on a couple Dean Caddys, an Ibanez Iceman, two Reverends (Tricky & a PA), an Explorer, a Tele and a Les Paul. Rollers vary, I use Rev rollers for the Reverends, and Tone Pro and Schallers on the rest. Best tuning stability out there and a great variety of tricks (they mimic most trems easily- I can divebomb without going out of tune like a Floyd or Kahler, and flutter to my hearts content like a Bigsby, plus everything inbetween). I do not use locking nuts, but do use locking tuners.

Disagree on the tone suck comment about roller bridges, have never had an issue.

The tone suck is not a matter of opinion, it's physics. When you release extra length of dead string in to the equation the string energy is wasted getting the dead string moving. And when you pull vibrating string over the roller it stops moving also wasting energy . These two actions are what happens when you vibrato a note on a bigsby style unit . As I said above it is a tone suck IN USE when you just play without touching the bar it may be ok sounding. Another consideration is the angle over the saddle required for the trem may also be detrimental to tone.

 

[Andy Eagle]

If you just take the idea of a tremolo (vibrato bar) that has the most sustain as the aim you would be looking for something that the string can't move across at all and had high mass to keep the string energy reflecting back in to the string and not dissipating quickly.If would also need the lowest possible part count. This is the exact description of a no fine tune Floyd rose with the biggest block you could fit. BUT this would barley interact with the body and the tone would be the metal . If wanted maximum interaction with the body the same thing but in the lightest materials that are hard enough to build it in, Titatnium. These opposites both sound pretty bad IMO and the truth is that trem but somewhere in the middle. The Original Floyd design without fine tuners and a lock nut is a royal PITA to get in tune and retune though but it is the tonal best in actual use. This is from a stand point of wasted string energy and potential to fine tune the amount of body interaction by material choice.