deeaa
January 14th, 2012, 11:53 PM
On a whim, I decided I'd swap the trem blocks on my strats, because that's said to have a big impact on sound.
One victim is my Stratoblaster, which has a 'normal' rather heavy metal block of unknown material, not the softest stuff out there but not steel or anything. The guitar has a strurdyish rosewood/maple neck and medium-light body and sounds rather dark and 'even' with a strong and low sounding acoustic ring to it & a nice low sustain.
The other is the dee-constructed Squier Classic Vibe strat, which has an one-piece maple neck and similar body, but there is no pickguard damping down the body and the block is next to non-existant thin slab of something that looks like tin or something. The guitar sounds very lively and screams well amplified but also very thin and 'high' compared to the other strat, sort of like it had .008 strings and the other .12's, I'm sure you know what I mean. Not a lot of natural sustain. I think it is the neck; the other is a rather sturdy V that has this deep 'bong' sound to it when rapped with knuckles and very thin lacquer plus it's like 20 years old or more, and in comparison the Classic Player neck sounds like 'ding' when rapped and of course has been virtually dipped in thick plastic-looking lackquer.
So, I'm eager to see if there will be a difference in sound when I swap blocks. I think the neck construction is the key in how they sound, though.
I put a Wilkinson steel block in the dark strat, and now I've been playing it for a while. Can't say I could hear any clear change acoustically or amplified, but it is possible there is a weeeeee bit more top end there. I'm not sure there is, but if there is, it has not affected the lower end any. It sounds very much the same as it did, but it *may* have some more top end 'ping' way high up in the frequencies, not really affecting the sound directly but it may feel a little bit more lively. I'll have to A/B them with an amp but the Squier is now laying in pieces, awaiting the new block to be installed.
Because the other guitar is quite thin-sounding, I got this HUGE and heavy brass block for it...will install it next week and report on how that sounds; on that one I'm expecting more of an impact to the sound If there is next to no difference, I'll be ready to deem the whole block thing just a myth...but there has to be some difference. If there will be enough of a difference to counter the effect of the one-piece Squier neck on the sound, I'll be surprised, but pleasantly.
Then, regardless of the results, what I'll do is put the cheap Squier neck on the other one and vice versa when the time for the next string change comes up, and see if the sound qualities indeed follow the neck or not.
One victim is my Stratoblaster, which has a 'normal' rather heavy metal block of unknown material, not the softest stuff out there but not steel or anything. The guitar has a strurdyish rosewood/maple neck and medium-light body and sounds rather dark and 'even' with a strong and low sounding acoustic ring to it & a nice low sustain.
The other is the dee-constructed Squier Classic Vibe strat, which has an one-piece maple neck and similar body, but there is no pickguard damping down the body and the block is next to non-existant thin slab of something that looks like tin or something. The guitar sounds very lively and screams well amplified but also very thin and 'high' compared to the other strat, sort of like it had .008 strings and the other .12's, I'm sure you know what I mean. Not a lot of natural sustain. I think it is the neck; the other is a rather sturdy V that has this deep 'bong' sound to it when rapped with knuckles and very thin lacquer plus it's like 20 years old or more, and in comparison the Classic Player neck sounds like 'ding' when rapped and of course has been virtually dipped in thick plastic-looking lackquer.
So, I'm eager to see if there will be a difference in sound when I swap blocks. I think the neck construction is the key in how they sound, though.
I put a Wilkinson steel block in the dark strat, and now I've been playing it for a while. Can't say I could hear any clear change acoustically or amplified, but it is possible there is a weeeeee bit more top end there. I'm not sure there is, but if there is, it has not affected the lower end any. It sounds very much the same as it did, but it *may* have some more top end 'ping' way high up in the frequencies, not really affecting the sound directly but it may feel a little bit more lively. I'll have to A/B them with an amp but the Squier is now laying in pieces, awaiting the new block to be installed.
Because the other guitar is quite thin-sounding, I got this HUGE and heavy brass block for it...will install it next week and report on how that sounds; on that one I'm expecting more of an impact to the sound If there is next to no difference, I'll be ready to deem the whole block thing just a myth...but there has to be some difference. If there will be enough of a difference to counter the effect of the one-piece Squier neck on the sound, I'll be surprised, but pleasantly.
Then, regardless of the results, what I'll do is put the cheap Squier neck on the other one and vice versa when the time for the next string change comes up, and see if the sound qualities indeed follow the neck or not.