PDA

View Full Version : Open discussion with Tremoloman and Duff



Duff
September 12th, 2007, 07:09 PM
Tremoloman,

As you suggested others might benefit from our discussion.

I am definitely going to get an inexpensive SX strat copy and want to upgrade the tremolo. GFS has a drop in one that I am considering. Do you think this is a good choice for a tremolo? Should I get more springs and stainless saddles or is it okay the way it is?

Also I'm thinking about getting Wilkinson ez lock tuners that also are supposed to drop right in. I will need to get a nut as well. Getting out the old nut could be exacting in order not to crack any surrounding wood.

I don't have any guitars with tremolo's and my wife has a hot pink strat copy that is really nice and has a neat tremolo on it. I like to play it and can see where a tremolo could enable me to get some interesting sounds and modifications of sounds.

I have a candy apple red SX SST62 stop tail that I really like and play a lot. I'm thinking the tremolo version is going to sound somewhat different straight out, springs and all modifying the tone I would assume. Anyway, I'm going to get one and want to modify it right away when I put new strings on it. I can live with the stock pickups because I have some really decent amps, nothing super, but decent: Tweed Hot Rod Deluxe with Jensen, VOX Pathfinder 15R (a great amp) with tremolo and reverb, a Crate V8 Palomino (another nice amp), and a Rogue 120 watt with 2 12" eminence speakers (surprisingly good sounding amp).

I play the strat copy stop tail frequently through a pedal: a Grunge or a Bad Monkey (the Bad Monkey sounding the best to my ear). Sometimes I use a Boss OD-3 or a Metal Master (the metal master is cool but really adds a lot of distortion even at the lowest settings). Sometimes I play straight into the amp and use the built in distortion which is pretty good on the VOX and the Crate.

So, my current plan is to get an SX strat copy with tremolo, put in an improved tremolo that doesn't send the strings out of tune every time I touch it, put on locking tuners (I guess the locking type are the best for tremolo use?), put on a new nut and put on new strings.

What about putting on heaver strings, like 11's. Have you tried that? Also there is that other set that has heavy bass strings but the other strings are the same as in the 10's. Any ideas on this?

Do you think the GFS drop in import tremolo would be an improvement over the stock tremolo? No sense in putting in the same thing I took out.

Any ideas are appreciated, especially those from people who have actually made some modifications and can speak from their personal experience. Conjecture and theorizing is also cool and will be appreciated as well.

Thanks everybody,

Duff