Should You BLOCK, DECK, or FLOAT? - Stratocaster Sustain Test!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 май 2018
- Which bridge configuration offers the best sustain and tone transfer? Watch now to find out!
If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like and subscribe :)
T-SHIRTS:
teespring.com/stores/darrell-...
TAB STORE:
Songs, Lesson Worksheets, and Guitar Techniques!
www.etsy.com/ca/shop/DarrellB...
DARRELL'S GUITARS & GEAR LIST!
imp.i114863.net/vM09j
MY AMPS:
H&K Grand Meister Deluxe 40 - imp.i114863.net/Na1gV
Mesa Boogie - imp.i114863.net/xdVB1
PATREON:
Become a Patron to be eligible for monthly gear give-aways!
www.patreon.com/DarrellBraunGuitar
ALBUM:
iTunes:
itunes.apple.com/ca/album/cel...
Soli Deo Gloria! 
Видеоклипы
Acoutic engineer here. The reason for a fixed bridge to sustain longer is that the vibration of the strings reflects backwards when hitting the fixed attachment points (as sound into a brickwall, because of a large difference in acoustic impedance). In theory, the more monolithic/hard the body is, the more energy will remain reflecting back and forth in the string (all usual neck joint types/woods can be counted as monolithic enough, but try a rubber guitar and you'll see what I mean). Fixed bridge means less moving parts where the energy can be lost to heat. Floating bridges introduce some damping, dissipating some of the energy away.
It's also true that a fixed configuration transfers more energy to the body (as opposed to being lost in moving parts), but this will boost just the acoustic sound of the guitar, not the sound that gets transmitted to the electronics.
Agreed with you, nice analysis. I am a physics master student, what you said is logical. But if I want to analyze this wave propagation model more accurately (including coupled wave between the body and the string), it may have different phase position and will destructive interfere . Maybe we need a numerical computing software to solve it accurately ❤
A Strat always seemed to have that iconic unique and defined sound regardless of any figuration! That's why I love them!
RC32 = Greatest & most versatile Guitar ever made.
scale length and single coils are the reason why
Great video (as ALWAYS )! Darrell, I'd like to take a second to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the great fun, interesting and informative content that you and the other RUclipsres put out. Even though I've been playing for well over 50 years and know a lot, I'm constantly learning new things and being reminded of things that I may have forgotten about along the way. I'm turning 65 in June and I'm so thankful that I can still sing, write and play to a professional level. And especially that I'm still learning and growing daily, Thanks in part to you and the RUclips music community.
I think the actual physics are the opposite of your description. It's not that the vibrations are transmitted to the body, it's that there is no energy wasted microscopically moving the trem system around when it is rigidly mounted. The density and mass of the body keeps it from vibrating much. In other words, more energy stays in the strings because less is transmitted elsewhere.
Mark Haury I was thinking the same thing.
That's right. There is still some energy lost in the body, we can feel it vibrating, but this is either constant or the difference between configurations is less than what the vibrato system steals when it vibrates.
It could also explain why a heavier block in the system makes a difference: more inertia leads to less energy being transmitted to it.
Mark Haury hey just cuz Stephen hawking passed doesn’t give you runner up status...just kidding...physics is a tricky subject best left out of guitars...it’s in the hands and the soul...check out John5 playing a hello kitty acoustic number...he turns turns into a hello lion
I want a Hello Lion guitar!
Hi!
I agree that the movement of the trem can certainly be a culprit sucking up some of the string's energy.
I'm not so sure that more energy stays in the strings as it will either be dissipated in the trem system or the guitar body / neck (you can't just keep it in the strings).
I do, however, also think that the vibration of the guitar's body and neck does help sustain. It's not just a wasteful dissipation as some think.
It's like how playing one note on the 6th string sets all the strings in motion through vibration, or a simple "knock or tap" on the body will start all the strings ringing.
The body vibrating certainly gives some amount (however small) back to the note/chord being played ☺
Enjoy the new video!
Floating trem Darrell looks so sad though! :(
Great video!
Thanks man!
Great video! Confirmed all my suspicions. I prefer decked, always felt like the best compromise. Plus I hate that thing where the other strings go out of pitch if you bend one of them :-)
I play one (neck-through) custom built Strat with a decked American Standard trem (4 springs) with GraphTech StringSaver saddles, it sounds great. The pickups come from a DeLuxe Strat Plus from the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Last year I bought a Plus with a blocked trem and I got that one floating again together with my ex-brother-in-law, who is a Hank Marvin style player. We started doing that with a rare Ibanez Roadster RS350, which I liked more since then and later we did the Plus.
I have been playing decked for DECADES, mainly because it looked right.
I still have one used Cort S2900 with a BLOCKED Wilkinson VS-50IIK, that came from a professional rhythm guitarist. With professional I mean that he bought a house from the money earned with touring through Germany etc.
I find that quite an achievement for a RHYTHM guitarist.
I think it's still in there... 1st because I think that he knew what he was doing and 2nd because it's kind of STUCK...
So, what you should do with the trem depends on the FUNCTIONALITY that you need for a certain gig. If you are going to play Shadows and Ventures stuff, use the floating trem. Are you playing RHYTHM only, block it.
And if you need to play both, you can consider DECKED.
Or you can use more than one guitars on stage of course.
Hardtail Strats don't exist for nothing.
Great! Would love to see 2-point trem vs vintage style.
Professor Braun an excellent study of sustainability and the side by sides sped up were a great way to compare, thanks I really learned the differences. Rock on!!!
stkbkr1 honorary Juliard PhD
Fascinating video here! I've always had my strats decked, but I will certainly be trying out Blocked! Decked has always worked for me, especially in my MIM Hendrix strat, plus I just never use the trem so the stability is worth more to me.
Another very useful and informative video from Darrell; many thanks. Mine was decked, but I have just changed it to blocked guided by this video. Guitar sounds great, good sustain and solid tuning 👍
Thank you! 5:10 yes, as you so kindly put, this is excellent to observe what actually happens vs. legend/myth/folklore. Cheers!
Great video Darrell!! I love when you bust out your white American Strat!! This was super informative but I know nothing will make me change my floated Strat bridge! I know sustain could be better but the expressive nature of the float is too good to give up!!
GR00VYGH0ULIE I like the creamy turquoise pickguard g&l or is it black...I love those g&l bridges they’re built like apocalypse survival gear
Thanks for going through the process of making this comparison, the lack of external differentiating factors further helps to the more accurate results (plus your paused, melodic characteristic way of playing really helps seeing these factors in effect!) - this being said, I'm a long floating trem guy. I don't use it to the extreme with Eddie Van Halen style dropbombs and such, but some of my favorite and most influential guitar idols such as David Gilmour and João Cabeleira (Portuguese lead guitar player of Xutos e Pontapés) use them often to add some dynamics to the sound, and so do I like too. My main guitar is Floyd Rose-equipped so the Strat trem can't be a bigger pain in the ass, plus I don't think the tonal and sustain differences to be that meaningful to justify removing a key feature of a Strat. Since I study musical theory, changing tuning is quite impractical as it messes up scale patterns and whatnot given my still limited knowledge degree, plus most of favorite types of music are either played in Standard tuning or can be easily transposed. Still, quite a neat video to consider for a possible future Strat purchase! ;)
another interesting and informative video Darrell, love it man thanks
Great comparison Darrell! Thanks for sharing. Off to go try on my Strats :)
Great editing work in the sustain test 😊
Thanks Brian!
Always an amazing video by Darrell! Not only your info was very PhD graded, I couldn’t lay away my eyes off your great (and proof tested) collection of guitars 🎸 as a background. Mainly interested in your Imperial At-At tho!
😄 Thanks Pablo!
Thank you! You answered more questions than I had but I am so glad I came here. Wonderful information!
Nice to see what you already know confirmed without immediately being told what's best and you're doing it all wrong! Thanks fella very informative as always.
This was great, Darrell (as usual) and thank you for the detailed comparison. Just bought a Pawncaster (2010 Squier Strat Affinity made in Indonesia) project guitar for $35. This info is just what I wanted to validate my choice. You saved me (and a lot of others) a bunch of looking and testing. So thanks much! I'm accustomed to bends (read that as I never properly learned to use the tremolo bar effectively) so I deck my bridge. But I guess I am going to start carving a sustain block. I had no idea you could make that big a difference on sustain using this method.Thanks again!
Congratulations on the project guitar (great price!)
I'm always glad to help ☺
Incredible video! Answered ALL my questions about why some choose to modify how these guitars come from the factory. I have played an acoustic guitar for about 50 years. But, I have recently become interested in playing more bluesy, bendy tunes. I was fortunate to score a nice MIM Strat at a very fair price, but I am still learning how it works. It was missing the whammy bar and I did not understand why. Turns out it has been decked. My point is... THANKS for the explanation on this. I may now cut a nice piece of tone wood and block it. I like the idea of sustain. Or I may just leave it alone for now.
To properly “deck” the bridge you need to also tighten down the six bridge plate screws and then raise and realign the saddles according to radius. This will place the bridge plate securely against the body and transfer the energy accordingly.
This causes the bridge to raise at the back. I've fixed alot of Strats, where the owner cranked down the 6 bridge screws and wondered why their bridge is jacked up. You're supposed to screw them down all the way, then back off until they are just touching the plate.
Awesome experiment! Thank you very much for taking the time!
I just blocked my trem on my Squier Strat a few days ago. Seeing your results confirms my thoughts. As usual you are spot on.
Nice work, I think u are the first who open this theme in video at very high lvl of quality and details. Saved this video, as the same video about sustain length demands from deck width
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video 👍
Love this video and the information you have presented. Thanks!
I liked Decked best, it's a compromise but it had the best of both extremes that blocked and floating offered. If all I cared about was sustain, I'd probably play a hard tail, string through, probably with a set or neck through. Strats have a distinct sound all of their own, I liked the deck because it was a bit thicker sounding than floating while blocked seemed to dampen much of the sympathetic vibrations and airyness I expect from the combinations of floating with strings.
My vintage style strat has been decked for a while and I was thinking of blocking as something to do while bored this weekend. I think you convinced me to leave it alone. After all I have a CU24 and HSH RG both with floyd rose for floating and a les paul and Zach Myers and Ibanez SZ for fixed bridged.
Great job on these videos.
The mass of body and neck and their „harmony“ vibrating kinda provide a micro- or pico-seconds delayed movement referred to the stringmovement. That delayed wood-vibration is kinda „feeding“ back to the ongoing stringvibration, and also colouring the timbre of the notes. Its like you hold a pendulum with your hand and move your hand slightly counter wise to the swing.
Thank you Darell, for the lot of work and effort put in these kind of tests!! You are enlightening us👌🏼👍🏼💪🏼😀
You're correct about which gives best sustain - thanks for making the comparison video. But you're incorrect about the reason/theory. The body doesn't cause some "positive feedback loop" that feeds energy back into the strings. Blocking simply prevents the bridge from flexing and wasting the strings energy. If the bridge can move/flex (even decked) because of the springs, some of the string's energy will be wasted -- so blocking prevents the bridge from moving and wasting energy.
What an excellent video! Scientific and clear. Bravo!
Very Informative. Love your content. I just purchased a Suhr 2014 with a Super Expressive Floating Trem-System. OMG = Never enjoyed playing so much, and the Tuning stability is ridiculous. Different Beast with the Gotoh 510. One Love from NYC.
Very interesting comparison. Not too surprised by the results. Most people have theories of why this or that sounds better or worse but don't actually put in the effort to A/B them. Well done, great video!
For me I blocked mine. It was t a sustain thing it was a intonation thing. I’m not doing a lot of work on the bar. Rarely use it honestly. For me it made sense. Tuning stability seems better with the bridge locked down to the body. I used to float the bridge just a tad so I could use my palm not ever them trem bar to move it but I really don’t do that now
Great video and fantastic solos!
Hi Darrell thanks very much for all your great Video's and your great Advice cheers 😊👍👍
Thanks Daryl. Just got my first strat and this helped. Going with decked until I get some strat legs and get used to the trem :)
That was very illuminating! I have had my Strats decked for some years but I'm going to block them after seeing this video. Works for Clapton.
Next video I would like to see sustain tests using different types of wood.
(Kidding...).
😄 👍That sounds too intense even for me!
I'm going to use cedar to keep the moths out of my trem spring cavity
Violin makers use a dowel of wood to join the top to the back - a sound post, I think.
My violin repairer said that he prefers a sound post with seven growth rings in it. Eight made the wood too hard, and sound more brittle.
He also set the sound post so that the grain ran at a right angle to the grain of the top.
Thanks for the vid. Very explanative and not terribly long.
A superb, concise and intelligent study. I did feel bad for that poor guy on the right in the tests though, he looked pretty miserable. I suggest a therapy dog to cheer him up.
Potentially there is so much scientific analysis that could be done on this. With my (very, very beginner) guitarist's hat on it's not interesting because your concise summary at the end is all that matters. With my physicist's hat on however I would love to see someone doing a physics degree choose as their final year project the study of the resonance properties of floating vs blocked (as the two boundary cases) across the entire guitar system. From a physics point of view one thing that occurs to me is that in coupling the bridge more tightly to the body any energy transfer from the strings to the body is all happening in that one specific area on the body which, although I can't be bothered to think it through any further than that, might be significant in explaining why in what is essentially a closed system as far as energy is concerned the sustain improves with increasing levels of string to body coupling.
Your experiment supports one almost universal non-physics law. If you want maximum sustain you need to forsake the trem capability. If you want trem capability you need to compromise on sustain - i.e. you can't get something for nothing (there's no such thing as a free lunch).
I just take the screws holding the springs down and tighten them all the way down and tighten the 6 screws on the bridge down so it's just perfectly flat. Really helped with keeping it in tune. Take a block of wood and shove it in there as well and it's fine. The sustain isn't interesting to me, but staying in tune is.
I think ill block too much hassel constantly adjusting block height tonallity etc... What the hell...Clapton chose to do it to his guitar ?
This video is the best I've seen to see the distinction of the different tones each one gives you.... blocked and decked the best sounding... floating too plinky
Great video Darrell! I'm a fixed bridge player so my Strat stays decked.I got my fill of floating bridges with a Floyd Rose back in the day. :-)
Iv come back to this video after changing my ways in the last couple of years. I used to deck my trem purely for tuning stability but now iv learnt out how to float a trem properly and will never look back.
The tone with it floating is next to none.
Play a bent note with an unbent one on a floating trem... not so good.
@@joeltunnah its definitely a thing but iv just learnt over the years to also slightly bend the ‘non’ bent string when doing double stops to keep them both in tune
block had so good sustain, thank you Darrell :)
Greetings from Utah. Very helpful! Thank you.
Great Video Darrel, I Wasn't Surprised Relay With The Results, But A Great Way To Show The Differences, Like You I Like My Trem Floating, Each To There Own Thankk You For Showing This As Im Sure It Will Help People Decide On What they Like Best, Cheers Bro
Thanks so much!
I had no idea these terms existed and have not adjusted one part of my Stratocaster in the 4 months I've played guitar. I have used the tuners to stay in tune. The guy at the guitar shop "setup" my guitar and I have no idea what that entails. I had to watch this video a few times to understand what was going on. Darrell, you must be a great and patient teacher to make a video like this.
Shawn P. Thanks so much 😉 I will take your advice, but I have to learn one thing at a time, for instance the setup will be my first focus. I also plan to buy a Floyd Rose because of Darrell's last video. I can't keep my Strat in tune and I heard that is a common complaint with Standard Strats. I will have a professional perform the installation. My guitar teacher gives me a lot of homework and I feel like I would learn more by staying in tune. And yes, despite the tuning issues, I ❤ my guitar and I will try to hold onto it, first love and all that jazz😍
Very informative video. I am going to continue operating my Stratocaster the way it came from the factory. Good enough for Fender good enough for me.
I bought my first strat in 2000, and I didn’t know about sustain discussions for quite awhile because the things I learned about strats was all print in magazines, I didn’t know guitar resources online. But I can look back and say I didn’t know what I was missing as the guitar sustained plenty for pretty much everything I tried. With those 5 guitars I just didn’t have sustain problems. And with each, 4 American 1 Mexican, I also have not had the amount of problems guys say when using it. My newest is an American Pro and once again no problem. I sincerely believe it can all be avoided when a strat is properly set up. Not just string height relief. Everything done properly. I hope that guys and gals who want or buy a strat find one and really enjoy it. Proper adjustment by a GOOD luthier can really go far.
I filled up the entire trem cavity with wood and installed hard-tail. Also made the whole body thinner. It is the most comfortable thing to play and no more floating non-sense.
Thanks for sharing Darrell! Some great stuff to try with my Strats, but I will be honest, I have never had the best of luck with a floating bridge, unless a Floyd Rose is involved.......lol
I have my strat Decked. I like the bridge being flush for playability and I tune done to drop D regularly. Great Video!
Solid setup for sure!
We have to remember, though, that even the most subtle compressor would make the floating trem out-sustain the blocked one. So if you like a particular configuration but aren't happy with your sustain, then perhaps a compressor might be the ticket.
👍The right compressor settings can work wonders!
I agree. IMHO, sustain isn't really the factor for choosing whether or not you should do this. it's more about functionality. If you dont use a wammy bar, then you should deck it, just for functional purposes. locking tuners on a decked strat is the way to go. you can always get a cheap compressor if you trying to get good clean sustain tones.
@@READERSENPAII with you all the way
You lose dynamics the more you compress the signal.
How much sustain do you really need? Not all that much in reality.
Great video Darrell. Pretty good timing as I just got a Ibanez RG Prestige RG652AHM. Just can't get used to the floating bridge. I have it in the shop now getting a Tremol-No installed on it. This way, I can set it as a floating, locked, or if I just want to bend down on the trem. i don't know enough to work on it myself. I can't wait to get it back...
Again, great video I appreciate all the work you put in them.
Thanks!
Congratulations on the killer new guitar!
have no idea if other guitars can do this but i didnt expect that its super cool
Nice intuitive video!
Thanks DK!
Rad as always DB. Hey man I blocked mine with a couple rolls of canadian nickles wrapped in electric tape. You tried this for heard of it? Sure added vibration to the body. I can feel it in my beer belly way more. Lol. Keep it up. Doing us proud up here
floating bridge like the old 6 screws fender works perfect with the setup of the time it begins to be manufactured! Meaning 5 springs with set of 12 / 51 with third wound sustain is more, with some reverby kind of effect from the springs! My partscaster 50's still in tune since the day I put the strings on. The downside is the very strong high strings but other than that works very fine ( the bridge is vintage spec kluson tv10 )
part of the magic in strat sound is the resonance of the trem springs - float maximizes this nuance. u can also play around with different springs to color that resonance. thanks db great as always!
Glad to help!
Great idea 👍
Darrell Braun Guitar compare sustain strat to tele? thx☺
That would be interesting ☺👍
Sounds like I need 3 strats....... one each way!
Glenn Gardin ohh I like that...I got 2 so far but seldom use the floating...in haven found the right spring tension...even straight fender brand...maybe I’ll hybrid then...hey it’s done with strings
I was thinking the same thing! 1 each way in different colors with slightly different pickup configurations. At least that's what I'm gonna tell my wife 😉🎸😎 Rock on Professor Braun!
Good luck! 😉
That's the spirit
I only need one i already got 2
Perfect...just what I needed. Going to block my new Fender Player Plus as I don't use the wammy at all..........great job!!!
Great video!
Great video 👏
Darrell, can you add one more to this test? What about a decked Floyd rose? Like Eddie Van Halen uses? I imagine tuning stability would be good as well. He uses a classic strat type body. Thanks, love your videos!
Hi Darrel! Great vid. This convo is about sustain but did you notice a difference in feel between the 3 different trem positions? I’ve always felt saddle angle effects the stiff or loose feel of a guitar. I have a new Ultra decked at the moment but it’s a bit stiff, I may go back to a float although it’s not my jam. Any observations on your end?
Fantastic video. Thank you.
If you set the Strat to float and use the bar often (Jeff Beckish) and lube the pressure and pinch points and can learn the art of keeping in tune by using movements on the term arm it becomes quite fun but it took me awhile , but I like that style. Strats rock no matter how you like to play them!
Great thanks, Darell - your vids are "knowlegde for time" content (as "value for money" applied to media). As for me, blocked trem sounds so Clapton I couldn't resist.
Thanks for the kind words!
That was very interesting. Very cool.
I like the way the information was presented. Well done! I'm not as excited about the experimental method. It is clearly more rigorous to design and construct an automated calibrated pick stimulus, prove its repeatability, and to display the decaying envelope on an oscilloscope, averaging many samples of each device under test. Then repeating the earlier tests to eliminate any differences in setup. For that reason, it will probably never be done. The physics theories were a bit light. A bibliography reference footnote as to who best explains each mechanism as well as their bona fides, would be interesting, but theories are just that. A well-designed and executed experiment will force the thaumaturges in error to rethink their thoughts.
There was a lot of human input that did nothing to advance the point, in my opinion. In his Principles of Orchestration, Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov referred to plucked strings such as guitars as "Instruments of little sustaining power". Of these, he says: "Although capable of every degree of power from ff to pp, pizzicato playing has but small range of expression, and is used chiefly as a colour effect. On open strings it is resonant and heavy, on stopped strings shorter and duller; in the high positions it is rather dry and hard." His use of non-technical descriptions are excusable. It was written in 1922 before osciloscopes became a market reality after WWII, at Tektronix.
Heavy picks will produce a larger initial amplitude because it won't let it go as soon as a thin pick. Where on the string it's plucked can have an effect as well because of the distribution of harmonics.
Missing was the main reason I found this video: Where can I buy a perfectly shaped hardwood block? I'm surprised there isn't a market for this. Fender made them for the Clapton model and I found just one online. Someone clearly removed it from a Clapton model they wanted to convert back, and sold it. Just one. Gone.
Best demonstration/test out there man! I have my Standard Strat decked because as you showed, it allows some forward wiggle when I want it, a little more tuning stability...and I can keep my action set nice and low. Curious how the Floyd Rose Rail Tail you demo’d would stack up in this test? Seems like it would transfer a lot of energy to the body and give you a full functioning tremolo? 🎸🤔👍🏻
Thanks!
I actually tested it when I was doing this one.
The MIM strats have hotter pickups and mine had newer strings, but it killed the US strat in sustain. ☺
That's what I was thinking it would do, on top of the MIM's ceramic pickups being hotter and fuller sounding than the US Strats...pretty awesome combo for sure!
I'm a believer in the 2-point Tremolo which only one of my 4 Strats has...my Daphne Blue MOD Shop beauty. The other 3 have the 6 screw Trems and do not have the same sustain (even my beloved Surf Green '57 AVRI can't match the sustain of the MOD Strat). I learned so much from this video and it will be a go to guide for Trem settings....thanks Darrell! Maybe the next video will address guitar color obsession.
Constable 1976 Blonde tele black binding...I’d sell my soul and soles
Scarlette Punk Thank you!! It's nice to know I'm not the only one with a color fixation. Daphne Blue and Surf Green Strats, I own 4 and want more, it's ridiculous!
Shawn P. What's your favorite guitar hue to obsess over?
Shawn P. I have two Daphne Blue beauties that I talk endlessly about. A Fender MOD Shop Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan SSL-5/SSL-5 in the neck/Middle and a JB Jr in the Bridge. And a 50's Classic Series Strat with Seymour Duncan SSL-1s in every position. And I still want to buy a 2007 Daphne Blue Custom Classic Strat, but I can't justify a 3rd guitar over $1500.00. I've only seen orange on Charvels and Jacksons, a unique, but cool color choice.
Great job, as usual. I was considering buying tremolo stoppers for my 3 strats so this is a timely video for me. With the stoppers you can still use the whammy bar, but only push down, not pull up. It returns to a fixed stop when released, not floating, so tuning returns to the same point. It also provides a physical connection between the block and the body, although it's a small contact area. It looks like a good compromise to me. Do you have any thoughts on them?
Cool. I'll have to check them out
My old (20 years) MIM strat came with the trem decked. Floating the trem and adding two black springs to the 3 stock chrome ones completely fixed a really bad tuning stability problem and made a huge improvement in tone; plus, the using the floating trem sounds much better than the decked setup. I don't like the muddy sound of too much amp gain, but a good compressor gets all the sustain I need.
When something is vibrating, anything that damps that vibration, such as soft wood, springs, or other soft or easily moved material in contact with the strings, will reduce sustain by robbing the strings of energy. That’s probably why Telecasters sustain so much better than most Strats. Hard, dense wood, no tremolo, and good, hard saddle and nut material will give the best sustain. If that really means anything.
That was helpful, I don't use the trem on my strat so I guess I will block it
great vid Darrell as always !
Thanks!
Glad to help 👍
I've always decked mine. Wow I'm going to try blocking and see what it does. Awesome video, thanks.
Anytime! ☺
Let me know if you notice a difference!
@@DarrellBraunGuitar It only took me a YEAR to do this and get back to you. I bought a couple of those really cheap Floyd Rose trems from Aliexpress and while they're not bad, I had a bad time of getting them to return to center when you used the trem. I have a feeling it's because the metal they're made of isn't exactly the best quality... so I blocked them both. O M G the difference in tone it made. Now I'm on a quest to block the rest of my guitars. LOL.
Love your comparison videos, Darrell. They are both informative and entertaining. As a suggestion, i would love to see a comparison between a standard Tele and the same guitar with a 24.75" scale neck. I bit like a Jim Adkins JA90 but with the standard Tele build. How much difference in tone and sustain is there when there is less string tension on the guitar?
Thanks!
That would make for an interesting comparison ☺
Heyy darrell man i got a fender stratocaster mexican made, id comment on all your videos but i lost internet for a while and your videos helped me pick which guitar i wanted
Awesome!
Congrats on the new guitar!
What finish did you choose?
Darrell Braun Guitar 3 tone sunburst maple neck!
Great test. From my own experience, my Eric Clapton Strat is blocked. Great sustain. For my Stratocaster Dlx Plus, which I use for modern Christian music, I float the bridge, using 5 springs and float bridge parallel to the body. This gives me very good control and allows me to return to pitch better. For Christian music, I play a lot of shimmering notes and chords. While I'm a fan of Michael Casswell, Ian Thornley, Andy Summers, and Jeff Beck, sadly, I don't play like they do.
Sweet guitars!
I play also in Church and yeah, i use floating,i think i get a little sustain loss, if i can hear it 😅
Hi Darrell , I really love your videos! May I ask 2 questions ? does the tone change with bloced ,decked and floated bridge? And 5 Hard springs (i find hard , medium and soft springs) does it make blocked ? I mean it 's really necessary the piece of wood?
Well done. Great explanation. Simple and concise
I have tried all three... to me floating has always had the slight edge in sustain and tone... if you are going to deck it or block it just pick yourself up a damn Tele and go to town :)
Having and playing both a Tele and Strat I personally believe that they do not sound anything alike even if the strat has a hardtail bridge
ok so I agree with the sustain and tone part of the guitar but you easily get the sustain with a compressor pedal without sacrificing the tremolo part. And also can get cheap squire strats with hardtail bridge (can easily swap pickups for so called authentic feel) or find rare standard Stratocaster with hardtail bridge.
And for the point of argument telecaster were simply built before Stratocaster for sustain and bright tone never offered before and strats came later with more accessible neck design and tremolo system for subtleties and playing style, also in these time where tones and amps can be modelled easily on any pc (and for live performance there are many digital pedals that can store the tone for on the go) now why someone would buy strat only to block the tremolo when you can buy other guitar and make minute changes and achieve all the above. And for purists who say they still find the difference between tones, imo should do whatever they please 😅 as no one can force anyone this is just a suggestion.
Thanks for showing to block a 2 point tremelo. I know how to block vintage tremelos done it before.
Time to go do some wood work I guess!
Thanks for the video!
I always used to set up my strats so you could only bend down using the trem. It seemed to work ok!
To me, what matters most is that decked and blocked have the highest action. It just feels and plays better to me when I have it like that. Mine is currently decked because I use it sometimes, but I really felt better after switching. Especially because I use Drop D sometimes so that I can play with my violin easier (to anyone who plays a violin family instrument, both D major and D minor are some of the easiest keys [you learn D major first]), which is fun. I feel like decked is the best for me, but I respect everyone’s opinions on what is best for them, but recommend that everyone experiments first.
Doesn't floating raise the action? I mean the bridge is in the air
String height has nothing at all to do with trem floating vs decked etc. Action is fully adjustable in any of the three trem configurations.
I don't know how this specific video showed up in my suggested videos (other than being subscribed :), but it answered a question I had been wondering about... I've almost always had my trem decked, but have wondered about sustain gains from blocking it. Even though the blocked beat the decked, it was by such a minute margin (with decked getting a couple wins), I'd have to say that, when you include possible picking force differences it's essentially a toss up between decked and blocked. Which makes it easy to stick with my decked trem.
*** Did you notice any tonal variation between the three? Was the floating thin or less bassy?
Did you notice any perceptible difference in sound between decked and blocked?
This is a great channel, thanks!
Hi!
Maybe ever so slightly in the attack portion of each note, but very hard to perceive.
Great video mate! I just recently picked up an old hardtail Carvin S type guitar, which sounds a feels much different then my decked S type.
another idea you could try is see if just having one pickup in the bridge changes the sustain, like the BC Rich Gunslinger.
you could also try a short scale conversion neck. I have a short scale Jackson called the "SS" from the 90's with a wilkinson trem and it is a bit different.
Thanks!
I'll see what I can do ☺
Deciding factor should always be on what songs you play. I have recently blocked one of my Ibanez prestige guitars and left the other one floating so I cna use one for drop tuning or for live gigs in case I don't panic when a string breaks, and I have the other for tremolo uses for thst modern rock and metal sound. Best of both worlds and complimenting each other nicely.
What about sustainiacs pickups? Great tone and playin’ by the way👍😀
An added benefit of a blocked trem is that the bridge will stay in tune while bending, an essential element of playing in tune double stop bends or bending one string while holding a fixed note on another.
For my personal experience, I like to have my guitar decked (or flushed) mostly because it makes me bend notes easier than having a woodblock in the tremolo bridge and it still stays in tune and I havent seen the bridge floating while bending notes (as long as you add 2 or 3 springs which I havent done that, but I have tightened those screws not completely but fair enough) But great comparison Darrell! 👍
Thanks Bestiny!
I sympathize with Darrell's sad face for the floating tremolo! I have a blocked Strat which sounds great (blocked because some fool had wrecked the two point pivot anchors). Just bought a Strat with a working floating tremolo and it is so versatile to use. I think Darrell should do a video on how to use a wammy bar with precision and care (as they were originally intended); there are not many of those videos around 😎.
Hi. Congratulations on your channel. I recently blocked my Stratocaster with a wooden block in the back. Do you think it is advisable to insert another block in the front? Some friends say it's half the work. Thnks friend
Great video I literally changed my strat back to a floating trem from a decked trem yesterday even though I never use the trem. The decked set up seemed to make the tone excessively brighter and snappier, and it occurred to me that this was the reason I ended up with a strat in the first place when I was looking for a telecaster. Did you notice a change in the tone as well as the sustain when you tried the different set ups?
Thanks!
Yes I did. I found the attacks different. The blocked had a little fuller snap and a little brighter on the floating.
Once again, great video! Thanks Darrell! Am I correct in interpreting the results that even though the blocked trem gives the longest sustain, the floating version has about 10% less sustain? If that's the case, I'd prefer losing a bit of sustain in order to have the full expressiveness of the floating version. Cheers!
Thanks!
It varied from about 30% to10% less sustain.
That is my main choice as well 👍
Right! I can totally live with 10% to 30% less sustain on clean. If needed, you can always add a bit of compression on a pedal. Useful stuff! Thanks again, Darrell! Cheers!
Great test
Thanks man!
I like this topic because I have a hard tail mini strat and a full-size trem. Strat both squiers but curious
Clapton figured this out when he blocked Brownie. If your style doesn't require a trem, blocking the Strat bridge is a no-brainer.
Thanks for the test!
I decked my 84 MIJ strat with a Tremolo 1 bridge (which I hated) against some stainless steel washers to keep the bridge level. Then, added springs and pulled them in to hold the washers tight. The sound difference was phenomenal!
Thanks brother, this'll stir up the comments I think!
Anytime! ☺
Darrell, My bridge has been totally decked and screwed down to the body with the bridge screws for a few years now. I have been toying with restoring it to a floating system and I was wondering how difficult that would be and it the six bridge screws would still hold after being driven that far into the body to holding the front of the bridge down. As always I totally enjoy your videos and looking forward to what you come up with next!!!!
Hi Tim!
Feel fee to check out my video "setting your trem up to specific intervals"
It may be helpful ☺