Thanks for warning why guitar players like fixed bridges! Get all the goods by supporting my channel for as little as $1 a month over yonder on my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/posts/99866983? Why do YOU like hardtail guitars?
An easy fix on fixing the bending issues on a trem guitar is by adding an ESP aiming adjuster or an Ibanez Backstop to it and have the Trem rest against it. Steve Vai uses the backstop on some of his guitars
In my humble opinion Strats sound better with a trem block. If you want that classic Strat bell tone buy a Callaham bell steel bloc. If that doesn't get you all the way add '57/'62 pups and save $$$$ on a custom shop
If you know how to tune strings in the proper order ( ie: E,E,A,B,D,G ), and always tune UP to the desired note, even if you have to downtune to tune back up, it's not a big deal and the guitar will stay in tune just fine. I grew up as a fixed bridge LTD/ESP player, but got into strats a few years ago, and both of my Strats (YJM and scalloped Pro II) will stay in tune WAY better than my E-II arrow NT or LTD V300 Edit: also, it's 2024; if you're not putting locking tuners on your guitars, then you're definitely doing string changes incorrectly...also, my strats are floated about 1/2 step
Its one of the reasons why I loooove telecaster, they are simple guitars, no gadgets, switches, buttons, just two pickups, one selector, volume/tone knob and that. Plus its a really versatile guitar.
I love to use both. Do yourself a favor and take the time to learn to set up a floyd, not rocket surgery and makes you a better person. Mr. Ben Eller you are the man.
I saw a video of Kiko Loureiro talking about his floyd rose and his way of keeping double stop bends in tune. It's to place his picking hand on the bridge saddles to limit the movement on bends and virbrato and it works. I do it every time now since i watched that video.
@@ManMark7 I've looked everywhere for it but I can find or remember where I saw the video. I think it was in an interview he did I just remember that one thing he said about unison bends. Sorry mate that I can't find it
Yep Jake can do anything just about that any tremolo player on his hard tails and it’s actually pretty cool when you see and hear it. What kind of witchery is this ?
It's rough on the joint though. I had a used Kramer and it had a pricey Kahler on it. The guy put the Kahler on because he was using the neck like Jake and the neck got loose.. Funny thing was he didn't fix the joint issue,just put the whammy on. WTF? 😆
Yeah he's said in interviews he developed it as his schtick because everyone else was doing the same whammy tricks. Not really anti-whammy, more trying to stand out from the crowd. (Start with Iommi bending an open string behind the nut on that one song, and keep going from there.) Lately he's been using guitars with long tailpieces and using the strings behind the bridge. Funnily enough, Lucas Brar has a video out today about “I bought the whole guitar, I'm gonna use the whole guitar” and I thought straight away of Jake E Lee.
When I saw the title of this video, what instantly popped into my head was " Because I want the damn thing to stay in tune" . And, nearly 19 minutes later, it turns out that tuning issues of one sort or another seem to be the deciding factor.
Perfect video! For years and years I was a snobby "I have to have a floating whammy bridge and 24 frets" type of guy. When I finally got a hardtail, it made guitar life and tuning so much easier. I still love me my whammy's but for pure hand-finger practice and focus, I'll mostly go for the hardtail. 20-seconds of tuning and I'm ready to go.
"Don't look at my feet! That costs extra!" 😆Not gonna lie, came here for that sexy KM6 but this was a great video. Trems have their place and I do love me an Evertune, but totally agreed that there's something about the simplicity of a fixed bridge. It just WORKS.
I prefer a fixed bridge bc it feels way more solid. There is also the fact that I am not a lead player and never write anything that requires a tremelo of me. ... And, restringing a Floyd is the bane of my existence.
They way you delivered "...it doesn't suit the narrative" had me rolling! I know the "limitations inspire creativity" premise well, as I've played drums in acoustic and blues/rock contexts for years, but dabbling into guitar and bass for the last ten years or so, tunings like drop D/DAEAc#e/A-standard/Open G Terz are super inspiring for riff/song ideas and just couch-noodling. And like you've pointed out, hardtails make them far less of a PITA than they need to be.
All the reasons you mentioned. My top reasons are: - no warbling when chugging due to hand bouncing on the trem - tuning / stability / etc - no bar to take off, just put it in the case and close it - less stuff in the way of your picking hand - perceived sustain especially on string thrus They also just have a classy clean look. Love it. And that Keith Merrow sig looks like a rocket ship with that neck cutout on the back!
A) Easier to Tune carefully B) EasierAdjust tension (gauge and tunings) C) Arguably, In some cases, the higher mass of being directly mounted to the body can effect the tone / if nothing else ‘feel’. At least in my experience. First Floyd I ever played I said ‘whoa where is the bass.’ That was acoustically. Plugging it in I felt the same result. Since then I have played many great sounding floating treks (Floyd’s included) but again… arguably there can be a bit of a tonal difference in some cases between a hardtail and a floating. There is a reason people put pipe cleaners inside springs and or block trems to make them basically a hardtail. Best regards to ya Ben. Awesome content as always. 🤘
Trems are great! Just block them like normal people haha. Serious tho, having a Floyd blocked is IMHO the most stable tuning guitar. Removes the binding at the nut and some of mine stay in tune for weeks. I dont play anything like you Ben
I recently got a Schecter Omen Elite-6, and it is a great alternative to an Ibanez RG421 with a narrower nut. Also, the pickups are LOUD with good options to tame them with the selector switch and grippy knobs.
Love hardtails, and love the video. Fun thing re: bending one string changing the pitch of another: you can use that to dive bomb an open low E (B, F# etc. whatever your lowest string is) without touching the bar. E.g. if you pick the low E and bend the A string right in the middle it'll depress the bridge and give you an instant dive bomb. Kind of jarring picking one string while bending another, but sounds hella cool. You can hear this in the breakdown to Periphery's Graveless, that's where i learned that anyway
I heard that the heat of your farts can affect tuning with floating trems. I make sure to never eat spicy food before playing anything on my strat for this reason. In all seriousness I like to experiment with tunings, and when doing that theres NO WAY I'm going to go through the woes of blocking my trem and adjusting the tuning and tension just to mess around. Hardtails are the best for that.
Not necessarily a floating bridge thing per se, but the lack of a locking nut also allows you bend above the nut to alter the pitch of individual strings in a chord or harmonics in ways that are unpossible with a floater
I recently found a beat up KM-6 MK-III Standard from 2019 at my local store that just needed a little bit of love and elbow grease and its fantastic. Just an absolute house of a guitar.
Totally agree with the decked trem. I have a Fender American Ultra Luxe Strat, and I have no need for the trem. Decked, it stays in perfect tune all the time. No muss no fuss.
Just added the tremolo stopper from FU-Tone on my Charvel San Dimas and am loving it. With it locked at the nut stays in tune, bends, double stop bends all in tune and the dive bomb is ready at will. Unlock the nut, drop tune to D and good to go. It’s been a great addition for me.
I have an array of both types and love them all. But I'm also so lazy when I'm just playing by myself that my digitech drop pedal is a great tool in my tool kit. Not great for every scenario, but it's useful enough for what it's meant for.
I like both hard tail and trem bridges. With recording tho I prefer using a stop tail for all rhythm parts, and lead sections that don’t have tremolo use. Just feels more solid. I’ll record sections with a tremolo bridge guitar when I need to. Another cool video Uncle Ben!
I know this video came out 2 months ago, but i like hardtails (specifically my top 3 are #3 tele bridge with the tree type saddles, #2 tune o matic which is classic and reliable, #1 is wraparound bridge, absolute goat bridge) is because i don't like how soft the strings feel towards the bridge on a trem bridge. Whereas, with a hardtail, especially a tune o matic, you can feel the strings get increasingly more stiff and twangy as you pick near the bridge, at least more of a difference than a trem bridge, which requires the strings break angle deeper, whereas the traditional hardtails have the break angle right there where your hand is. It's part of why a tele is the closest electric to an acoustic is from that proper closer breaking angle on the bridge giving more of an actual acoustic right hand feel
It's good logic if you are going to have just one guitar 🎸 My solution is several hard tails and several trem guitars with different tunings to cover all bases😊 Some things can only be done with a trem and vice-versa 😮
I was a diehard Floyd Rose trem player UNTIL the creation of the new Virtual Jeff Pro trem system. The Virtual Jeff Pro gives you more options for tuning than a Floyd and allows you to convert a hardtail guitar to one with a whammy. Since the Virtual Jeff Pro never touches the strings they are never affected and you can easily tune up at any time.
I've played so many Scheters and been like "damn this punches way above its weight class but it looks like it was designed by Monster energy" Glad to see this US one is a step in the right direction, definitely easier to get than the Japanese ones too.
I thought I needed to have a trem back in 1985 when I started since all of my heroes played them. But I never really utilized them in my playing so they were more trouble than they were worth. My 3 main guitars today are an Ibanez JS2000 with a LoPro fixed bridge, a PRS Mark Holcomb SE with Evertune and an Ibanez Q52.
Schecter are on it at the moment, their specs are great even at the £1500-2000 range. I’ve been an Ibanez fanboy forever, but the recent Schecters are seriously turning my head…..
I used to like Floyd’s. Then I got a fixed bridge. It made me instantly love floating bridges 13.2x more. Then I ran into tuning issues and such, so I needed a lot more guitars. I now have an even dozen electric guitars…and most of em are certified cool. A five sack of EBMM JPs, a couple 7 strings, a 1992 ESP KH-2 that was the 32nd one made, a couple of toothpaste Jackson’s and a Charvel, an American Pro II Strat 75th Anniversary that has every mod you could do…and looks like a Gilmour Black with a Vega Trem, a Solar S1.2 Baritone in Poplar Lime with an Evertune weirdo, a couple Schecters, a Harmony Strat that has all the Pro II parts on it, and a nice piece of hickory for whittling when I feel so inclined. Ernie Ball makes my favorite guitars no questions, and the floaty bridge on the JPs is nuts. I need a sick Suhr to keep ‘em honest though, I’ve never even had a chance to hold one in three decades of fiddlin. If y’all got some old school Floyd’s that are a bit sloppy in the shaft…like your stepdad…get yourself a Red Bishop Magik Arm and bring your old Floyd/Shaller or Ibby to the best feeling a Floaty oldie can get. Make a donation to your local homeless dude to get a brew or a bag of his favorite treats in my name 😜 And grab a vintage Boogie before they are extinct. No Gibson models allowed….maybe. Probably. Yeah.
With practice and understanding of the process I only need 10 minutes to restring mine. It took me a while but I'm persistent and I'm pretty sure people quit before learning
Lol. I figured it out real quick. In 1990 my father bought me my 18th Bday present. A 1990 Charvel DLX. Never had a Floyd. I took every string off the first time I changed them.🤦🏼♂️ I had to learn the hard way. They aren’t that bad. If it’s all out of tune you just need to loosen all the strings and retune. I really don’t use them much I have a newer Charvel Pro Mod, and a Jackson soloist. Both have Floyd’s. I just love the way they POP on a guitar. They just make the guitar look sharp. I have one of those new Epiphone LP Custom (KOA) very nice with Grover tuners and hard ware! Gibson under patent pick ups. Very nice guitar. I’m currently looking at one more Charvel. I don’t need the Floyd but, like I said they look nice!!
I realized I liked fixed bridges when I started touring and realized I did not want to deal with a tremelo setup/maintenance on the road. Not having one for a while definitely "forced" me to get better with my vibrato game, too. I gotta have 1 though because they are too and cool and very rock n roll.
Hi Ben, First of all, I love your channel. The second you slowed down "Hang 'em High" and made it clear for everyone that Mr. Ed is actually swinging the fast notes, I actually started to cry. Realizing even more what we lost in 6th of October 2020. To the point: You are comparing with a floating bridge [3:33], like on Ibanez, which will ruin the tuning. But ... ... most Floyd Rose, (which is a non fixed bridge) if not all, are only possible to use for dive bombs - since the bridge is resting on the guitar body, even a broken E string will not affect the tuning (as I will show below) . So that comparison was a little odd, but of course - as always - you have an excellent point. I would mostly think of the locking nuts - which are now on almost every guitar with a whammy bar - and would make it very time consuming to change tune. Broken string and tuning with a Whammy bar guitar ========================================= A bit into "I can't drive 55" ("Without a Net", New Haven, 1986) Eddie looses the string and continues to play for about half a minute, a minute. th-cam.com/video/MsehEPyyXVQ/w-d-xo.html ... 20 seconds later string is in the way, he moves it aside.... th-cam.com/video/MsehEPyyXVQ/w-d-xo.html ... its hanging almost parallell to microphone stand, to me still in perfect tune th-cam.com/video/MsehEPyyXVQ/w-d-xo.html Keep rockin', keep up your good humor and keep making it possible for all of us to improve!
I really like the EVH approach to the Floyd Rose, decking it tight to the body so it can be a fixed bridge for most of the time, can go into drop D no problem but always ready for a dive bomb. Obvs you need a cavity-less body but its my go to for Strats but you do sometimes miss the flutter and smoothness of a nicely setup floating trem.
Nice, you introduced me to some tremolo problems that I never knew existed since I´ve never used a tremolo. I like the structure, some time of talking and then straight into shreddy solos. It´s nice to find new interesting stuff!
I’m a lefty whose first guitar was a flipped-righty that had a tremolo: it was a double whammy (pun intended) keeping it in tune! I didn’t know about blocking the tremolo at that time!
Loved you included #3 - that's my main problem with trems. Strings on fixed bridges are easier to bend in tune (they don't go flat as you bend). And if you want to do the Hendrix move where you bend a string to E or B while hitting the open E or B, you can't do it with a trem - the open strings are flat. That said, I do realize there's plenty of things that can only be done with a tremolo bar.
I like hardtails for all the reasons Ben stated. I also just tried the same test Ben did on my guitar with a Kahler tremolo. It doesn't move when you bend the strings like a Floyd or other 2 point trems.
That's probably because the Kahler rollers turn when you bend the string. Since each string has its own dedicated roller and the bridge doesn't move, only that string is affected by the bend.
Just bought my son his first descent guitar, & sought out a fixed bridge guitar. Ended up getting him the squire stratosonic, I was pleasantly surprised, looks & played great & stays in tune.
I feel this so much. More than once, I've been invited to jam with friends, and upon showing up, I find that they are all tuned down a half step. For that reason, I usually bring two guitars with at least one being a hard tail.
I used to insist I'd NEVER be caught dead with a floyd rose, kahler, or similar trem, but I have a few guitars with them now, and I love them. I'm a blues, country, rock, pop player
Not that anyone cares, but my favorite aftermarket hardtail is the Babicz Full Contact Hardware hardtail: one screw per saddle to adjust string height, a second screw to lock that height, a grub screw in the side wall to lock the saddles together (as in G&L's Saddle Lock bridge), and a smooth curve such that the saddles don't poke my hand.
All my guitars have floyds but i specifically bought the hellraiser and dean z for the tone pros set up because i still like the response of the string when its anchored
To build off your point about tuning stability, I can really dig in on my right hand and attack the heck out of the strings on a fixed tail bridge and I don't have to worry about altering the pitch as much. My trem guitars are far too sensitive for how hard I like to chug. But when I want to shred, I pick up that trem guitar because of how much more expressive it can be. So my rhythm tracks are done on a fixed tail with passive pickups and my lead tracks are done on a trem bridge with active pickups. Best of both worlds... until it comes time to play live!
Hand comfort on the bridge as well, though this depends on what kind of fixed bridge. Not only is it more comfortable for things like chugging and whatnot, but you dont have to worry about pressure potentially pushing down on the bridge, either. Just pure peace of mind. You also didn't even get into the extra hassle when changing strings, and how much more time/effort is required to get the thing stretched and in-tune because it's constantly going out of whack anytime you affect any one string. Ugh, I dont miss them at all, though I'd be fine with a more Strat/PRS-style tremolo, just no more floating/Floyd ones.
First, that is a gorgeous guitar. The KM stuff has been so good since day one, it's just nuts. As for why I prefer fixed bridges, honestly, it's just that I came to prefer simpler shit as I grew as a player. When I was starting out, all my guitars (were Ibanez lol) had trems on them. As I developed, I just didn't use them enough to warrant the hassle of dicking around with them for string changes, tuning changes, etc. I've still got a couple with trems, but probably 90% of my guitars now are fixed. Several of my favorites are what I call 'Go Guitars' - one pickup, volume knob, plug in and go.
The last guitar I bought with a FR bridge was awesome, but I had to change the springs every time I changed tunings. I went to fixed bridge, and have never once said to myself “I wish this had a whammy bar”. I just never realized how little I needed it. All of the guitars I’ve bought since are fixed bridge. I won’t even bother with Evertune. My two newest Schecter additions are killer!
I LOVE Soundgarden soooo much. They are my favorite band of all time and have just savage mosterous riffs. Plus you have Chris Cornell who just so happens to be my favorite vocalist/lyricist of all time as a frontman and imo only Layne Stayley is close as far as power, range, melody and gut punching lyrics. R.I.P. Chris Cornell the pain is over now, and you will NEVER be forgotten. ~ NO ONE SINGS LIKE YOU ANYMORE.....
I just bought the Schecter Tempest about 2 weeks ago,, good ol' tax return guitar! I haven't gotten it in the mail yet, but the main reason I went with this sexy beast was the simplicity/badass'ness of the guitar. Can't wait to get this thing in my hands. I need to sign up for your patreon,, and push myself more to improve.
When I started playing in 86 I couldn't wait to get a Floyd guitar. My dream came true in 1990 when I saved up an got myself an Ibanez PL2550 (still have it). I've owned many other Floyd equiped guitars since then. I have 12 guitars today and that Ibanez is the ONLY Floyd guitar I have. I have a single P90 strat with a trem but it has all 5 springs and they are as tight as they will get.
I had no idea this was a thing, thank you for spreading awareness! Side note: I did not expect Soundgarden to be the 2nd example you went to early in the vid. I love them and have explored alternate tunings extensively thanks to them, but somehow have not come across many other people who are in to them or reference them. While I'm on the topic - if you haven't learned Burden In My Hand (which is in CGCGGE): it's super fun to play and particularly if you pay close attention to the rhythm in the verse part and the chorus in particular (there's some subtle rests in the verse that add a lot IMO and in the chorus there's a part where it sort of tumbles over itself and then comes out at full speed that gives an exhilarating feeling playing it)! I don't know if all tabs are great for it though - Rick Beato included it on a list at one point and completely butchered it when he played it IMO 😅. I've got the official tab book (which sounds right to me) and have transcribed it in Guitar pro too - I'd be happy to share it, just let me know :) . I feel like that song in particular had a huge impact in getting me to experiment with rhythm more and it's led to fertile grounds of exploration. Anyhow - really appreciate all the details you're providing in this vid, great stuff!
I like both equally. I even love Floyds. My fixed bridge guitars are my go to when I want to mess with alternate tunings. I'm a huge Tremonti/Alter Bridge fan, which makes the ability to change tunings is a must.
I haven't watched yet, but I was thinking about this topic recently when I saw Gary Holt doing a a clinic thing at a local music store. He was playing a floating-bridge guitar and it got me reminiscing about all of my favorite thrashers and shredders back-in-the-day who also used them. Gary and the rest didn't have a problem with tight and chunky riffs! So overall I think ease of changing tuning is the only significant benefit. I have guitars of both types now and enjoy each for it offers.
The only guitars I own with fixed bridges are my Gibsons, Everything else has Floyds or Ede trems I have to have a trem system on my guitar it's an absolute must! I only use my Les Pauls and such when playing grandpa or stepdad tunes!
You mentioned vibrato, but not in the way that made a difference to me. My first hardtail after years of playing exclusively on a Floyd was a decision I made because I wanted to try a multiscale. After I tried it I realized that my vibrato technique had really suffered over the years of using the whammy bar as a crutch instead of left hand vibrato. Having to concentrate more on that left hand technique again has been a wonderful reawakening.
Ben I recently bought an entry level Jackson warrior with a Floyd Rose, and it is exciting. I needed back another floating bridge to my slim collection
You made very valid points in the video👍Tremolo guitars feel slinkier and sound like there is less midrange frequencies. I converted my vintage 6 screw Strat into a hardtail by wedging a block of wood in the rear cavity. I put some tape on the springs to mute the reverb effect. Hardtails sound punchier and thicker because of the solid connection to the body.
Hi Ben. I see things are going well. It's been ten years since the accident that required me to re learn guitar and all your help was a part of me getting back to where I was and past. Everyone who want's to learn guitar should be checking Mr. Eller out. He, Mike Stern and the late jazz great Pat Martino brought me back and I'm forever grateful.
One of my favorite guitars I’ve ever played was a single bridge humbucker, single volume knob, fixed bridge strat my guitar teacher had and let me play.
I have 22 guitars. Only 6 of them are hardtails/stop tails. 1 is a cheap Amazon strat style with a single humbucker and the other 5 are Les Paul copies. One of which is a 12 string so that's definitely not going to have a tremolo.
two words Vega Trem , all the best of both worlds , they aren't cheap at around $279 but it keeps tune every bit as great as my Ibanez Edge , i'd love to see you review one
I love my chapman with fixed bridge. It's a riff machine. I love my Ibanez S with ZR floating bridge, the addiction to flutter the bridge while soloing, its so expressive and solos get way more interesting
Hey man. Great Video!! Very informative. I've been watching your videos for a good while now because i love guitar and seeing someone play extremely well is he best kind of pick me up. I watched your videos so much that in November I started trying to teach myself guitar via TH-cam, then by December I felt like quitting because it's really hard lmfao, and then I saw your section of the 2023 shred collab and thought to myself "Yep. I wanna do that. I want this. I'm gonna stick with it no matter what". I'm actually a very big Halloween fan and that'd how I found your channel a couple years back was seeing you cover the movie theme and it was so badass that I kept watching and I'm so glad that I did because I probably wouldn't be playing right now if it wasn't for you. And you inspired me to keep going, so thank you Ben. It's getting easier and I'm really starting to get the hang of it yet, I've got a long way to go but your videos really help me. Plus I don't wanna play like a step dad so I feel like your the man to learn from. 🙏
I will say, my favorite bridge is a non recessed floyd. Just deck it by either pulling the claw all the way into the body, or add all 5 springs. Youll be able to do basically anything with the tuning and still divebomb/vibrato AND use a d-tuna
I started playing after seeing Randy Rhoades last concert in Knoxville. Bought a '83 Kramer with a floating bridge and HATED the bridge. Back then it was hard to find quality guitar without a trem and if you were in a band you HAD to have a floating bridge. Little did we know that all those crazy sounds EVH came up with was with the trem only going in one direction. Now, I've got 8 guitars with floating bridges trems, one has the bar attached 7 have the bridge resting on the body.
Thanks for warning why guitar players like fixed bridges! Get all the goods by supporting my channel for as little as $1 a month over yonder on my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/posts/99866983?
Why do YOU like hardtail guitars?
An easy fix on fixing the bending issues on a trem guitar is by adding an ESP aiming adjuster or an Ibanez Backstop to it and have the Trem rest against it. Steve Vai uses the backstop on some of his guitars
In my humble opinion Strats sound better with a trem block. If you want that classic Strat bell tone buy a Callaham bell steel bloc. If that doesn't get you all the way add '57/'62 pups and save $$$$ on a custom shop
Bro! I know this is random, but you should do a breakdown of the solo from Racer X fire of rock 🤟🤟
I'm a whore I like em all
@@marioippolito8221 isn't that simply half blocking it, so it doesn't go lower?
Ben has finally reached step 12 of the Floydaholics Anonymous program. Congrats, you did it!
🤣
I’m on Step 10.
Doing my inventory for the day. 🎸
Yep, 10 guitars, ironically. 🙏🏼
I accidentally installed one on my 78 dollar acoustic while drinking Evan Williams.
@@baneverything5580accidentally installed one on my violin 😔
Easier to tune and change tunings
If you know how to tune strings in the proper order ( ie: E,E,A,B,D,G ), and always tune UP to the desired note, even if you have to downtune to tune back up, it's not a big deal and the guitar will stay in tune just fine.
I grew up as a fixed bridge LTD/ESP player, but got into strats a few years ago, and both of my Strats (YJM and scalloped Pro II) will stay in tune WAY better than my E-II arrow NT or LTD V300
Edit: also, it's 2024; if you're not putting locking tuners on your guitars, then you're definitely doing string changes incorrectly...also, my strats are floated about 1/2 step
This
That feeling when you restring your Floyd rose to learn a song in E standard, then realising the song is in drop D… literally just done this🤦♂️
100% this
changing tunings with a tremolo is too much of a hassle
Saved me watching
Its one of the reasons why I loooove telecaster, they are simple guitars, no gadgets, switches, buttons, just two pickups, one selector, volume/tone knob and that. Plus its a really versatile guitar.
you forgot the twang... hail to the twang baby 🤠
Les Pauls/Eclipses.. :)
@@woolgumsingle cut.
I love to use both. Do yourself a favor and take the time to learn to set up a floyd, not rocket surgery and makes you a better person. Mr. Ben Eller you are the man.
I saw a video of Kiko Loureiro talking about his floyd rose and his way of keeping double stop bends in tune. It's to place his picking hand on the bridge saddles to limit the movement on bends and virbrato and it works. I do it every time now since i watched that video.
Cool solution.
Takes a lot of practice to get right consistently, I imagine.
I'll try that, but probably hard to do on faster stuff.
I just tried this. It works. Eureka!
Kiko is such a virtuoso
Can you give a link or the name of the video?
@@ManMark7 I've looked everywhere for it but I can find or remember where I saw the video. I think it was in an interview he did I just remember that one thing he said about unison bends. Sorry mate that I can't find it
Jake E Lee comes to mind as Anti Tremolo.. I remember watching him bend the neck live for the first time and just blew my mind..
Yep Jake can do anything just about that any tremolo player on his hard tails and it’s actually pretty cool when you see and hear it. What kind of witchery is this ?
It's rough on the joint though. I had a used Kramer and it had a pricey Kahler on it. The guy put the Kahler on because he was using the neck like Jake and the neck got loose.. Funny thing was he didn't fix the joint issue,just put the whammy on. WTF? 😆
@@TribalGuitars I like to call that pole vaulting rat turds .
Jake said he's broken quite a few of them.
Yeah he's said in interviews he developed it as his schtick because everyone else was doing the same whammy tricks. Not really anti-whammy, more trying to stand out from the crowd. (Start with Iommi bending an open string behind the nut on that one song, and keep going from there.) Lately he's been using guitars with long tailpieces and using the strings behind the bridge.
Funnily enough, Lucas Brar has a video out today about “I bought the whole guitar, I'm gonna use the whole guitar” and I thought straight away of Jake E Lee.
When I saw the title of this video, what instantly popped into my head was " Because I want the damn thing to stay in tune" . And, nearly 19 minutes later, it turns out that tuning issues of one sort or another seem to be the deciding factor.
Especially in a recording situation. Gotta have that tuning locked in as much as possible.
Floyd's stay in tune better than fixed bridges. That's essentially what evertunes are too, single individual floyds for each string.
@@Nibblerrthats true, my Floyd Rose guitar goes never out of tune. Once a Floyd is setted up correctly it's a lot of fun!
Perfect video! For years and years I was a snobby "I have to have a floating whammy bridge and 24 frets" type of guy. When I finally got a hardtail, it made guitar life and tuning so much easier. I still love me my whammy's but for pure hand-finger practice and focus, I'll mostly go for the hardtail. 20-seconds of tuning and I'm ready to go.
I've only ever used fixed style bridges.
It's necessary for hand placement to anchor the palm for devastating chunk.
Just ask Scott Ian.
most of his guitars he plays on stage have a whammy?
When recording, for rhythm guitar I almost exclusively use a turnamatic. Lead however, that's a different story
Funny , Gary Holt says he pretty much exclusively uses guitars with a Floyd . Anything else doesn’t feel right to his picking hand apparently.
@romanlanzas508 not most no, just ones he uses for 'Madhouse' and other tracks where he does whammy leads
"Don't look at my feet! That costs extra!" 😆Not gonna lie, came here for that sexy KM6 but this was a great video. Trems have their place and I do love me an Evertune, but totally agreed that there's something about the simplicity of a fixed bridge. It just WORKS.
I prefer a fixed bridge bc it feels way more solid. There is also the fact that I am not a lead player and never write anything that requires a tremelo of me.
... And, restringing a Floyd is the bane of my existence.
I feel that pain. I put off restringing mine as much as possible.
Is not hard at all to restring a floyd if you follow dylantalkstone's method
Gentle trem shimmers with chords work too. Trem usage hasn’t always gotta be all divebombs and dimebag squeals.
@@Jonathan_Doe_ I'm aware of that, I still don't do any of that when I write songs.
I found that I simply really wasn't using it. It wasn't worth the hassle for 1 out of 20 songs
They way you delivered "...it doesn't suit the narrative" had me rolling! I know the "limitations inspire creativity" premise well, as I've played drums in acoustic and blues/rock contexts for years, but dabbling into guitar and bass for the last ten years or so, tunings like drop D/DAEAc#e/A-standard/Open G Terz are super inspiring for riff/song ideas and just couch-noodling. And like you've pointed out, hardtails make them far less of a PITA than they need to be.
All the reasons you mentioned. My top reasons are:
- no warbling when chugging due to hand bouncing on the trem
- tuning / stability / etc
- no bar to take off, just put it in the case and close it
- less stuff in the way of your picking hand
- perceived sustain especially on string thrus
They also just have a classy clean look. Love it. And that Keith Merrow sig looks like a rocket ship with that neck cutout on the back!
If youre making the guitar "warble" youre pushing on it too hard, and once you tune a floating bridge you almost never have to again
A) Easier to Tune carefully
B) EasierAdjust tension (gauge and tunings)
C) Arguably, In some cases, the higher mass of being directly mounted to the body can effect the tone / if nothing else ‘feel’. At least in my experience.
First Floyd I ever played I said ‘whoa where is the bass.’ That was acoustically. Plugging it in I felt the same result. Since then I have played many great sounding floating treks (Floyd’s included) but again… arguably there can be a bit of a tonal difference in some cases between a hardtail and a floating. There is a reason people put pipe cleaners inside springs and or block trems to make them basically a hardtail.
Best regards to ya Ben. Awesome content as always. 🤘
Trems are great! Just block them like normal people haha. Serious tho, having a Floyd blocked is IMHO the most stable tuning guitar. Removes the binding at the nut and some of mine stay in tune for weeks. I dont play anything like you Ben
I've got one blocked Floyd, and while it does well, it's not as nice for my palm as good tune-o-matics.
@@rickc2102 I can see that
I got a Schecter Sun Valley, and it's a beast. They're really on top of things lately.
I recently got a Schecter Omen Elite-6, and it is a great alternative to an Ibanez RG421 with a narrower nut. Also, the pickups are LOUD with good options to tame them with the selector switch and grippy knobs.
Ive had a sun valley for a few years schecter has always been quality
Love hardtails, and love the video. Fun thing re: bending one string changing the pitch of another: you can use that to dive bomb an open low E (B, F# etc. whatever your lowest string is) without touching the bar. E.g. if you pick the low E and bend the A string right in the middle it'll depress the bridge and give you an instant dive bomb. Kind of jarring picking one string while bending another, but sounds hella cool. You can hear this in the breakdown to Periphery's Graveless, that's where i learned that anyway
I added the two extra springs in each of my Strats. It really does improve the tone you get.
"Who's my dirty girl"
Usually gets my guitars to behave when they're giving me flack.
I name my girls myself. Jiva, and Skarlet in my case 😂
One is Tremolo system, and one is fixed which I literally just bought 😂
I'm a former hardtail (or down only) guy converted to Evertune. It's just so much easier to reach for a guitar that is always in tune.
I heard that the heat of your farts can affect tuning with floating trems. I make sure to never eat spicy food before playing anything on my strat for this reason.
In all seriousness I like to experiment with tunings, and when doing that theres NO WAY I'm going to go through the woes of blocking my trem and adjusting the tuning and tension just to mess around. Hardtails are the best for that.
Love the sustain demo😂 truly impressive
That's what She said.
My schecter has some serious sustain but THAT was something else
Not necessarily a floating bridge thing per se, but the lack of a locking nut also allows you bend above the nut to alter the pitch of individual strings in a chord or harmonics in ways that are unpossible with a floater
Also, big nod to atomic habits! Can and should be taught to high schoolers. Maybe the NEXT generation will be less dumb and lazy
God, I hate to admit it, but the montage on "why isn't my Floyd staying in tune?" is exactly why I sold my Schecter LOL Fixed or decked for me.
I recently found a beat up KM-6 MK-III Standard from 2019 at my local store that just needed a little bit of love and elbow grease and its fantastic. Just an absolute house of a guitar.
They’re seriously outstanding
Glad to see my old Purple Ibanez is still getting some love!
Love it!!!
Totally agree with the decked trem. I have a Fender American Ultra Luxe Strat, and I have no need for the trem. Decked, it stays in perfect tune all the time. No muss no fuss.
Just added the tremolo stopper from FU-Tone on my Charvel San Dimas and am loving it. With it locked at the nut stays in tune, bends, double stop bends all in tune and the dive bomb is ready at will. Unlock the nut, drop tune to D and good to go. It’s been a great addition for me.
I have an array of both types and love them all. But I'm also so lazy when I'm just playing by myself that my digitech drop pedal is a great tool in my tool kit. Not great for every scenario, but it's useful enough for what it's meant for.
I like both hard tail and trem bridges. With recording tho I prefer using a stop tail for all rhythm parts, and lead sections that don’t have tremolo use. Just feels more solid. I’ll record sections with a tremolo bridge guitar when I need to. Another cool video Uncle Ben!
Take it a step further = EVERTUNE bridge
Love it
My problem with the Evertune is that running light tension requires spending 300 FUCKING DOLLARS on replacement tension modules.
@@Robstafarian Yeah I can understand thats frustrratin!
I know this video came out 2 months ago, but i like hardtails (specifically my top 3 are #3 tele bridge with the tree type saddles, #2 tune o matic which is classic and reliable, #1 is wraparound bridge, absolute goat bridge) is because i don't like how soft the strings feel towards the bridge on a trem bridge. Whereas, with a hardtail, especially a tune o matic, you can feel the strings get increasingly more stiff and twangy as you pick near the bridge, at least more of a difference than a trem bridge, which requires the strings break angle deeper, whereas the traditional hardtails have the break angle right there where your hand is. It's part of why a tele is the closest electric to an acoustic is from that proper closer breaking angle on the bridge giving more of an actual acoustic right hand feel
It's good logic if you are going to have just one guitar 🎸 My solution is several hard tails and several trem guitars with different tunings to cover all bases😊 Some things can only be done with a trem and vice-versa 😮
Man, you nailed it. My newest electric and previous are both hard-tail for many of the reasons you stated. Tremolo is fun, but there's a real cost.
Thanks for the new video I look forward to them you are the best uncle Ben pleas never quit💯🤘🏻
You're the best!
Great video! I just ordered mine from SW. Hoping to see your meet the machine vid on this one!🤖
I bought a Charvel San Dimas MIM Hardtail as a workhorse guitar and ended up loving it more than I thought 🙂
I was a diehard Floyd Rose trem player UNTIL the creation of the new Virtual Jeff Pro trem system. The Virtual Jeff Pro gives you more options for tuning than a Floyd and allows you to convert a hardtail guitar to one with a whammy. Since the Virtual Jeff Pro never touches the strings they are never affected and you can easily tune up at any time.
Same! It would be great if Uncle Ben would do a video review if Virtual Jeff - but I’m already a convert.
I've played so many Scheters and been like "damn this punches way above its weight class but it looks like it was designed by Monster energy" Glad to see this US one is a step in the right direction, definitely easier to get than the Japanese ones too.
I didn't even know Japanese schecters exist. Thanks!
I love being able to change tunings and easy string changes
Yes to a Meet the Machines on this beast of a Schechter
Been waiting for this since your IG post. That guitar looks exquisite
Damn bro that's one badass looking and sounding ax I love the matte finish on it I've never seen anything like that
that sustain was insane. I do wonder how much of it is due to the bridge and higher quality of wood im assuming
Right? And the volume wasn’t even up loud AT ALL. If I had it cranked it would go all day.
I thought I needed to have a trem back in 1985 when I started since all of my heroes played them. But I never really utilized them in my playing so they were more trouble than they were worth. My 3 main guitars today are an Ibanez JS2000 with a LoPro fixed bridge, a PRS Mark Holcomb SE with Evertune and an Ibanez Q52.
That guitar is super sick! I didn't know Schecter made $4000 guitars, crazy!
Made by hand, one by one!!! Legitimately world class. This thing is unreal.
Schecter are on it at the moment, their specs are great even at the £1500-2000 range. I’ve been an Ibanez fanboy forever, but the recent Schecters are seriously turning my head…..
Uncle Ben I really haven’t heard many people mention the way bends work with a non-fixed bridge guitar. Thank you for the wisdom
"Did you have a banana today?" LOL...all of those reasons had me rolling 😆
I used to like Floyd’s. Then I got a fixed bridge. It made me instantly love floating bridges 13.2x more. Then I ran into tuning issues and such, so I needed a lot more guitars. I now have an even dozen electric guitars…and most of em are certified cool. A five sack of EBMM JPs, a couple 7 strings, a 1992 ESP KH-2 that was the 32nd one made, a couple of toothpaste Jackson’s and a Charvel, an American Pro II Strat 75th Anniversary that has every mod you could do…and looks like a Gilmour Black with a Vega Trem, a Solar S1.2 Baritone in Poplar Lime with an Evertune weirdo, a couple Schecters, a Harmony Strat that has all the Pro II parts on it, and a nice piece of hickory for whittling when I feel so inclined.
Ernie Ball makes my favorite guitars no questions, and the floaty bridge on the JPs is nuts. I need a sick Suhr to keep ‘em honest though, I’ve never even had a chance to hold one in three decades of fiddlin.
If y’all got some old school Floyd’s that are a bit sloppy in the shaft…like your stepdad…get yourself a Red Bishop Magik Arm and bring your old Floyd/Shaller or Ibby to the best feeling a Floaty oldie can get. Make a donation to your local homeless dude to get a brew or a bag of his favorite treats in my name 😜
And grab a vintage Boogie before they are extinct. No Gibson models allowed….maybe. Probably. Yeah.
Being completely honest, I prefer a Floyd Rose. If you know what you're doing, it's not as hard as everyone says they are to setup and deal with.
With practice and understanding of the process I only need 10 minutes to restring mine. It took me a while but I'm persistent and I'm pretty sure people quit before learning
I learned it and now I've got it down pat. Easy peasy
Yup same with kahler! And you can just lock a kahler
Lol. I figured it out real quick. In 1990 my father bought me my 18th Bday present. A 1990 Charvel DLX. Never had a Floyd. I took every string off the first time I changed them.🤦🏼♂️ I had to learn the hard way. They aren’t that bad. If it’s all out of tune you just need to loosen all the strings and retune. I really don’t use them much I have a newer Charvel Pro Mod, and a Jackson soloist. Both have Floyd’s. I just love the way they POP on a guitar. They just make the guitar look sharp. I have one of those new Epiphone LP Custom (KOA) very nice with Grover tuners and hard ware! Gibson under patent pick ups. Very nice guitar. I’m currently looking at one more Charvel. I don’t need the Floyd but, like I said they look nice!!
It took me a minute but figured out it was just a balancing act between the strings and the springs
I realized I liked fixed bridges when I started touring and realized I did not want to deal with a tremelo setup/maintenance on the road. Not having one for a while definitely "forced" me to get better with my vibrato game, too.
I gotta have 1 though because they are too and cool and very rock n roll.
Marty Friedman too.
Hi Ben,
First of all, I love your channel. The second you slowed down "Hang 'em High" and made it clear for everyone that Mr. Ed is actually swinging the fast notes, I actually started to cry. Realizing even more what we lost in 6th of October 2020.
To the point:
You are comparing with a floating bridge [3:33], like on Ibanez, which will ruin the tuning. But ...
... most Floyd Rose, (which is a non fixed bridge) if not all, are only possible to use for dive bombs - since the bridge is resting on the guitar body, even a broken E string will not affect the tuning (as I will show below) . So that comparison was a little odd, but of course - as always - you have an excellent point. I would mostly think of the locking nuts - which are now on almost every guitar with a whammy bar - and would make it very time consuming to change tune.
Broken string and tuning with a Whammy bar guitar
=========================================
A bit into "I can't drive 55" ("Without a Net", New Haven, 1986) Eddie looses the string and continues to play for about half a minute, a minute.
th-cam.com/video/MsehEPyyXVQ/w-d-xo.html
... 20 seconds later string is in the way, he moves it aside....
th-cam.com/video/MsehEPyyXVQ/w-d-xo.html
... its hanging almost parallell to microphone stand, to me still in perfect tune
th-cam.com/video/MsehEPyyXVQ/w-d-xo.html
Keep rockin', keep up your good humor and keep making it possible for all of us to improve!
I like fixed bridges because it sucks when they’re broken. 🤪
Brandon Ellis is my favorite guitar player and it made my day to hear Ben bring up Brandon's distinct bends. Ben knows what's up!
I really like the EVH approach to the Floyd Rose, decking it tight to the body so it can be a fixed bridge for most of the time, can go into drop D no problem but always ready for a dive bomb. Obvs you need a cavity-less body but its my go to for Strats but you do sometimes miss the flutter and smoothness of a nicely setup floating trem.
Man what a tone you have dailed in there !! Nice looking guitar & some great playing !!🎸👍🏻
Nice, you introduced me to some tremolo problems that I never knew existed since I´ve never used a tremolo. I like the structure, some time of talking and then straight into shreddy solos. It´s nice to find new interesting stuff!
I still love tremolos, and VegaTrem is the best of them all. But the bending resistance it true. And your videos are always interesting and fun!
I’m a lefty whose first guitar was a flipped-righty that had a tremolo: it was a double whammy (pun intended) keeping it in tune! I didn’t know about blocking the tremolo at that time!
I totally love my h50 LTD fixed bridge. She hasn’t let me down in sound while mashing her rope
Loved you included #3 - that's my main problem with trems. Strings on fixed bridges are easier to bend in tune (they don't go flat as you bend). And if you want to do the Hendrix move where you bend a string to E or B while hitting the open E or B, you can't do it with a trem - the open strings are flat.
That said, I do realize there's plenty of things that can only be done with a tremolo bar.
I like hardtails for all the reasons Ben stated. I also just tried the same test Ben did on my guitar with a Kahler tremolo. It doesn't move when you bend the strings like a Floyd or other 2 point trems.
That's probably because the Kahler rollers turn when you bend the string. Since each string has its own dedicated roller and the bridge doesn't move, only that string is affected by the bend.
Love that tuning heads on that KM signature series guitar.... It's so unique and different from the rest.....❤
Just bought my son his first descent guitar, & sought out a fixed bridge guitar. Ended up getting him the squire stratosonic, I was pleasantly surprised, looks & played great & stays in tune.
I feel this so much. More than once, I've been invited to jam with friends, and upon showing up, I find that they are all tuned down a half step. For that reason, I usually bring two guitars with at least one being a hard tail.
I used to insist I'd NEVER be caught dead with a floyd rose, kahler, or similar trem, but I have a few guitars with them now, and I love them. I'm a blues, country, rock, pop player
Not that anyone cares, but my favorite aftermarket hardtail is the Babicz Full Contact Hardware hardtail: one screw per saddle to adjust string height, a second screw to lock that height, a grub screw in the side wall to lock the saddles together (as in G&L's Saddle Lock bridge), and a smooth curve such that the saddles don't poke my hand.
Two Reason why I like fixed bridge (in my personal opinion)
1: Easy to change Strings
2: Easy to clean under and between the bridge and tailpiece
Got 3 7 string fixed bridge, I think Ben just explained to me why. Cheers👍
All my guitars have floyds but i specifically bought the hellraiser and dean z for the tone pros set up because i still like the response of the string when its anchored
To build off your point about tuning stability, I can really dig in on my right hand and attack the heck out of the strings on a fixed tail bridge and I don't have to worry about altering the pitch as much. My trem guitars are far too sensitive for how hard I like to chug. But when I want to shred, I pick up that trem guitar because of how much more expressive it can be. So my rhythm tracks are done on a fixed tail with passive pickups and my lead tracks are done on a trem bridge with active pickups. Best of both worlds... until it comes time to play live!
Hand comfort on the bridge as well, though this depends on what kind of fixed bridge. Not only is it more comfortable for things like chugging and whatnot, but you dont have to worry about pressure potentially pushing down on the bridge, either. Just pure peace of mind. You also didn't even get into the extra hassle when changing strings, and how much more time/effort is required to get the thing stretched and in-tune because it's constantly going out of whack anytime you affect any one string. Ugh, I dont miss them at all, though I'd be fine with a more Strat/PRS-style tremolo, just no more floating/Floyd ones.
Perfect Sunday afternoon video.
Was I entertained? Yes.
Was I informed? Also yes.
Thanks, Uncle Ben!
First, that is a gorgeous guitar. The KM stuff has been so good since day one, it's just nuts.
As for why I prefer fixed bridges, honestly, it's just that I came to prefer simpler shit as I grew as a player. When I was starting out, all my guitars (were Ibanez lol) had trems on them. As I developed, I just didn't use them enough to warrant the hassle of dicking around with them for string changes, tuning changes, etc. I've still got a couple with trems, but probably 90% of my guitars now are fixed. Several of my favorites are what I call 'Go Guitars' - one pickup, volume knob, plug in and go.
The last guitar I bought with a FR bridge was awesome, but I had to change the springs every time I changed tunings. I went to fixed bridge, and have never once said to myself “I wish this had a whammy bar”. I just never realized how little I needed it. All of the guitars I’ve bought since are fixed bridge. I won’t even bother with Evertune. My two newest Schecter additions are killer!
I LOVE Soundgarden soooo much. They are my favorite band of all time and have just savage mosterous riffs. Plus you have Chris Cornell who just so happens to be my favorite vocalist/lyricist of all time as a frontman and imo only Layne Stayley is close as far as power, range, melody and gut punching lyrics. R.I.P. Chris Cornell the pain is over now, and you will NEVER be forgotten. ~ NO ONE SINGS LIKE YOU ANYMORE.....
I just bought the Schecter Tempest about 2 weeks ago,, good ol' tax return guitar! I haven't gotten it in the mail yet, but the main reason I went with this sexy beast was the simplicity/badass'ness of the guitar. Can't wait to get this thing in my hands. I need to sign up for your patreon,, and push myself more to improve.
When I started playing in 86 I couldn't wait to get a Floyd guitar. My dream came true in 1990 when I saved up an got myself an Ibanez PL2550 (still have it). I've owned many other Floyd equiped guitars since then. I have 12 guitars today and that Ibanez is the ONLY Floyd guitar I have. I have a single P90 strat with a trem but it has all 5 springs and they are as tight as they will get.
I had no idea this was a thing, thank you for spreading awareness!
Side note: I did not expect Soundgarden to be the 2nd example you went to early in the vid. I love them and have explored alternate tunings extensively thanks to them, but somehow have not come across many other people who are in to them or reference them.
While I'm on the topic - if you haven't learned Burden In My Hand (which is in CGCGGE): it's super fun to play and particularly if you pay close attention to the rhythm in the verse part and the chorus in particular (there's some subtle rests in the verse that add a lot IMO and in the chorus there's a part where it sort of tumbles over itself and then comes out at full speed that gives an exhilarating feeling playing it)! I don't know if all tabs are great for it though - Rick Beato included it on a list at one point and completely butchered it when he played it IMO 😅. I've got the official tab book (which sounds right to me) and have transcribed it in Guitar pro too - I'd be happy to share it, just let me know :) . I feel like that song in particular had a huge impact in getting me to experiment with rhythm more and it's led to fertile grounds of exploration.
Anyhow - really appreciate all the details you're providing in this vid, great stuff!
All the reasons you mentioned, plus setting/adjusting intonation.
Beautiful guitar! That’s interesting. All modern Jeff Beck live performances are with tremolo with such subtle but great tones.
Just had my Fender Strat hardtailed to get rid of all these problems.
Great vid BTW 👍👍👍🎸🎸🎸🎶🎶🎶
I like both equally. I even love Floyds. My fixed bridge guitars are my go to when I want to mess with alternate tunings. I'm a huge Tremonti/Alter Bridge fan, which makes the ability to change tunings is a must.
What’s one of your most commonly enjoyed Alter Bridge tunings?
@@PartyChicken407Open C#5 is a fun one to play around with.
I haven't watched yet, but I was thinking about this topic recently when I saw Gary Holt doing a a clinic thing at a local music store. He was playing a floating-bridge guitar and it got me reminiscing about all of my favorite thrashers and shredders back-in-the-day who also used them. Gary and the rest didn't have a problem with tight and chunky riffs! So overall I think ease of changing tuning is the only significant benefit. I have guitars of both types now and enjoy each for it offers.
The only guitars I own with fixed bridges are my Gibsons, Everything else has Floyds or Ede trems I have to have a trem system on my guitar it's an absolute must! I only use my Les Pauls and such when playing grandpa or stepdad tunes!
I like the trem on my Ibanez S 520 more than a regular Floyd but Id still love to have a hardtail version of it.
Still looking for a nice Ibanez Sabre without a tremolo. Love my S 520 and would love to have a fixed bridge version.
You mentioned vibrato, but not in the way that made a difference to me. My first hardtail after years of playing exclusively on a Floyd was a decision I made because I wanted to try a multiscale. After I tried it I realized that my vibrato technique had really suffered over the years of using the whammy bar as a crutch instead of left hand vibrato. Having to concentrate more on that left hand technique again has been a wonderful reawakening.
Ben I recently bought an entry level Jackson warrior with a Floyd Rose, and it is exciting. I needed back another floating bridge to my slim collection
You made very valid points in the video👍Tremolo guitars feel slinkier and sound like there is less midrange frequencies. I converted my vintage 6 screw Strat into a hardtail by wedging a block of wood in the rear cavity. I put some tape on the springs to mute the reverb effect. Hardtails sound punchier and thicker because of the solid connection to the body.
Hi Ben. I see things are going well. It's been ten years since the accident that required me to re learn guitar and all your help was a part of me getting back to where I was and past. Everyone who want's to learn guitar should be checking Mr. Eller out. He, Mike Stern and the late jazz great Pat Martino brought me back and I'm forever grateful.
Ah man, thanks a ton! Glad to hear of your recovery.
Yes please do a full on video about the guitar Ben
Challenge accepted!
One of my favorite guitars I’ve ever played was a single bridge humbucker, single volume knob, fixed bridge strat my guitar teacher had and let me play.
this is why the Digitech Drop kicks ass!
I have 22 guitars. Only 6 of them are hardtails/stop tails. 1 is a cheap Amazon strat style with a single humbucker and the other 5 are Les Paul copies. One of which is a 12 string so that's definitely not going to have a tremolo.
two words Vega Trem , all the best of both worlds , they aren't cheap at around $279 but it keeps tune every bit as great as my Ibanez Edge , i'd love to see you review one
Would love to try one!
I love my chapman with fixed bridge. It's a riff machine.
I love my Ibanez S with ZR floating bridge, the addiction to flutter the bridge while soloing, its so expressive and solos get way more interesting
Been drooling at this guitar for a while. Looks smooth.
Hey man. Great Video!! Very informative. I've been watching your videos for a good while now because i love guitar and seeing someone play extremely well is he best kind of pick me up. I watched your videos so much that in November I started trying to teach myself guitar via TH-cam, then by December I felt like quitting because it's really hard lmfao, and then I saw your section of the 2023 shred collab and thought to myself "Yep. I wanna do that. I want this. I'm gonna stick with it no matter what".
I'm actually a very big Halloween fan and that'd how I found your channel a couple years back was seeing you cover the movie theme and it was so badass that I kept watching and I'm so glad that I did because I probably wouldn't be playing right now if it wasn't for you. And you inspired me to keep going, so thank you Ben. It's getting easier and I'm really starting to get the hang of it yet, I've got a long way to go but your videos really help me. Plus I don't wanna play like a step dad so I feel like your the man to learn from. 🙏
I will say, my favorite bridge is a non recessed floyd. Just deck it by either pulling the claw all the way into the body, or add all 5 springs.
Youll be able to do basically anything with the tuning and still divebomb/vibrato AND use a d-tuna
I started playing after seeing Randy Rhoades last concert in Knoxville. Bought a '83 Kramer with a floating bridge and HATED the bridge. Back then it was hard to find quality guitar without a trem and if you were in a band you HAD to have a floating bridge. Little did we know that all those crazy sounds EVH came up with was with the trem only going in one direction. Now, I've got 8 guitars with floating bridges trems, one has the bar attached 7 have the bridge resting on the body.