Needs some advice on the setup of my new warmoth soloist
- Thread starter jzeilon
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Cagey
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You can't change string tension with the truss rod. It's used to change the neck geometry. If it's tight, the neck bows back, and as you loosen it the surface moves through flat to relieved.
Generally speaking, you want a bit of relief in the neck. That is, when you fret a string at the 1st and 15th frets, you end up with some space under the string at the midpoint. About .008" to .012" is typical, although some folks prefer less. The flatter the fretboard, the greater its tendency to buzz, fret out, or sound acoustically dead. The more relieved it is, the higher your action will need to be so it gets increasingly difficult to play. Not because of string tension, but because your fretting fingers have to move through increasingly steep arcs to avoid hitting strings inadvertently. It's just a lot more work.
Generally speaking, you want a bit of relief in the neck. That is, when you fret a string at the 1st and 15th frets, you end up with some space under the string at the midpoint. About .008" to .012" is typical, although some folks prefer less. The flatter the fretboard, the greater its tendency to buzz, fret out, or sound acoustically dead. The more relieved it is, the higher your action will need to be so it gets increasingly difficult to play. Not because of string tension, but because your fretting fingers have to move through increasingly steep arcs to avoid hitting strings inadvertently. It's just a lot more work.
ORCRiST
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jzeilon said:Got it thanx
I was going to suggest the saddle shims, but you've figured that one out... let us know if you have any questions on that.
In addition, I highly highly recommend a set of these: http://www.rawvintage.com/eng/item_springs.php
Normally, I'd chop someone off at the knee's on an internet forum suggesting special tremolo springs were anything magical. :evil4: That is until I tried these
things on my Floyd Rose, and I've got all five installed. They're incredible. If you want that smooth, slinky feel and effortless bending,
try a set of these! Well worth $20 IMHO.
This was a thread over on the Fender forums where I suggested the same - and others seemed to be as surprised as I was, and
ended up thanking me. Which was cool because it let me know I wasn't totally smoking crack for going off about stupid tremolo springs.
http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47290
ORCRiST
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I've looked at the claims of the various magic spring suppliers, and I'm skeptical. Although, for the price, it's not like these guys are trying to get rich off of anyone. Still, I hate to be sucked in by marketing weenies, or see it happen to anyone else.
The reason I'm skeptical is based on several things. First, most springs don't have linear expansion/compression rates. Depending on where in the spring's range of motion you're using it, you'll be on a different part of the curve. Second, the pull of a given set of strings on a guitar at standard tune is predictable, and I strongly suspect the tension they exert as they stretch/retract is also non-linear. Finally, there's such a thing as load sharing, which is why your guitar goes out of tune when you break a string.
Let's say you're using a typical set of 10s on a vibrato-equipped guitar with a 25.5" scale. The strings at standard tune will pull in total about 110 pounds. So, if you want to float your bridge, you need about 110 pounds of spring tension pulling back on the bottom of the bridge (actual spring tension will be substantially less because of leveraging effects, but for purposes of discussion we'll ignore that for now).
So, if you need to have 110 pounds of pull but you don't want one monster spring for whatever reason (space, redundancy needs, mechanical considerations, cost, etc.) whaddaya gonna do? Well, you could share the load. Instead of using one 110 pound spring, use 3 springs stretched until they're pulling 36.6 pounds each. Or, you could use 5 of the same springs stretched until they're pulling 22 pounds each.
What does this do to our bridge's performance? Well, it puts us on a different part of the response curve of the spring where the slope may be shallower or steeper. So, it may feel different while playing. It also effectively adds or subtracts mass to/from the bridge, which may affect tone or sustain. I'm also of the opinion that multiple springs provide for a more reliable return to neutral.
All this assumes we're using the same springs, which I'm thinking we are. I don't think anybody has any "special" springs that need to cost more. Especially when you consider the setup cost of a manufacturing facility to make a special spring just for the guitar DIY market that has some bizarro spec designed to make you into the Player of Doom.
I think you can get the same results just by adding springs and loosening your claw a tad to compensate. You'll have less tension on each spring, and more mass to your bridge, all without changing the guitar at all. And if that's the case, you're only looking at $5 for a set of 3 here. Or, you can buy the "vintage" springs for $3 each, which only cost that much because of packaging.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying the 5 spring setup is bad. Quite the opposite - I think it's good. I do it myself. I just don't think you need to spend $20+ to get there from here.
The reason I'm skeptical is based on several things. First, most springs don't have linear expansion/compression rates. Depending on where in the spring's range of motion you're using it, you'll be on a different part of the curve. Second, the pull of a given set of strings on a guitar at standard tune is predictable, and I strongly suspect the tension they exert as they stretch/retract is also non-linear. Finally, there's such a thing as load sharing, which is why your guitar goes out of tune when you break a string.
Let's say you're using a typical set of 10s on a vibrato-equipped guitar with a 25.5" scale. The strings at standard tune will pull in total about 110 pounds. So, if you want to float your bridge, you need about 110 pounds of spring tension pulling back on the bottom of the bridge (actual spring tension will be substantially less because of leveraging effects, but for purposes of discussion we'll ignore that for now).
So, if you need to have 110 pounds of pull but you don't want one monster spring for whatever reason (space, redundancy needs, mechanical considerations, cost, etc.) whaddaya gonna do? Well, you could share the load. Instead of using one 110 pound spring, use 3 springs stretched until they're pulling 36.6 pounds each. Or, you could use 5 of the same springs stretched until they're pulling 22 pounds each.
What does this do to our bridge's performance? Well, it puts us on a different part of the response curve of the spring where the slope may be shallower or steeper. So, it may feel different while playing. It also effectively adds or subtracts mass to/from the bridge, which may affect tone or sustain. I'm also of the opinion that multiple springs provide for a more reliable return to neutral.
All this assumes we're using the same springs, which I'm thinking we are. I don't think anybody has any "special" springs that need to cost more. Especially when you consider the setup cost of a manufacturing facility to make a special spring just for the guitar DIY market that has some bizarro spec designed to make you into the Player of Doom.
I think you can get the same results just by adding springs and loosening your claw a tad to compensate. You'll have less tension on each spring, and more mass to your bridge, all without changing the guitar at all. And if that's the case, you're only looking at $5 for a set of 3 here. Or, you can buy the "vintage" springs for $3 each, which only cost that much because of packaging.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying the 5 spring setup is bad. Quite the opposite - I think it's good. I do it myself. I just don't think you need to spend $20+ to get there from here.
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