Scott Henderson Discussion

JaydenWiggins · Joined: 15 Aug 2016 Posts: 3

Hey there Scott

I've picked up from a bunch of different places across the web that you're really into the floating tremolo setup - the way Leo originally intended for the strat to be setup. I know Beck, Blackmore, Hendrix (at times) and others also enjoy this setup but I wonder if you can discuss the blocked setup here for us.

I don't mean blocked as in rock solid with a piece of wood shoved in the back like some people do.. I mean flush with the guitar body, but still with the ability to lower the pitch of the springs. SRV, Clapton, Robert Cray and others have been known to use this setup and it's how I've set my strats up for the last few years.

Do you think there's a time and a place for both? have you ever used a blocked setup?

Thanks a bunch!
Jayden

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2135

I use the arm to bend up just as much as down, and also to do vibrato, so the blocked system wouldn't work for me. That being said, I'll bet it sounds better because the plate makes contact with the wood. Probably makes it fatter like a tele - it would be interesting to compare floating/ blocked for tone. Anyone out there made the comparison?

dizzy · Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 406

I made the comparison one time. I thought the non floating tremolo sounded fuller in the mids. More like a tele. This was more apparent to me with a very clean sound. However, I thought my tele sounded better for clean single notes then even the non floating bridge. So I couldn't see the point of playing the strat without the floating bridge.

Travis · Joined: 17 Jan 2013 Posts: 23

If you were to grab an Eric Clapton Strat off the shelf, it comes with wood blocking the 6 screw vintage block tremolo. It's a small difference sonically, but makes for a faster response overall with the added mass of the wood block. I don't think it's anywhere close to the response of a real hardtail Strat or a Tele, but it's a definite improvement if you want more energy being transferred to the body. A traditional 3 brass saddle Tele bridge is much different sonically than a hardtail Strat bridge as well as construction wise. The hardtail Strat is a secret weapon for Billy Gibbons, Ron Wood, Robert Cray and Wayne Kramer.

Also I don't know how much the springs play into the blocked trem; meaning a block with a 3 springs sounds different than 5 springs probably?
Also, this is a mandatory Strat mod for making trem springs not ring gross notes when you play; also it's easily reversible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJnAbPrmJNA

slyzspyz · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 3:19 am Post subject:

I've done comarisons over the years of various setups for tone and feel - in my opinion, if you are going to be using the bar for downward pitch only, it's still better to have it slightly floating e.g. 1 or 2mm. If it's flush against the body, there can be a big difference in tone when the bar is pushed (bridge plate leaving contact with the body) and sometimes it can sound like phase cancellations coming in and out when the bridge is in rest position as the bridge vibrates and/or is stifled against the body.

e123ms · Joined: 31 May 2016 Posts: 10

^ I agree, I mostly just use the bar to pull down, but I have it setup to go up about a wholetone on the G string. This is more for tuning things so that when it inevitably goes sharp, I can just yank the bar and be mostly in tune again - I think I got that from Scott in some magazine when Well to the Bone came out.

Also, when it's down-only the vibrato is weird because you have to completely release the bar to get it back to pitch, I think that's super tricky to just get some nice wobbly notes.