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Bass with a whammy bar?

#105
I've got a hipshot trem bridge on my jazz bass. It pitches very smoothly, is full floating, and best of all stays in tune as good as any regular bridge. It also has a much smaller profile than the kahler, and without the whammy bar can pass as a regular bridge:

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#109
I don't remember where I read it because it was over 15 years ago but I remember reading that Les Claypool uses a Kahler tremolo bridge on at least one CT. This lead to me getting a Squire P Bass with Active EMGs and the Kahler. I still have that bass although I don't use it much. I never really felt like I fully utilized the tremolo bar and because it was floating, if I broke a string I would have to tune the remaining 3. I got used to it but it was a pain in the butt. I think I am going to pull that Squire out thanks to this thread.

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#110
Alvaro Martín Gómez A.;8694469 said:
Randy Coven also has also played basses with whammy bars:



BTW, Randy Coven isn't discussed often at TalkBass and I think he's a great bassist.
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I remember Randy in GP mag ads during that time. Having watched that first clip, gee I'm pleased we've moved past the 80s. No offence to Randy. He definitely has chops of steel, but I wasn't feeling the music there. That was the problem with a lot of shedders.
 
#113
Darkstrike said:
Uh, its not fully floating when the bridge is pressing against the body like yours is, when you're not touching the bar.

Fully floating means its free to move up or down and its only held in place by spring tension and the strings pressure.
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It is a full floating trem. In those pics, I had just put on some new strings and the tension hadn't really equalized yet, which led to the bridge pulling back until it was touching the body. Once the strings stretch out a bit and the tension equalizes it tends to find it's way back to center, allowing me to pull back as well as pitch forward. I can also adjust the spring tension to bring it back to center if required.

The only thing that limits how much you can pitch the Hipshot back and forth is how the body is routed. If I had chosen to route the body so that the bridge wouldn't hit against it when pulled back, I could pull it until the strings broke.
 
#115
John Sauter is the first guy I saw with a whammy.
He had a "TELE" bass with a modified strat bridge..with "screen-door" springs on it.
This was back in the mid to late 70's...
Sauter played bass for Ted Nugent and also took Tim Bogert's place in Cactus for a little while in the late 70's...
 
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#116
Reynoldbot said:
It is a full floating trem. In those pics, I had just put on some new strings and the tension hadn't really equalized yet, which led to the bridge pulling back until it was touching the body. Once the strings stretch out a bit and the tension equalizes it tends to find it's way back to center, allowing me to pull back as well as pitch forward. I can also adjust the spring tension to bring it back to center if required.
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Odd, when strings stretch out a bit, like that they usually loose tension... which would have the opposite effect... :eyebrow:

Reynoldbot said:
The only thing that limits how much you can pitch the Hipshot back and forth is how the body is routed. If I had chosen to route the body so that the bridge wouldn't hit against it when pulled back, I could pull it until the strings broke.
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Yes, I know how the trem works.
 
#117
Darkstrike said:
Odd, when strings stretch out a bit, like that they usually loose tension... which would have the opposite effect... :eyebrow:


Yes, I know how the trem works.
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As I said, it's an equalization process. The strings stretch out, loosening and detuning them, and I tune them back up. After a couple days of regularly retuning the strings, they settle in at the proper tension. Usually by then the trem bridge is back where it's supposed to be in the center. If it's not of course I can always adjust it.

If you know how a trem works then you should know that just because in the photos the bridge was pressing on one side of the body doesn't mean it's not full floating. And I don't know what you stand to gain by being a blowhard about it.
 
#118
DS is right. A full floater will be from the factory as an upward and downeard bend of equal pitch change. Can you pull up as much as you push down when the strings stretching or whatever allow the bridge to be a 1/2 inch off the body or not? .. If you can, then it is a full floater, if not, then it is not.

A FloydRose is the best example, it has the body CUTOUT in the back so you can pull up.

on a BASS a Kahler is the perfect example as the strings sit on a free floating cam in the middle.
 
#119
Reynoldbot said:
As I said, it's an equalization process. The strings stretch out, loosening and detuning them, and I tune them back up. After a couple days of regularly retuning the strings, they settle in at the proper tension. Usually by then the trem bridge is back where it's supposed to be in the center. If it's not of course I can always adjust it.

If you know how a trem works then you should know that just because in the photos the bridge was pressing on one side of the body doesn't mean it's not full floating. And I don't know what you stand to gain by being a blowhard about it.
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Geez, man, chill out, I said its not fully floating when pressing against the body, as it was pictured. Sure you can set it up for that, and it seems you do, and by the way, for it to be fully floating, it does actually have to be able to bend both ways. I haven't yet mastered the art of mind reading, and can only comment on what I see, and what info I'm given, which at the time was a bass with a trem that wasn't set to float, and was claimed to be fully floating. Which of course, you've since cleared up...
 
#120
The fact of the matter is, the bridge is designed and manufactured as a full-floating bridge. My bridge being improperly aligned in a single set of photos does not alter that fact. How I chose to have the body routed does not change that fact. If you intended to only point out that my bridge in those photos was not set up to be fully floating, then that's fine. But obviously, based on the comments, most people interpreted it to mean that the Hipshot bridge itself is not fully floating. There may be people reading this forum who are seriously considering a trem bridge on their basses. I just want it to be clear to every one that the Hipshot is in fact designed as a full-floating bridge.

I called you a blowhard because you prompted an explanation and then condescendingly declared you knew the answer already when I made my reply. Where I come from people that do that are called blowhards. Just because you know the ins and outs of trem bridges doesn't mean everybody does. This forum is designed in part to spread knowledge and experience, and I don't appreciate being scoffed at for doing so.
 

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