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Why Doesn't Fender Offer These As Standard Equipment?
- Thread starter PolkaHero
- Start date
I think the more realistic view is it would be terrible judgement for a product manager at Fender to try to suggest changing the iconic Fender headstock.
Is that one from 20 years ago? Get with the times, here's a link to their current offerings. Note the three string retainer!
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Bought my first Sadowsky in 1990 with summer job money. Some have hex-type screw-in bushing tuning machines, some have press-fit bushings. If Roger or his clientele thought the stealth retainer was an absolute must, he would use them.
No, tensile force can be measured as downward on the nut toward the slot as well. That’s just a literal interpretation of the word tension rather than a musician’s expectation of the vector being along the string length.
A 2012 Sadowsky and I'm "not with the times"? That's kinda funny.
If you mean all current production Sadowskys then say so. But don't come on with schoolboy condescension for calling you on a blatant inaccuracy you threw in to support a weak argument....especially an argument about freakin' string retainers.
Jeez dude, consider the possibility that instead of fighting it you may be happier just living with the fact that not everyone shares your blazing passion for more efficient string trees. Your happiness is important to me.
Yep, all current Sadowskys use one. Must be a reason why. My statement wasn't inaccurate at all. Dude, just stay out of these threads if you have nothing important or fact based to state okay?
You really want them to put some unnecessary tinsel on the tuners then charge more than what they currently do?
Besides they can charge more for them after you've bought the guitar anyways
Besides they can charge more for them after you've bought the guitar anyways
You don't give a product returning 1000% profit away for free, you bump the guy who suggested it up a level.
That's bumping the management guy who suggested it not the working stiff who thought of it.
I owned an Alembic Elan Five that had an inline-style headstock, built, as all Alembics are, with an angled headstock. And as for as long as I owned it, it always felt just the slightest bit wierd to look down there and see a Fender-ish or Thunderbird style head . . . . . bent away from the fingerboard.
Turnaround
Commercial User
The problem is that the "musician's interpretation" gives rise to a lot of false ideas and claims. You don't increase tension on the nut by increasing tension on the string, you increase pressure. If you don't use the right word to describe something it can and does lead to lots of misunderstandings.
Billy Sheehan had an angled Fender style headstock on his old pink prototype BB. He went back to the standard string tree for his signature bass, explaining that there was a difference in feel. I’ve played this pink bass and it is a weird experience to see the angled headstock that is otherwise Fender style.
Definitely "Best of 2021" material, and it's only 5 pages and hasn't been closed yet.
String tree trivia for locking nut guitarists (floyd rose, edge, etc)
Did you know that:
the reason they exist on all locking tremolo guitars (which at first seems pointless since the strings are locked in place), is because:
- when you are tuning up a locking nut guitar using the actual headstock tuners and the nut unlocked (yes, this DOES happen sometimes... it's not all done with the fine tuners), the string tree keeps the angle of the string on the headstock side lined up so the string itself sits in the locking nut exactly as though it was locked.
So the strings stay flush against the bottom of the locking nut due to tree pushing them down, even on the (very intelligently designed) headstock side that curves down somewhat towards the tuners.
So when you tune it up and it's perfect, and you've spent a minute preadjusting your fine tuners so they're all roughly in the middle of their range, and you then go and LOCK the nut, the lock doesn't push the strings down further and make them go out of tune.
Totally different reason, but still beneficial, than what we have string trees etc on non locking nut guitars and basses, which is to keep down pressure more or less consistent from string to string along the nut.
Did you know that:
the reason they exist on all locking tremolo guitars (which at first seems pointless since the strings are locked in place), is because:
- when you are tuning up a locking nut guitar using the actual headstock tuners and the nut unlocked (yes, this DOES happen sometimes... it's not all done with the fine tuners), the string tree keeps the angle of the string on the headstock side lined up so the string itself sits in the locking nut exactly as though it was locked.
So the strings stay flush against the bottom of the locking nut due to tree pushing them down, even on the (very intelligently designed) headstock side that curves down somewhat towards the tuners.
So when you tune it up and it's perfect, and you've spent a minute preadjusting your fine tuners so they're all roughly in the middle of their range, and you then go and LOCK the nut, the lock doesn't push the strings down further and make them go out of tune.
Totally different reason, but still beneficial, than what we have string trees etc on non locking nut guitars and basses, which is to keep down pressure more or less consistent from string to string along the nut.
There's a lot going on here and I need some clarification on some stuff. So what's the deal with the p bass head and nuts? Why is it that there is such difficulty winding the string all the way down? I need to know this because I have a pbass and it is a huge pain (which is why I usually pay a local shop to string and adjust it).
One thing that prevents the A retainer being used on all Fenders is they only work on machine heads with a retaining nut on the face of the headstock. Machine heads with press fit string post bushings can’t use that particular bit of kit.
As for a buzzy A, the only time I had that problem on one of my J basses i increased the slope on the back side of the nut slot by a tiny bit and it went away.
As for a buzzy A, the only time I had that problem on one of my J basses i increased the slope on the back side of the nut slot by a tiny bit and it went away.
