Ibanez guitars are better with whammy bridges, right?
Ibanez made a name for itself by riding on the whammy bridge popularity especially in the 1980s. The instruments did not become better due to a certain implement, those became popular & in demand. Let's remind ourselves that Ibanez started out as copycats & those imitations were largely models without whammy features.
Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci were all whammy bridge heroes, it's all too obvious.
That's because these people were in the limelight. Steve Miller, Paul Stanley, Pat Metheny, George Benson & John Scofield, among others, were equally heroic without whammy bridges in their instruments. These people are not in the limelight due to the nature of their music. It's good you mention Paul Gilbert, I'm sure ardent fans like you would notice how equally amazing he is without pushing any whammy bars. Steve Vai too, click HERE to watch this very recent video of him playing a guitar without you-know-what.
Are you saying that the whammy bridge is no longer important?
Our music genre & ideas dictate the type of guitars we play. We need to embrace suitable instruments to deliver our intentions as these are fundamentally tools. Take the pencil for instance. There are mechanical pencils & wooden pencils that require sharpening every now & then. If you are an architect, the mechanical pencil would serve you better as you need your lines to be consistent all the time. Sketch artists would thrive on wooden pencils because they need blunt tips at times to manifest tones & textures which are not the forte of mechanical pencils.
If I were to choose between a whammy bridge or a fixed bridge guitar, which one is a more pressing consideration?
Choose both 😅 The tools we have in hand, regardless if we favour them or otherwise, help trigger creativity & ideas. We shouldn't reject tools, we keep them handy for opportunistic moments. However, if your playing style is predominantly whammy reliant, start with that first. Acquire a fixed bridge instrument later along the way when you are ready to explore or challenge yourself by working out of your comfort zone using less familiar tools. The opposite applies.
Pics: Ibanez catalog
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