What an S! (3)

The Ibanez S270 features the discontinued SLT101 bridge. Despite looking like a Floyd Rose bridge, it is actually a non-locking unit. So how are the strings secured here? 

The strings are inserted at the end of this barrel type feature. The ball ends are visible & these stay put by virtue of the string tension pulling them inwards. As such, there is a chance of movements taking place if the whammy is in use. The SLT101 were equipped in the lower series instruments & proved to be short-lived together with the ILT version.

Living on the Edge

I think this is long overdue so it's about time I share it here. For those of you who asked me how I determine the correct tilt angle of the Ibanez Edge bridge, do refer to the rectangular block at the side of the bridge flap. In this case it's the bass side. As you can see above, after tuning up, the bridge is a little slack & if left unattended, it would mean you have lesser cavity space for an upward whammy action. From this picture, we can see that the block was not sitting parallel to the body surface. If the guitar is already in tune, you need to adjust the spring tension at the rear to balance things up & re-tune the instrument. This may take several attempts.

Once you got that settled, the block is now parallel to the body surface & that's the optimum position as seen here. Easy peazy, lemon squeazy as the kids would say in school.

Essential monologue (2)

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

F-Bigsby

News indeed- Fender now owns Bigsby. If your favourite guitar company suddenly discontinues this feature from your favourite guitar models, it is then no surprise. If instruments featuring this whammy bridge suddenly observes a subsequent price hike, it is also no surprise. You get the drift.

Wedge it

This Tremolok contraption is what I use every time I re-string my Floyd-equipped (or its derivatives) guitars. Everywhere else, players were warned not to remove all strings simultaneously for various apprehensions which I do not wish to invoke. I make it a point to remove all strings so I have access to the fretboard- I need to clean it. 

On other days, any pencil would be a good substitute :-D

BFG- another return

We'd all thought the Gibson Les Paul BFG had seen its demise a few years ago only to be revived as a Gary Moore version & subsequently the Zakk Wylde incarnation. This year, the Gibson people put a simple whammy bridge in lieu of its tune-o-matic original. This gets my vote as the type of change or technical tinkering in offering us variety for our considerations. Aside from the Epiphone LPs, there isn't an off-the-shelf Gibson model which sports a variant bridge. I'd give this a thumbs-up as opposed to whatever technological revamp Gibson is doing to their Firebird model.

OK, it's dinner time.

Pencil stopper

The prevailing reason- for us guitar owners dealing with a dual-action, locking whammy bridge- for not removing all strings from the bridge during a re-string exercise, is the bothersome collapse of the bridge into its cavity.When this happens, we cannot access the locking end of the bridge to free the strings from the clamps.

You can use a pencil or any other firm contraption to wedge it between the bridge & the cavity. Do lay a piece of cloth under the pencil to prevent it from denting the body surface.

Super Vee

Ah... here's an interesting take on the dual action whammy bridge by manufacturer Super Vee.

The complementary nut which looks effective but rather bulky, the major factor which might make it a put-off.

The tail-end view shows the absence of a body cavity to accommodate this bridge; it's a ready replacement for the traditional Fender Strat. Do keep this in mind; you might knock & dent the body surface if you pull up the whammy (bar) too much.

Epiphone: Another whammy model

This is another Epiphone LP which has a whammy bridge option but it's a non-locking model- Speciall II GT, new for 2010. It's more affordable than the other standard offerings as it's a bolt-on make. Some of us can't come to terms with the tune-o-matic bridge of the typical LP; it alleviates the strings way off the body & this affects our playing because we rest/ anchor our picking hand fingers on the body top while we play. This LP might help us address this quirk.