Ergonomic Guitar Build

[Southbound]

I was torn between 2 and 3.

I went for the slightly brighter one (3).

I agree mostly with what Wez said, only I ended up chosing the 3rd.

I thought 1 had the least "life" but was still a perfectly OK sound.

I actually thought 2 sounded the best on it's own (particularly clean)

But I try to consider what it will sound like in the context of a band and I just got the feeling that 3 would slice through a rhythm section a little better (maybe I'd roll off some highs or use a neck PU setting for a clean solo piece like an intro..I'm sure alot of that would depend on the room you find yourself in from gig to gig as well).

[j. pierce]

What about something like the Hipshot countour bridges? They use hardened steel bearings, but they're captive on the plate, not sealed roller bearing units like you've shown on your site. On one side, it's two balls, on the other, it's a needle-type, they both bear against similar post to a floyd. I've used one for a while now, and really like it. It seems to avoid some of the durability issues that can plague knife-edges, but preserve whatever it is about one-piece plate construction that creates that tonality that you're talking about losing with roller bearings.

StewMac has decent pictures since I'm not good at describing this. I'm sure there's more on the hipshot site.

[WezV]

Most tonal differences could probably be taken care of with the eq on the amp.

very true and if SL wanted to skew the result in favour of 1 particular trem it would be easy to do it that way.... I am going to assume it was a fair test - otherwise there would be little point, especially since these designs are in development rather than being actively marketed

[Strandberg Guitarworks]

Thanks to everyone! I happen to agree with the majority, please see the site for the results :-) I will still keep the poll open, but I decided to disclose the results due to reasons I explain on the site.

In place of it, I have added a new poll with different tremolo spring block materials: aluminum, brass, and steel. To make it worth your while, and to make things more interesting, I will raffle off a black fixed bridge (i.e. a set of 6 tuners) to the voter who can identify correctly which is aluminium, brass and steel respectively. I will announce the results on Feb 1, 2009. If more than one has a correct answer, the coolest project will win, so please let me know how you plan to use the bridge for if you win it. Submit your entries via e-mail only please.

[Myka Guitars]

Ola,

These are looking great. I have a couple of ideas already. I am looking forward to see how your fulcrum works out.

~David

[Strandberg Guitarworks]

Hi all,

despite being in the early days, I have started designing the next generation hardware. I would be very grateful to hear what you think!

Please visit http://guitarworks.thestrandbergs.com/ for more pictures.

Thanks,

Ola

And BTW - don't miss eLUTHERIE.org the new location of buildingtheergonomicguitar.com, hosted by Rob Irizarry and Rick Toone!

Edited March 9, 2009 by Strandberg Guitarworks

[ae3]

Your trems rock (pun intended)

What makes this trem better than the old one?

[Strandberg Guitarworks]

Your trems rock (pun intended)

What makes this trem better than the old one?

I want to address the following main areas:

• To be able to mount flat on a guitar surface, without a cut-away, and still reach the underside of the knobs to tune
  
• To be able to intonate with the string at tension
  
• And (the least important) to have actual Floyd-Rose measurements of the base mounting plate.
  

I am also working on some alternate applications, like a tuner-only tailpiece for use with Tune-o-Matics, where it would make sense to mount the tuners at an angle. I will post some more designs with the tuners at a lower angle due to some concerns that they will protrude too far from the guitar surface for use in a hard-shell case.

[Xanthus]

Hmm.... I personally am not a fan of something that looks like it would stick up from the face of the guitar so much. I don't much care for TOMs on an angled neck, even. I think the design of the original is great, nice and low-profile, simple. I don't use a trem much at all anymore, but I'm trying to see the other side of the coin.

I read your website on this update; do you think you could explain a bit more about how your second gen trem would alleviate the intonation problem more than the first design?

[Strandberg Guitarworks]

do you think you could explain a bit more about how your second gen trem would alleviate the intonation problem more than the first design?

Hi Xanthus,

In the new design, the tuner and saddle are split into two. The tilted tuner portion is fixed and the semi-circular saddle portion can be moved. This means that the pull from the string does not affect the saddle portion, and you may move it back and forth freely with the string at tension.

In the current design, the pull from the string affects the whole assembly which means that you have to release the tension from the string, adjust the position of the whole tuner assembly, and re-tighten the string. I personally don't think this is a big issue, because I generally stick to one brand of strings and very rarely need to intonate. The same thing happens with other designs like Floyd-Rose also.

But it would be interesting to hear what others think. How important is this?

Cheers,

Ola

[Strandberg Guitarworks]

A little bit off-topic, but I have created a series of installments covering how I convert a Squier Strat into using my tremolo. Please check out my site for the 5-part series.

Cheers,

Ola