Acoustic Guitar With A Floating Bridge

[hybridalien]

Im sure ive seen one long time ago in a catalog.

I just don't remember what make it was.

I think about Yamaha or Ovation.

It's for my project

A acoustic fretless guitar

Anyone have seen the same thing?

[B. Aaron]

What do you mean by floating bridge?

[hybridalien]

What do you mean by floating bridge?

A real floating bridge. With a tremolo arm

I didn't see the guitar in front of me (it was in a catalog) but i think the bridge should go only downwards due to the guitar body

Edited April 13, 2010 by hybridalien

[hybridalien]

What do you mean by floating bridge?

A real floating bridge.

I didn't see the guitar in front of me (it was in a catalog) but i think the bridge should go only downwards due to the guitar body

Believe its Peavey, i don't remember.

Gonna try to find a pic of that thing

[hybridalien]

What do you mean by floating bridge?

A real floating bridge.

I didn't see the guitar in front of me (it was in a catalog) but i think the bridge should go only downwards due to the guitar body

Believe its Peavey, i don't remember.

Gonna try to find a pic of that thing

Can't find a pic. It was like 10 years ago. Maybe it was some kind of a pub or something because i don't understand how you can put a tremolo bridge on a acoustic guitar.

Where do you put the damn springs ???

Edited April 13, 2010 by hybridalien

[hybridalien]

What do you mean by floating bridge?

A real floating bridge.

I didn't see the guitar in front of me (it was in a catalog) but i think the bridge should go only downwards due to the guitar body

Believe its Peavey, i don't remember.

Gonna try to find a pic of that thing

Can't find a pic. It was like 10 years ago. Maybe it was some kind of a pub or something because i don't understand how you can put a tremolo bridge on a acoustic guitar.

Where do you put the damn springs ???

I dream about that all night.

The only way it could be done is by placing a wood bloc under the saddles placement.

The bloc taking all gap between the interior front and back pannels

Make some kind of routing to a custom one.

What do you think?

It surely could be done, i think.

P.S. Night give some strange ideas

[B. Aaron]

Ibanez made a semi-hollow electric guitar with a floating tremolo for a while, which isn't too hard: the trem just gets mounted in the block inside the instrument (i.e. the block that makes it semi-hollow instead of true hollow).

With an acoustic guitar, though, I think you'd end up with a very dead instrument if you actually mounted a floating tremolo in the top.

The problem I see, beyond possible structural and "how do you do it" issues in mounting a floating tremolo in a 2.5mm thick top, is that an average guitar top only weighs 300-600 grams but a floating tremolo (such as the Wilkinson/Gotoh trem) weighs 600+ grams itself. A Floyd Rose is probably even heavier, being so much more massive. If you add that much mass to the soundboard, it's going to have a very difficult time producing sound.

If you have to further bulk up the construction to include a block to mount the bridge in and another block to mount the tremolo springs in, you'll be adding even more weight. You could mount the spring-block on some sort of bar suspended from the sides to reduce the weight and minimize the parts attached directly to the soundboard, but if you do you'll essentially be harnessing the bridge to the sides via the springs, which will probably impede the soundboard's motion even further.

If you want acoustic sounds from a guitar with a floating tremolo bar, why not get electric saddle pickups like Carvin uses and install an "acoustic" pickup in an electric? You can get the saddle pickups for Fender-style, Wilkinson, and Floyd Rose tremolos, and probably more too.

[hybridalien]

I Just want a acoustic with a tremolo (something different)

I already made some plans

I will try to build one

I will post pics when its done (if i find a way to do that)

Ibanez made a semi-hollow electric guitar with a floating tremolo for a while, which isn't too hard: the trem just gets mounted in the block inside the instrument (i.e. the block that makes it semi-hollow instead of true hollow).

I Just want a acoustic with a tremolo (something different)

I already made some plans

I will try to build one

I will post pics when its done (if i find a way to do that)

With an acoustic guitar, though, I think you'd end up with a very dead instrument if you actually mounted a floating tremolo in the top.

The problem I see, beyond possible structural and "how do you do it" issues in mounting a floating tremolo in a 2.5mm thick top, is that an average guitar top only weighs 300-600 grams but a floating tremolo (such as the Wilkinson/Gotoh trem) weighs 600+ grams itself. A Floyd Rose is probably even heavier, being so much more massive. If you add that much mass to the soundboard, it's going to have a very difficult time producing sound.

If you have to further bulk up the construction to include a block to mount the bridge in and another block to mount the tremolo springs in, you'll be adding even more weight. You could mount the spring-block on some sort of bar suspended from the sides to reduce the weight and minimize the parts attached directly to the soundboard, but if you do you'll essentially be harnessing the bridge to the sides via the springs, which will probably impede the soundboard's motion even further.

If you want acoustic sounds from a guitar with a floating tremolo bar, why not get electric saddle pickups like Carvin uses and install an "acoustic" pickup in an electric? You can get the saddle pickups for Fender-style, Wilkinson, and Floyd Rose tremolos, and probably more too.

Edited April 13, 2010 by hybridalien

[soapbarstrat]

Peavey Ecoustic ATS . Acoustic Electric Guitar with Tremelo. Bolt-on 25.5" scale neck. Bridge is wood, looks much like a regular acoustic bridge, but appears to have 2 fulcrum points (I'm looking at a catalog pic. Don't see a date on the catalog but Eddie sure has a full blown deal with Peavey at the time).

Maple top, poplar back. Rosewood bridge plate with Graphlon saddle. Ok, says here : Hardened steel 2-point fulcrum bridge plate. (so it's like a thin rosewood veneer stuck to a steel plate or something (???)

I hate to say a guitar sounds bad just by how it looks in a photo, but put this one in that file folder.

Heck, I think you'd likely get a better sound putting acoustic bronze strings on a Jackson soloist.

[hybridalien]

Can you tell me where can i find a pic of this guitar?

Peavey Ecoustic ATS . Acoustic Electric Guitar with Tremelo. Bolt-on 25.5" scale neck. Bridge is wood, looks much like a regular acoustic bridge, but appears to have 2 fulcrum points (I'm looking at a catalog pic. Don't see a date on the catalog but Eddie sure has a full blown deal with Peavey at the time).

Maple top, poplar back. Rosewood bridge plate with Graphlon saddle. Ok, says here : Hardened steel 2-point fulcrum bridge plate. (so it's like a thin rosewood veneer stuck to a steel plate or something (???)

I hate to say a guitar sounds bad just by how it looks in a photo, but put this one in that file folder.

Heck, I think you'd likely get a better sound putting acoustic bronze strings on a Jackson soloist.

[Moth]

I don't normally venture into this forum, because I don't have much to say about accoustics. However, this thread caught my eye!

A kahler flat mount trem would work. Its not a floating trem with knife edges, but it does do the same thing pretty much. I'm not sure how you'd mount it as I don't do much work with the inside of accoustics (I mostly work on the necks, frets, finishes and electronics), but if you were able to stabalize the body well enough to accept the added weight/tension/anchor point for the trem, it could probably work.

[edit]

it'd probably sound aweful though, because the resonance of the topwood would be killed by the giant hunk of metal stuck to it.

Edited April 14, 2010 by Moth

[billm90]

Peavey

I tried building one (tremelo) out of a classic guitar that was in ruins.

I removed the bridge

I cut a hole out under the bridge that was about the size of the strings wide x the width of the bridge. Maybe 3"x 1"

I put a wood block on the bottom of the bridge just like a strat bridge.

I put a block of wood in the body of the guitar to screw the springs into.

I screwed the springs into the block of wood on the bottom of the bridge.

I used mini hinges and attached the bridge back onto the guitar on the leading edge so you could only drop the pitch.

the result. it sucked.

When I tremed it down the strings would come off the bridge. It worked to a degree, maybe a little more then a bigsby.

I also had the nylon string type bridge, so I am sure a peg bridge might do better.

As far as tone changes... who knows. I had this acoustic so chopped up at that point, it was no where near what it once was.

[billm90]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBjqvLTOXvY

you tube has one

[Freddie Bummer]

Here´s an odd one: http://www.martinmusicguitar.com/products/...6&pid=30325