Paul Gilbert and whammy bars???

[endor]

I dont get it, why doesn't he use whammy bars, ive seen him with floyd rose guitars but theres no whammy bar, im not tryinmg to sound like a jackass and say that all guiatrs should have whammy bars but, i just want to know why he doesn't.

[j.arledge]

i think he said the only reason he used the floyd was to get good vibrotos and he said he got to where he could just do the vibrotos with his hand , plus the fixed bridge adds more sustaine and helps out tone a little

[mi2tom]

^^^yes he prefer's using vibtrato with his fingers

[al]

well at the clinic he said he doesnt liek the hassle of them anymore.. for alt tunings and he prefares vibrato with his fingers which is why he stopped with the whammy bars...

at the clinic he said he uses to use them then he stopped for a while cause he didnt have a tech for some gigs and he didnt have time to do it or somethin,

but after a while he got a guitar with a whammy bar or what not and done a few divebombs, and i quote he said "im not steve vai" ! so yeah, he's paul gilbert

anyways its along those lines...

[j.arledge]

not having a tech for a gig or two would suck . It is hard (for me at least) to get my trems neutral so they function right . I know that i knocked my lo-pro a few times because i could never get smooth action out of it . It was always stiff and i had spent forever on it . ended up taking an original edge that was in better shape and putting it on the same guitar and the worn lo-pro on the other and finally after of put it on the other guitar i got it at neutral and i have to say that i think i may like it more then the original edge.

I could definatly see why paul wouldn't want to mess with the floyd though.

(btw way when you do get an ibanez trem at nuetral take a marker or somthing like that and make a line on the trem that is parallel to the body while the bridge is at neutral . It makes life so much more easier)

[RoadStarII]

I used to be all about the floyd rose. But then I got an RG 7321 with a hard tail. then the other day I went to play my RG with a floayd and it bugged the hell out of me

[Vegas_Blues]

I played jems and Universe guitars exclusively for over 10 years.....now I bought an Eric johnson signature strat, and I am converted, I will never ever go back. Had NO IDEA what I was missing....

Anyhow, I can't stand floyd roses...not only are they a Pain in the ASS to work with, but they rob your tone (BIG time) and make it near impossible to do double stop bends......

[Logic]

OK, This is heavy...
Floyd Rose Bridges are really kewl!
I can understand people's concerns but once you can work on it they are fine. I have had to fix them for people alot. I have even walked into music stores and had to work on them right in front of the owner. They wanted to sell the guitar but no one would play the thing cause it wasn't in tune! I have seen them with the trem pulled almost out of the body due to people trying to tune them. The time I worked on the trem at a music store was in Lake Tahoe Ca. The owner of the store paled when I said I wanted to check it out. It was all messed up so I told him "Hand me a screw driver and an allen set". Shredded the thing and put it back together in about fifteen minutes. After that it worked great and stayed in tune. I told the guy to not let anyone mess with it and that is was a nice guitar, Told him it would sell fast now. I said all that to say this, I can understand peoples gripes. But I am not ready to give up my trem yet.

[1118916GB]

I think the Floyd Rose is a godsend. Its no big deal for me to tune. The floyd rose is always in perfect tune. Even if a string breaks, I'd replace it and it was in perfect tune. Plus, double stops are hard to do if you do it like a hard tail. Just bend both strings and get it in tune. I do double stops just fine. Plus with a whammy bar you can practically immitate the human voice doing glissandos. And you can get low notes instead of detuning and such. I'd prefer Floyd Rose anyday for solos.

[j.arledge]

as much as floyds are a pain i couldn't imagin not having them . I have owned quite a few fixed birdge guitars too .

[Vegas_Blues]

Plus, double stops are hard to do if you do it like a hard tail. Just bend both strings and get it in tune. I do double stops just fine.

BUT....they are out of tune....I never said you couldnt do them....but its near impossible to get them to be in tune, and that KILLS my ear. The only way I found to get them somewhat close, is to push on the trem a little to compensate.....and that's not cool if you bend double stops while tapping a note as I do.....
It's definately fine that you like Floyd's, just not my cup-o-tea....I like my guitars to be rich and full of tone, and SIMPLE...

[wolfv11]

I love floyds, i got one on my custom red guitar my father built, however i do prefer the fixed bridges as well for sustain and sweeter tone, so i regularly switch back and forth between my two main axes, a yamaha aes620 and a custom beast, i find that i start doing very predictable things with whammys and so im not consistantly on them.

[1118916GB]

Plus, double stops are hard to do if you do it like a hard tail. Just bend both strings and get it in tune. I do double stops just fine.

BUT....they are out of tune....I never said you couldnt do them....but its near impossible to get them to be in tune, and that KILLS my ear. The only way I found to get them somewhat close, is to push on the trem a little to compensate.....and that's not cool if you bend double stops while tapping a note as I do.....
It's definately fine that you like Floyd's, just not my cup-o-tea....I like my guitars to be rich and full of tone, and SIMPLE...

They'd be out of tune if you do it like a hard tail I knw that. I just bend each string a little to get it in tune. If you practice it you'll get it. I don't have trouble with it and I'll know for sure if it is out of tune even by like 5 cents or something.

[rythm_Futur]

Its just dosen't really lend itself to gilberts style of playing. I have blocked of my tremelo and im not really missing it. It forces you to rely on creating a real melody/solo rather then masking it with diveboms and flutters.

Steve is very guilty of that esspecially on G3 live in tokyo. his solos in the G3 jam were awfull, To much wanking with the bar. On other ocasions steve uses it in his songs brilliantly.

Gilbert dosen't use it cause he dosen't want to for whatever reason. (i guess I dont really know)

[1118916GB]

Cuz he sucked at it.


J/k. I respect ur opinion. But I use the whammy bar for glissandos and such.