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I've got a Candy Red (rosewood board) Malmsteen Strat on the way (here are the SPECS if you are unfamiliar with this particular model.

It comes with the American Vintage bridge/vibrato, w/ Fender vintage quot;Fquot; tuners...and a brass nut...

Anyone have any setup tips/rules/suggestions/tricks for this bridge? Number of springs, how far off the bridge, setting intonation, how best to keep in tune, etc. etc. (I'm sure I'll be making use of the quot;Big bends nut saucequot; I bought for my last strat...but I never used the bar much)

I've had little exprience working with the vintage trems...have some experience with the new modern bridges.

Also whats the best way to get the arm to be quot;loosequot;?...i.e. so it swings away freely when done using it. I see alot of pro's using the bar and it falls away and swings like a pendulum when they are done with it. But the only way I've ever been able to get one to be loose like that is by not having the bar screwed all the way in..and then I'm afraid I will break the bar or strip the threads. Is there a secret?

Thanks in advance.

typically the way I keep it is BARELY floating at all with 4 springs holding on pretty tight. I need to get some of that big bends nut sauce, as my string bind just a little and i typically just can't use the trem. maybe I'll just snag a graphite nut or something, but anyway. I typically just keep it barely floating so that it's easy to do the really nice smooth vibrato.

Also for the loose, I just screw it in all the way, and then unscrew it one turn and that usually keeps it pretty loose while assuring me that it's in there far enough not to be an issue of stripping out or breaking

just lube all the moving parts, as well as the saddles where the string crosses over

as far as the trem height, I think it's a bit of personal taste where you like it, and the height works together with the claw adjustment screws in the back, as well as the truss rod adjustment, amp; # of springs

Fender's set up guide is a good place to start

also, Rene Martinez, SRV's tech, had a good article on how he set up Stevie's, which was pretty good, because it had to take a lot of abuse - sorry I don't have that bookmarked, though

Srats are great guitars!!! Welcome to the club. The vintage bridge is my preference. I own 3 Strats and they all have the vintage bridge. Here is my preference for setting them up.

1. Set the bridge to rest on the body. This will eliminate your ability to raise the bar up to raise the pitch, but the guitar will stay in tune when you break a string. It will also give you better sustain than having the bridge float. I also prefer having 4 springs. This will make it harder to push the bar down, but it will also stay down when you bend strings (Jimi Hendrix used 4 springs). As far as keeping the whammy arm loose put a little oil or lithium grease on the end of the arm. Run it in and out a few times and it should roll back the way you want it.

2. Setting the saddles on a Strat is a little more involved than setting string height on a tunomatic. Fenders FB radius is usually more curved than a Gibson and it tends to work best if you can get the saddles to follow the radius of the fingerboard. In essence this means the strings in the middle of the neck will be a little higher than the strings on the end.

3. Intonation is going to be set pretty much the way you would set intonation an any other guitar. Remember this basic rule when you check tha e harmonic quot;Flat go forwardquot;

4. I prefer higher action on my Strats. I have 2 Strats with a 9.5quot; radius and one with a compound radius neck. I set the action a little higher than 1/8quot; at the 12th fret. Sometimes higher. Higher action will give you better note clarity and definition. Some guitars will simply perform better with higher action than others, some perform really well with low action, so this to a degree needs to be evaluated by the individual player to decide what works best for your style of playing and the type of music you play. Shredders like low action.... I am a Bluse player and I also play slide, so I get much better responsw with higher action.

A few bits of advice to help keep it in tune better is to only get 1 or 2 winds on the tuning machines. Replace the string trees with less friction style trees. I use graphite tress, saddles and nuts and my guitar stays in tune quite well.

I've got a Hipshot Tremsetter and two springs on mine. It's pretty snug. I don't use the bar much, the nut is cut well, and it has new tuners, so I don't have any tuning problems.

A strat bridge is great for intonating. Just adjust the screws at the end til you get it right.

As for the bar dropping out of place, keeping it slightly unscrewed is the only way I know of. I haven't had any problems with it, but I save my heavy trem abuse for my Jackson so I haven't really put the strat trem to the test.

I agree with everything said here thus far. Strat bridges are the easiest to intonate and set up IMO.

Have fun with the scalloped fretboard!


Originally Posted by JeffBI see alot of pro's using the bar and it falls away and swings like a pendulum when they are done with it.

I can't speak for the vintage trems, but the new quot;Fender Deluxe 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo with Pop in Armquot; can freely swing around 360-degrees once it's popped in.

I keep all my Strat Trems fully floating (about 75% down and 25 up, I like to be able to pull the low E up to a perfect F# or G), and I have found that most guys HATE a Strat set up that way...if you have a heavy palm must you go sharp, you can't really do double stops, and bending causes lots of tuning issues, but I've got it where I can keep it in tune just fine.

The point is, I can't offer you any tips or help since I keep my Strats unplayable as far as most guys are concerned, but I just wanted to say

Congrats!!!

I hope you like it!

New gear rocks!!!

Thanks everyone for the info! Great stuff! I've got Dan Erlwhatever's books. I believe I remember seeing some info on vintage strat bridges there, will take a look-see when I get home.

I probably will set it up flush with/against the body. I do have a heavy palm, and have always had issue with most bridges that float barring the PRS designs (: shrug I'd LIKE to be able to pull a little sharp on it, but I can't stand going out of tune when doing chugga chugga palm mutes.

probably should go with 3 springs for quot;softerquot; feel to the bar?..to do the the classic Jeff Beck and Gary Moore type subtle vibrato stuff?

I wonder if there was an issue with my last Strat (American Series)? I had to unscrew the bar several turns to get it to swing freely, to the point where it looked like half the threads were visible above the mounting hole.

Thank you again for the info...and more info/tips is/are always appreciated (love this place, lots of knowledge floatin around)


Originally Posted by JeffBprobably should go with 3 springs for quot;softerquot; feel to the bar?..to do the the classic Jeff Beck and Gary Moore type subtle vibrato stuff?

I've found that if you have the bridge resting against the body (the claw screwed in) you'll have a heavier feel, than if it is floating, so to compensate you might want to pull out a spring.

Luke

If tour going to keep it floating it will take a little while to get used to, but a couple days and you won't know the difference.

so whats the scalloping like? ive never been able to try a guitar with it...

Here's something I do on my strat's vintage bridge, it seems to vastly improve performance:
Using your tremolo arm, pull the bridge back flush with the body. Loosen all six screws located at the front edge of the bridge plate. Raise them so that all of the screws measure approximately 1/16 above the top of the bridge plate. Finally, tighten the two outside screws back down until they are flush with the top of the bridge plate. The bridge will now pivot on the outside screws, leaving the four inside screws in place for bridge stability.

Thats with three springs, one straght, two diagoal, floating bridge.

So its like a vintage 2-point tremolo....sorta. cool idea though.

im planning on getting a tremsetter as well, i've seen one axe where it worked perfectly

but yeah - since i've gotten my '57 RI (a strat, alas ) i've upgraded most of the string contact points- graphtec nut, ferraglide saddles, i plan to switch out the string trees and mebbe the trem block in the future

and a related plug for martinsixstringcustoms - i bought the above mods from him, he's plenty polite, fast and efficient

congrats on the malmsteen strat! i'd love to try a scalloped board someday..

tom