in one of dimebag's articles, he talks about setting your bridge up to be able to rise/dive deeper....just wondering how exactly i would do that, and if theres any potential problems to doing so (atm i can drop/rise about 1 and a half or so)

http://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/...04.dimebag.html

For you to be able to able to do this your bridge needs to be floating so you can yank the bar up as well as push it down. It's up to you to decide how you set your bridges up, but just so you know, I have my Floyd set up so that I'm able to pull a note on the G string up about two-and-and-half steps.

Ok. I figured he was talking about how to do it in the article, and you asked about that, but reading the article cleared it alot.

What ultimately limits your bridge is the body of your guitar. If you're willing to route out wood from the body, then you can get very far. But you probably aren't.
I figure higher string tension gives you greater whammy range because more tension requires less stretching (caused by pulling the bar) to get to the same pitch as lower-tension strings. But that will of course require you to pull harder on the bar.

The only problems I can see are to do with feel. You might not feel comfortable with higher tension on your strings.

I really think there should be some other way to adjust whammy range, but I can't come up with anything.

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hmmm, makes you wonder if his signatures come like that, with the wood routed out just so you can whammy that high, or if he only does it himself to his own guitars.

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well in the way he talks about it...there seems to be a way to adjust it without having to dig wood

i'll have to read the article, cause that would indeed kick alot of ass.

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the article doesnt say shit about it except what i quoted, it's about harmonics not bridges...he jusnt mentions it in one paragraph

Are your trems blocked by the wood? I can't pull my trem to touch the wood either way. I can pull up 6 frets (from 0 to 6 on sixth string) and dive down 12 (12 to 0 on 6th) with my axe tuned to Eb using 0.011 strings. My arms are too weak to go further (while playing). It's a 25.5" scale guitar with an Original Floyd Rose 2 in it.

What gauges/scale lengths/tunings do you guys use?

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well ill be honest im afraid to go deeper than 1 and a half(just got the guit i dont wanna fuck it up )
what i think that might be doable (which is why im asking is maybe make it lower faster.... for example if i lower it 1cm itd dive deeper than right now and so on, is that possible to do?

"im afraid to go deeper than 1 and a half" nothing to be ashamed of, young one! Actually, it takes quite a lot of logical reasoning before I can get myself to dive 12 frets. The neck won't break though, maybe the strings. Though you really shouldn't pull/push more than you feel comfortable with.

Getting more pitch change from less push/pull should be achieved by going to a thicker guage of strings. This will make the distance that the trem arm needs to travel to raise a note say 5 frets smaller than with thinner gauge strings, but you'll still have to pull as hard.
I'm 99% sure of this (it applies to bending, that's for sure), and theoretically a bend is the same thing as a pull-up on the bar. If anyone can prove me wrong though, please do.
So try thicker strings.

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im still on the default .09...havent had time to change em to .10 and im too lazy to adjust the stuff for it(gotta readjust the bridge when changing gauge right?)
think ill just wait till i send the guit in to get the action lowered and ask him to change the strings at the same time....gonna be free anyways(ill ask him for the bridge adjustment thing too at the same time)

i don't think you need to route any wood.......that's crazy. all you have to do is adjust the tremolo angle so it leans toward the bridge pickup more. you get more rise, but at the expense of drop.

http://www.jemsite.com/tech/t_1setup.htm#step1

make your angle slightly raised above neutral.

go in the back, and loosen the tremolo claw screws.



i think that's a bit easier than switching to a thicker gauge. with a thicker gauge, you then might have to adjust the intonation, add another spring or 2 in the back to counteract the extra tension, and possibly the trussrod.
that's if you want low action and avoid fret buzz.

plus with the thicker gauge, you'll feel it in your fingers, it'll be harder to bend and press down the strings.

but then again, if you're tremolo angle is too above neutral, you're action will be affected then. but try it, and if it doesn't work, then yeah, you gotta try something else.

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Since the problem here is strength/guts to pull the bar, and not physical limitations, I can't see how the bridge angle would affect things. Bridge angle *would * help if the bridge did hit the wood. But adjusting the angle should have no effect in this case, since string tension will be the same (practically). What is said in that article is (the way I understand it) that you can pull the arm further, not that you can pull the notes further.

btw, atifman, you're the same atifman as the guy who asked about coil splitting on the projectguitar forums, right?

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uh, one of us is confused. probably me. lemme just lay down some facts, not sure if it has to do with the "strength/guts" issue ( ):

the article says he's able to pull a note on his G-string up 5 frets (2.5 steps). that means when he rings the G, pulls his bar up far as he can, he gets a C.

if you change the bridge angle (say above neutral), the whammy bar can travel up farther before stopping. the farther you pull the bar, the farther you can pull the note.

says so on that link i gave earlier:


if you don't believe me, try it and prove me wrong


also, there ain't nothing to be afraid of when pulling up or down on your floyd. pull down you bar to the body of the guitar, and pull it up as far as you can. the worst you can do is pretty much break your string (the chances of that are greatly reduced if you stretch your string before it locking it down), however, it does cause wear on the bridge. which could also be remedied too.



no, that's someone completely different

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what is it that limits this? if it's not the wood, then it must be "strength/guts".



once again, what is it that stops it?



yes, but more/less tension on the strings (which could be acquired by using thicker/thinner strings) makes the same distance traveled by the whammy bar tip equal more/less pitch change.



by "amount of pull-up", do they mean distance traveled by whammy bar tip, or do they mean pitch change? there would be no logical explanation for "the pitch-change option", and there most certainly is a logical explanation for "the d.t.b.w.b.t. option", so I'm sure it is the latter.




what can happen is:
1. String breakage
2. Spring breakage/slackening
3. Knife edge damage (not probably, except for very bad licensed copies)
Of which only 3 is anything to be afraid of. The other two are of course pains in the ass, but nothing that will be expensive to fix (new string = $3, new spring = $1-5).

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aherm im not that skinny, it's not strength limitation

i havent had time to ask the guitar tech. at dan's (he's away for one more week anyways)...

oh uhm sidenote...cant seem to get the dime scream :/ it just sounds like a regular harmonic getting pulled up...theres no super big pitch difference...bah :/

the string could hit the fret so it "frets out", or it could hit the pickup, or it hits the wood. i don't really think "strength/guts" is an issue, i think the majority of guitar players aren't "too weak" or "afraid"


i don't disagree with you there....



they meant distance. which gives you more range to increase the note. it won't however, affect the rate of pitch change per distance traveled on whammy bar (which would be changed by thicker/thinner strings like you said)



yep, except here, you could buy individual strings for less than a dollar.

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First of all, I'm going to say one thing. I'm stupid. That said, lets move on, shall we?



True. I guess I just didn't think about how low action some ppl use. I myself has got 0.05" under the string at the 1st fret, and about 0.1" at the 24th. And I can pull up 6 frets before the strings hit the pickups (which are approximately at the same height as the fretboard).



As I said, I'm stupid.......


Yeah, I was overpricing the most expensive stuff we've got here, just to be on the safe side (if anyone as picky as me would have seen a too low price, he would have started bitching about that).

Conclusion:
I was partially WRONG!!!! Yeah, string gauges DO affect the whammy range, but the way atifman suggested is easier (and if you like the strings you have, much better). I can't believe how incredibly stupid I am sometimes.

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