Noisy Tremolo Springs... What do you do?

[Black Plaid]

I am curious why I hear it on one guitar with trem and not another. Same trem system, same scale length. I guess I should be thankful lol

I am thinking it's all going to have to do with resonant frequencies. The different alloys of the springs and their tension is going to change this, the number of springs you are using, the wood of the guitar itself. The tension of the particular type of strings you use, ambient temperature, air quality index, and last, but not least, local solar ejecta.

 

[316ms]

I am thinking it's all going to have to do with resonant frequencies. The different alloys of the springs and their tension is going to change this, the number of springs you are using, the wood of the guitar itself. The tension of the particular type of strings you use, ambient temperature, air quality index, and last, but not least, local solar ejecta.

Makes sense on the resonance, but 2 guitars with identical scale length and trem systems. One is korina one is mahogany, and it's kind of rare of prs trems from.my experience, maybe someone chimes in that's experiencing too. Thanks

 

[GADonis]

I have a Charvel Model 6 with a Jackson/Floyd bridge. The ringing from the springs was very noticeable. I put a piece of foam between the springs and the body. That eliminated the ringing and it stiffened up the bridge action slightly which I like. It was somewhat less than adding an additional spring which was too stiff for me.

 

[88prs]

If you go to a pet store they sell clear tubing that's the exact size to fit inside each spring. just cut to length and shove inside each spring. Works great

 

[Tonart]

there were many who emphatically denied any other influence on a guitar sound besides strings vibrating.

LOL precisely. What makes these people assume a string is tied to absolute fixed immovable ends?

We assume a person jumping on the ground is only moving up and down, but to an observer outside the earth that person is whizzing round and round, plus moving up and down at the same time.

Same with a string. Why do people assume movement inside the string is the only movement that can exist, when the entire string itself is sitting on a surface that is vibrating up and down and sideways? If we were ants sitting on the guitar body and nut, it would be hell of an earthquake. And the relative movement between the two ants would be substantial given the length of the neck.

A string is just supposed to be conveniently impervious to all that? I don’t think so.

 

[Tonart]

There’s also this phenomenon I call the “interchangeability of the imitator and the imitated”.

Most would call me crazy if I said I can make paper sound like a lion roaring. Yet that is exactly what is happening when someone watches the Lion King. The paper cone in the speaker has imitated the lion. Totally different objects, sounding the same. The imitator and the imitated are interchangeable.

So I dare say, if I forced a metal string to vibrate to the same characteristic of a piece of wood, the metal string would sound like a piece of wood. Well guess what happens when one end of a string is anchored onto a wooden neck, and the other end anchored onto a wooden body?

 

[merciful-evans]

Not sure why you buy guitar with a trem if your going to block it?

It' can be harder to get what you want than you might suppose. The spec I wanted from a guitar pretty much didnt exist (in one guitar). However the nearest contenders nearly all had trems. Believe me when I say I grew very tired of blocking them!

 

[merciful-evans]

So I dare say, if I forced a metal string to vibrate to the same characteristic of a piece of wood, the metal string would sound like a piece of wood. Well guess what happens when one end of a string is anchored onto a wooden neck, and the other end anchored onto a wooden body?

Honestly; to my ears, just the same as when you use a string on a non-wood neck and a non-wood body.

 

[CyFan4036]

I am curious why I hear it on one guitar with trem and not another. Same trem system, same scale length. I guess I should be thankful lol

I think the frequency has to be just right to hear it. I had one Strat that sounded like it had a reverb built in to it. I actually really like it!

 

[shimmilou]

Interesting reading if you can find it, an interview with Ted McCarty in which he describes some experiments that they did at Gibson in his early years there. Of note was one that involved mounting a guitar string on a piece of railroad track, in which he describes “too much sustain”, because the track was so stiff and didn't vibrate like wood does. If nothing else, to those that can’t discern by ear the different tonal qualities that different woods give to the sound of a guitar, surely the differences in sustain are clearly evident, and that the material used does affect how the strings vibrate, and in turn affects tone.

 

[littlebadboy]

I placed a cut sheet of foam behind the springs and it improved. When I change strings, I'd like to replace the pickup springs with rubber tubings. But, I really like the pickup heights now coz its already at its sweet spot and I don't want to lose it.