TPS Strat Part 2

Strat54

Did you see the new video? Look forward to the next because it looks like Mick has jumped the 2 year wait list for a set of the much hallowed Ron Ellis pickups and he's fitting those to old blue. 
Interesting to hear that fitting the Callaham made barely any difference to its tone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8VrLWnW8Pk&t=792s

TimmyO

iirc the AVRI already have a steel sustain block so that doesn't surprise me 

Strat54

TimmyO said:

iirc the AVRI already have a steel sustain block so that doesn't surprise me 

Well yes of course but not like Callahams...lol 

Quote:

All of our tremolo blocks are machined from cold rolled non-leaded U.S. steel and are threaded for 10-32 english threaded arms.
When the vibrato bridge was first designed in 1954, it had a machined steel inertia block to give the instrument the required sustain and harmonic content. Over the years, manufacturers have continuously made this part more inferior in order to cut costs. We manufacture an exact replacement block for stripped original bridges'
'

mburekenge

I thought it sounded quite different tbh.

Jez6345789

I have to say in my mind there were clear differences and a certain fidelity to the Callahan although I would not be unhappy with the sound of the Fender it sounds like a Strat but if you are moving up then the extra precision feel and pushin arm are all plus points. 

As for Jumping the 2 years list for Ron Ellis pickups, I think that is just rewards for the beating he gets around here for putting himself on You Tube playing what was it last time guitar mag blues LOL. 

I will stick with my 19.99 Wilkinson Unrolled Steel trem seems to do the job sounds better than a pucker Fender one I tried in the parts caster. These things are simple old school engineering so not too much to go wrong,  

clarkefan

mburekenge said:

I thought it sounded quite different tbh.

Yeah so did I.  There's a difference in the top end, the Fender is edgeier/Callagham is softer, sort of thing.  

I'm not good at describing sounds

DrJazzTap

I fitted a callaham trem, I'm sure it's a great trem. But Im not sure the £120 trem is worth the extra.

LastMantra

I didn't really notice any difference other than subtle changes in the way he played. Volume mainly. 

richardhomer

clarkefan said:

mburekenge said:

I thought it sounded quite different tbh.

Yeah so did I.  There's a difference in the top end, the Fender is edgeier/Callagham is softer, sort of thing.  

I'm not good at describing sounds

Bizarrely the reverse to me! The Fender bridge sounded less present/mellower to my ears...

mrkb

Steel is all very similar when loaded with small vibration type loads, so the “cold rolled steel” effect is purely marketing bollocks. Any difference will be due to slight stiffness differences due to saddle thickness or differences in geometry.

sweepy

The Callaham sounded more balanced and even at first listen. The stuff about the machined front of the base plate is frankly bollocks as the leading edge does not touch the body at all, the Rabbit Hole continues

dindude

richardhomer said:

clarkefan said:

mburekenge said:

I thought it sounded quite different tbh.

Yeah so did I.  There's a difference in the top end, the Fender is edgeier/Callagham is softer, sort of thing.  

I'm not good at describing sounds

Bizarrely the reverse to me! The Fender bridge sounded less present/mellower to my ears...

That’s what I heard too, it was fairly pronounced. I didn’t expect much of a dirrence tbh, but I think every little thing adds up. Rabbit hole indeed.

crunchman

Didn't Mick say in the video that the original bridge had titanium saddles?  If there is difference, how much of it is the new bridge and block, and how much is the saddles?

Niallseroreilly

Its important to lubricate a new bridge in snake oil to notice the tonal differences.

Sassafras

I've replaced my trem block with a depleted uranium one which has made a night & day difference to the tone and almost endless sustain.

stickyfiddle

I have a Callaham on my Strat. It's definitely miles better than the Wilkinson unit I'd used before. I doubt it sounds significantly different to a Fender CS level bridge. 

That said, one of the major things for me is that it's just really well engineered, which means it's functionally very very good. The nylon insert to stop arm wobble is perfect. When you actually use the thing, the hardened steel screws and accurately-machined holes mean it returns to pitch very well (assuming a good setup everywhere else). 

grappagreen

Like all of these things (engineering improvements aside) if you think it’s better, and that makes you play better, it is better.. imho

mudslide73

I've had one for about 8 years in my MJT and it's the only bridge that's ever been on the guitar so I've nothing to compare it with. Alongside other Strats it's a bit more focused in the upper mids but that could be a combination of many factors. The mechanical side of things I'm a big fan of. The action for dips and wobble is brilliant imo - only my Floyd guitars are more stable. 

fftc

Niallseroreilly said:

Its important to lubricate a new bridge in snake oil to notice the tonal differences.

Can it just be ordinary snake oil or do you need to use the artisan crafted, hand cold pressed, triple filtered snake oil?

Three-ColourSunburst

LastMantra said:

I didn't really notice any difference other than subtle changes in the way he played. Volume mainly. 

That's something I noticed happens a lot on that pedal show channel - when they (especially Dan) play through something they believe is the bees knee's they often really dig in and play much more dynamically, then go 'that sounds great', whilst just doing a bit of half-assed noodling though something they believe is inferior. This was particularly noticeable on a comparison of value and solid state amps that they did. Classic confirmation bias.

rsvmark

This is a serious question. Why can’t you bung some sort of sonic spectrum analyser thingamajig on it and actually analyse the pure signal being produced? Then you could have perfect analysis and A B different items. If kemper can build an amp that digitally captures the characteristics of an amp so that it’s hard/difficult/impossible to tell the difference surely science could help the analysis?