Maestro Vibrola question

[zinthek]

I'm quite interested in a 1970 SG Standard that I saw for sale. It's equipped with a Maestro Vibrola.

I have a guitar with a floyd rose tremolo at home and when you bend a string on a guitar like that, all the other strings go slightly out of tune. Very annoying in my opinion.

Does the Maestro Vibrola do this aswell?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out.

[NotAaliable]

Correct me if i'm mistaken but isn't the floyd rose supposed to prevent tuning problems so you can dive bomb all day it'll never go out of tune?

anyway, as far as i'm concerned the vibrola is very unstable, you can't go crazy with it.

It's for a soft tremolo unlike the floyd

I think you have a floating tremolo, like the ones on strats (which i have )

PS:I don't own a guitar with neither systems, so don't take what i said as 100% truth.

[zinthek]

Sorry perhaps I wasn't so clear.

I mean that when you bend a string on a floyd rose, all the other strings go slightly out of tune for as long as you're keeping that one string bent. When you release the string they go back in tune.

I know the vibrola isn't for going crazy on, not planning on doing that anyway, but this little inconvenience rather worries me though.

[NotAaliable]

Oh i get it

sorry

in that case i can't help you

[Rewddawg]

Your Floyd rose trem system needs adjustment 5 springs not quite sure what. I would have a professional set it up. Now the meastro trem is a blade on springs that do not do as much as a floyd rose. The maestro is not set up for serious trem work. Neither system should be going out of tune on other strings noticeably when you bend a string. Not enough to hear with the ear.

[BigKahune]

... Maestro Vibrola. I have a guitar with a floyd rose tremolo at home and when you bend a string on a guitar like that, all the other strings go slightly out of tune. Very annoying in my opinion. Does the Maestro Vibrola do this aswell?

 

All trems work the same, you move the arm to shorten or lengthen the string and thereby changing the pitch.

 

Returning to pitch after the bend is critical. Issues that affect this are: nut slots not cut wide enough for the strings causing a pinch point; strings binding at the saddles causing pinch points; tuning pegs not wound correctly causing string slippage, and with a trem like the Floyd that can really move the strings it's advisable to have locking tuners or a locking nut.

 

After a bend, pinch points keep the strings from returning to their tuned length. One mistake is getting a guitar setup for 9s and then switching to 10s or 11s without adjusting the nut slots - the thicker strings get pinched by the nut. Make sure the strings are wound correctly on the tuning pegs, setup the nut and saddle for the string gauge you're using, and use some lube (ie Big Bends Nut Sauce) on the nut slots and saddles. If your trem has springs, make sure they're adjusted properly.

 

I've used a few Maestros, never had any trouble with them. They work great as a trem, but they're not for divebombing like a Floyd).

[Rewddawg]

Big Kahune, I agree with everything you say. He said all the strings not being bent went out of tune. Wouldn't that be a prob with the floating bridge?

[tbonesullivan]

With any floating bridge, you will have bending issues. this is particularly maddening if you are bending to a chord with a double or triple stop. the other strings will go flat as you bend up on one string, because you have upset the balance between the springs and the strings. More springs can provide more of a buffer effect, but there is no way to fully avoid this on a floating bridge. this is, I believe, one of the reasons that EVH prefers his floyds to be bottomed out on the top of the guitar (no recessed cavity). This way you can avoid the problem with bending, though you lose the ability to use the tremolo to go up.

 

The Maestro is not the same type of bridge. It should not have any of these tuning issues that floating bridges do.

[BigKahune]

Big Kahune, I agree with everything you say. He said all the strings not being bent went out of tune. Wouldn't that be a prob with the floating bridge?

 

Ah yes. Thanks Rewddawg. Sorry if I confused you Zinthek. I see Tbonesullivan has you covered.

 

As Tbone said, the spring stretch of a floating bridge is the culprit on bends. The Maestro uses a piece of bent steel as a spring and it takes much more force to move it - so, no bending problem. In the pic you can see the Maestro's bent steel "spring" has three mounting holes which allows it to be screwed down to the guitar top - no coiled springs.

 

[zinthek]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

[ibis]

I have an Explorer with a vibrola. Very little drop in string tension of other strings when you bend a note. Its very civilised. Have even finished a song when a string broke! Try that on a strat! I'm pretty happy with it. Your SG will have less of a string angle at the nut than an explorer, so should be pretty stable.

One tip, if you go out of tune, before you resort to retuning, try a sharp pull-up on the whammy. Often puts the strings back in their correct place in the nut/other pinch points. Gets you out of trouble mid song!

Hope this helps.

[St James]

Having over 20 VINTAGE GUITARS, some are equipped with standard MAESTRO VIBROLA, and though I find it help full I prefer a BIGSBY.

 

The BIGSBY does what the MAESTRO was supposed to do and seems to do the job much better.

A few of my SG's have the SIDEWAY'S PULL VIBROLA but as we know that was a terrible design...always getting stuck and bending pieces.

 

The BIGBSY IMHO does exactly what you wanted the MAESTRO TO DO BUT DOES IT RIGHT.

 

They are meant to give ya the sound in LINK WRAY's RUMBLE.

 

I have NO idea why anyone would put a FLOYD ROSE, or one of those screwy START type of Vibrato's though is a whammy bar even in the same class as a BIGSBY or MAESTRO.

 

I do wish that they offered em on SG's today....why you can get a MAESTRO VIBROLA on a $400.00 EPIPHONE but not on a $4000.00 GIBSON I have no idea.

 

I also like the look of a BIGSBY on ES and LES PAUL models.....the MAESTRO was good for SG's, FIREBIRDS, MELODY MAKERS , LP JR'S

 

JUST MY 2 CENTS

 

ST JAMES

[L5Larry]

The simple reply to this question is YES.

 

ALL "floating" tremolos will detune all other strings when a change in tension is exerted by bending (or breaking) a single string and upsetting the equilibrium of the system. This is elementary physics. I won't bore you with the math, but it is defined by the theorem of "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". In fact, theoretically, bending a string on any guitar, even with a stop-tailpiece, strings-through body, or bottomed out tremolo will detune all the other strings when bending, due to changing the tension equilibrium between the string tension pulling in one direction and the "opposite and equal" tension of the neck pulling in the other direction. Just as breaking a string on any guitar will throw the remaining strings slightly out of tune.

 

A locking nut or roller bridge has no affect on this "law of science". There are certainly guitar construction methods and materials, as well as tremolo/vibrato designs, that are less susceptible to this phenomena, but nobody beats the laws of science.

 

Back to the question at hand, having only owned Maestro and Strat type systems, I found the Maestro type to be a little better in these regards than the "Synchronized Tremolo" of the Stratocaster.

[jfine]

I've had a couple of SG's with Maestros, one a '67 that I bought new, the other a '65 that I had in the '80's. I had some tuning issues with the '67, but I could get better vibrato on that one by shaking the neck than by using the bar! The '65 was much better, and I had no problems on either with bends or broken strings changing the tuning on the others. Because it's not a floating system, it's not prone to the one-string-affects-all-the-others problems that Floyds or floating Strat systems have, but it doesn't have the range of pitch fluctuation that they do either. For light wobbles and half-step dips like what you'd do with a Bigsby, they're fine, but you have to keep your nut and bridge saddles lubricated--Big Bends Nut Sauce or good old pencil lead work fine, and Maestros are much easier to change strings on than Bigsbys are.