Scott Henderson Discussion

[vegasguitars]

Hi Mr. Scott Henderson,

I'm a guitar tech and builder here in Las Vegas (enjoyed your last two gigs here!) and am very interested in your opinion regarding Floyd Rose trems. Also, do you still use the BFTS system on your guitars?

Thanks very much - can't wait to see you next time you're in Las Vegas.

Neil Smith

https://neilsmithguitars.com
https://vegasguitars.com

[Scott Henderson]

Thanks for your support Neil - see you next time in Vegas!

Floyd Rose bridges stay in tune better than any other moving bridge so I can see their appeal, but most blues players (including me) think they sound thin. There's no block, and that's where a lot of the tone comes from on a strat, making up for the strings not mounted to the body as in a non-tremolo strat. Most of the guys using Floyd Rose bridges are playing with a ton of gain, so the tone of the bridge doesn't make as much of a difference as it would with cleaner blues tones.

Suhr stopped using the Feiten tuning system - I had it on my guitars for a few years and to be honest, I'm so out of tune most of the time that I never noticed a difference. Guitars have been out of tune forever and most of us get used to it. Listen to the Stones or Zeppelin - that music sounds great to me. On the other hand, I've hung out with Buzz and heard him play solo guitar. He uses a lot of triads, in many different inversions all over the neck, so I can see how being out of tune would totally mess up his style of playing.

[MarkLawrence]

Hi Scott,

I just heard about this replacement for a traditional trem which - if you believe the hype - is supposedly superior in action and tone... Whether that's really true, who knows? But it certainly looks interesting to me and I thought you might like to check it out if you haven't already.

https://vegatrem.com/

cheers,
Mark

[Scott Henderson]

Thanks for the info, but I've seen this style of bridge before and it won't replace the standard Fender six-screw bridge in tone, for many reasons. This bridge is more similar to the American Strat bridge, which is a two-post bridge. Suhr puts those on their guitars and one of my guitars has it. Like this bridge, it doesn't connect to the body in the same way a six-screw bridge does, the block is much thinner, the "block" saddles take a lot of fatness out of the tone - I could go on.

They keep trying to re-invent the wheel but I've never heard anything which sounds like the original, so I don't know why people don't just fix the few flaws in the original bridge. It's quite easy to do, and it doesn't change the tone one bit. Go to the INDEX of my message board and look up Fender bridge - the instructions on how to mod the original bridge to stay perfectly in tune are there.

[Thumberstrummer]

Hi Scott.
There’s another option for the 6 screws Fender type tremolo lovers out there.
I have an old AM Std Fender strat which has been my main axe for years. When I bought it new, back in 1990, coming from a Charvel Jackson which I sold to get the strat, I had just happened to hit your music and immediately being fascinated by your style and tone. Somewhere I read an interview where you said being sceptical about the two bolts tremolo systems, so I immediately decided to swap the stock tremolo mounted on all the AM std strats with a 6 screws one.
To make a long story short, I made such mod by myself and it was somehow crap, although I’ve kept using that guitar for years
After 30+ years I put back my hands on that guitar, buying a new high quality body and installing new hardware.
Surfing the web I’ve hit this British company, supplying both their own take of the 6 screws tremolo and some cool finishing kits.
I’ve just installed the tremolo, after weeks of hard work needed for finishing the body. This guy is superb, stays in tune and to me is definitely worth to give it a tray for all the 6 screws tremolo estimators out there:
https://www.wudtone.com/product/wudtone-complete-tremolo-system/
Fabio
_________________
Germino Club 40 plexi replica + EJ Strat w Suhr ML st. pups. I'm not asking for more so far (but... who knows...?)

[Scott Henderson]

There are several companies making clones of vintage 6-screw strat bridges, and they all sound different. I didn't like the ones I tried, but I can't offer an opinion about this one since I've never compared it to the original. I definitely wouldn't use that shim, whatever that's for. Also, I don't think 1018 cold steel is what Fender uses on their block, so that's gonna change the tone in some way, maybe make it brighter or darker.

The biggest mistake Fender made on the vintage bridge is that the six screw holes are too small - that's why it doesn't stay in tune. This company isn't mentioning that they fixed it, so that's a bad sign. Anyone who really knows strat bridges knows that's why they go out of tune. Also if you look closely, the bottom of the 6 screw heads are flat, but the holes in the plate are beveled - that makes no sense. It means much less contact between the screw head and the plate - no way that isn't going to affect the tone in a bad way.

Sorry, I remain skeptical and still think the best solution is to use the original bridge and fix its problems - very easy to do.