Steel Trem Blocks?

[Stan Malinowski]

I know there are believers that insist that steel trem blocks (like very vintage Strats) have superior sustain characteristics over the modern blocks made of zinc. Callaham has made a bit of an indusrtry from offering replacement steel blocks.

This led me to a couple of questions:

1) Do TAs have steel trem blocks (I just haven't gotten around to finding a magnet to test it myself)?

2) Anyone have an opinion on steel versus "zinc" blocks from a tone/sustain standpoint?

I put a Callaham steel trem on the Koa/Alder Strat Jack Gretz just put together for me. I think the sustain & resonance is great - but I never had a normal zinc block in the guitar for comparison.

[joe1962]

I have the Gotoh 1088 trems on both of my Grosh Retro Classics. They have the zinc block, and I tried putting Callaham blocks in both of them. The guitars were a little louder and brighter acoustically after the change, but to me they seemed to sound "harder" and less resonant after the change. The geometry chage with the Callaham blocks made them play stiffer as well, and the size limited travel as the Callaham block would hit the trem wall sooner. After A/Bing a few time just to make sure I was right, I wound up selling the Callaham blocks and going back to the stock zinc, which (to me) make the guitars play better and sound warmer and more "vintage". I'm sure there are a lot of players who would like the Callaham blocks but in my Grosh guitars they weren't for me.

[Stan Malinowski]

Joe,

That leads to another interesting question - is there a true difference between the "bent saddles" of the 1088 design and the "flat block" saddles used on the Anderson?

[joe1962]

Originally posted by Stan Malinowski
Joe,

That leads to another interesting question - is there a true difference between the "bent saddles" of the 1088 design and the "flat block" saddles used on the Anderson?

I'm sure there is a difference, but without trying both on the same guitar it's hard to say exactly what the difference would be. I have the Anderson (Fishman?) trem on my Hollow Drop Top. I like the feel of it and the guitar sounds great, but I have to admit I prefer the slightly wider string spacing on the Gotoh 1088 or a vintage Fender Bridge.

[Stan Malinowski]

I know this will sound stupid, but from a comfort stanpoint I prefer the Anderson (Fishman) Trem with the flat block saddles. With the vintage style bent saddles the height adjustment screws always seem to extend far enough above the saddle to be annoying to my hand. Yes, I'm one of those guys whose rests the side of his palm on the trem when playing. I have actually gotten cut a few times on the screws of the bent saddles. On the first couple of bent saddles setups I had I even went so far as to gring down the screws so they would be flush with the saddles. The flat block saddles don't present the same problem to me.

[tom]

i'm with you stan on the screws sticking up through the saddles. i have never loved the sound of the bent saddles. the bent saddles on the wilkinson bridge sound like a banjo to me. i like the sound of the fishman saddles the best. thay are steel, and they have a bunch of material removed from the bottom side which makes them lighter and less massive. i have grown to like the steel block. i used to prefer the duller zinc, but find that the steel is livelier. i do probably cut my treble a bit on the amp now. you have to be willing to adjust the rest of your gear to enable the best of some new gear to come out. some guys tell us, and i'm not picking on anybody here, " but i like my treble control to be on 7". if you're not willing to turn some knobs, you may miss just the thing were thought you were looking for.

[joe1962]

I'll agree with both of you about the screws sticking out of the saddles. I've shimmed Strat necks before just to get the neck to the right angle so the saddles could be set up without the screws sticking up. At the same time I don't always rest my hand on the bridge when I play so it probably isn't as big a issue for me as it is for some.

Maybe I should expand a bit on my steel vs. zinc block comments as I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea from what I said. I've always been a vintage nut and even had a couple of old guitars back when the average person could still afford them. I've always had a preference for trem bridges with the old style bent saddles and steel blocks on a Strat because nothing else ever felt or sounded quite right to me. I got into the boutique guitars because I was having a hard time finding a Strat that I was totally happy with, even after trying some of the higher end offerings from Fender. Anyway, when I got the Grosh guitars I liked them a lot but the gearhead in me drove me to try the steel blocks to get that extra 5% of tone. It actually surprised me that I prefered the zinc blocks on the Groshs, as it seemed to go against everything I thought was right. I tore the guitars apart a couple of times swapping the blocks, and even recorded some samples of them set up each way. In the end I slightly prefered the tone and especially prefered the feel of the zinc blocks, so that's what stayed in them. I'll agree that both guitars were a little louder with the steel blocks, but they also played tighter (with the same floating setup) and had a hardness to the attack that seemed to be softened slightly by the zinc. I'm sorry to ramble on but I want to make it clear to anyone reading this thread that I'm not trying to say the zinc is any better than the steel. I'm just saying that with my set of circumstances the zinc worked better for me. On another guitar I might not feel the same way.

By the way, I'm still interested in trying one of the steel blocks that All Parts sells for the Gotoh 1088 (That John Suhr uses now). It is shaped like the Gotoh zinc block and I can't help but wonder if it might give the benefits of the steel block without the geometry differences that made the guitars feel tighter. I just hate to part with the $95!!! they quoted me on the price.