Erics STarter build

[DrNomis_44]

Loving the finish on the body of your Strat, she looks cool.


I might have to give one of those Babicz bridges a go one day.

[EricB]

Loving the finish on the body of your Strat, she looks cool.


I might have to give one of those Babicz bridges a go one day.

it was supposed to just be a black strat! when I saw the ash it was too good to pass up!

The Babicz is a nice piece of kit, though the trem block is a bit lighter than i was expecting.
Ill put it together before I go looking for replacements.
On the plus side, the 6 holes are beveled and the screws are notched - a la PRS, this thing should have pretty decent sustain.

[DrNomis_44]

it was supposed to just be a black strat! when I saw the ash it was too good to pass up!

The Babicz is a nice piece of kit, though the trem block is a bit lighter than i was expecting.
Ill put it together before I go looking for replacements.
On the plus side, the 6 holes are beveled and the screws are notched - a la PRS, this thing should have pretty decent sustain.

If you ever do end up looking for a replacement, you could consider getting a Supervee Bladerunner Bridge, I had a Chrome one on my old Black Fender Mexican Strat and it did work well, the Sustain Block is made from a light metal that SuperVee call "Sustainium", what makes the Bladerunner Bridge different to most other Strat bridges is that the Bridge pivots on a thin piece of spring-steel rather than a set of 6 screws, there are four screws which are simply used to attach the bridge securely to the body, here's a link to the SuperVee webpage so you can see what the Bladerunner Bridge looks like:

https://www.super-vee.com/products.html

[EricB]

If you ever do end up looking for a replacement, you could consider getting a Supervee Bladerunner Bridge, I had a Chrome one on my old Black Fender Mexican Strat and it did work well, the Sustain Block is made from a light metal that SuperVee call "Sustainium", what makes the Bladerunner Bridge different to most other Strat bridges is that the Bridge pivots on a thin piece of spring-steel rather than a set of 6 screws, there are four screws which are simply used to attach the bridge securely to the body, here's a link to the SuperVee webpage so you can see what the Bladerunner Bridge looks like:

https://www.super-vee.com/products.html

Thanks dude, i really like the design of the babicz, i'd just upgrade the block to something a bit heavier if it needs it

[DrNomis_44]

Thanks dude, i really like the design of the babicz, i'd just upgrade the block to something a bit heavier if it needs it

Maybe something like a Brass Sustain block then?, Brass does tend to be a bit heavier than the standard metal used to make Sustain blocks, so, if you're looking for lots of Sustain Brass is probably the way to go, incidentally, lots of 70's guitars tended to use Brass hardware, Yngwie Malmsteen, a well-known Neo-Classical guitarist from Sweden, uses Brass nuts on his signature Strats.

[wazkelly]

Hey Doc, I think he uses Brass Nuts for the bright ringing tone as the difference in sustain compared to bone wouldn't be much at all.

I bought a Brass one for my Tele which looks a bit short in side-on profile with an already very low action. They are great for root chords or any open string notes but a right proper B@!#%h if you need to work on them as the metal is so hard to file down. Still yet to figure out if it is a keeper or just order a bone one from DB.

On my old Strat I didn't use the whammy bar and just wound in the spring claw as tight as it would go, put 3-5 springs on and that gave it a helluva lot of sustain. Suppose if you want to use a whammy the compromise is a drop in sustain.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Doc, I think he uses Brass Nuts for the bright ringing tone as the difference in sustain compared to bone wouldn't be much at all.

I bought a Brass one for my Tele which looks a bit short in side-on profile with an already very low action. They are great for root chords or any open string notes but a right proper B@!#%h if you need to work on them as the metal is so hard to file down. Still yet to figure out if it is a keeper or just order a bone one from DB.

On my old Strat I didn't use the whammy bar and just wound in the spring claw as tight as it would go, put 3-5 springs on and that gave it a helluva lot of sustain. Suppose if you want to use a whammy the compromise is a drop in sustain.

That's true, apparently Eric Clapton blocks the trems on his Strats to get better sustain, he tends to do quite a bit of string-bending too, I seem to remember reading somewhere in an Interview that Yngwie Malmsteen said he puts Brass Nuts on his Strats so that he could get the tone of the open-strings more consistant with the fretted notes, I think that the benefits are open to debate, and I've always tried to keep an open mind about it, but really it all comes down to what works for a particular guitarist.

From my experience as an apprentice Fitter and Machinist, I've found that Brass is actually not really all that hard, but your experience has obviously been different to mine, anyway, some people like them, other's don't.