Re- Guitarist article June 17

[Tigerdaisy]

Read with interest the current Guitarist article on Hank- £7.10 for a studio session, about £160 in todays money, the price of a Strat about £3000 in todays money.
I was amazed to hear that Hank had played the Living Doll solo off the top of his head- he must have been very experienced and practiced with double stops to do that. He mentions trouble keeping certain strings in tune with the new Strat/trem. Of all the many questions thrown at Hank over the years I don't recall many of them referring to how he managed the trem system, especially as it is one of the major potentially problem areas on the Strat. He implies that today his set up solves all the problems. I never use a trem, preferring to bend strings with my fingers etc and yes obviously I'm aware there is a difference having used a term in the past, but I hate strings going out of tune, even slightly.

[noelford]

Well, I don't do anything because I never, ever, have a problem with the trem on my 1985 American Vintage '57 Strat. No tuning issues whatsoever, no matter how vigorously I use the trem. (That's no issues with either the original trem or the gold plated one I replaced it with when I switched to gold hardware.)

I was interested to read your comment regarding preferring bending with your fingers rather than use a trem. Surely finger-bending strings and trem technique are two entirely different things - I certainly use both.

[Tab]

I agree with Noel, finger bending and trem technique are two entirely different things. Many people over use the trem when playing Shads stuff. Hank's use has always been subtle and in the right place. Lighter gauge strings can often over accentuate this and can often add to tuning problems particularly when playing the earlier years numbers.

If your Strat is set up properly, tuning should not be a problem. There are some good videos on how to set up a floating bridge on YouTube.

I use 12-52s on most of my guitars with five springs on the Strats which makes for a good solid feel and never have a tuning problem.

[RogerCook]

You can't really achieve much if any of a downward bend with finger bending. I also like 5 springs and a firm feel to the trem. I don't find staying in tune an issue. As long as the nut is cut correctly and the trem doesn't bind on the mounting screws tuning should ok. I like to adjust the 6 mounting screws so the 2 outermost ones just begin to "nip" the trem plate and the 4 inner ones are approx ⅛ of a turn slacker.

[RayL]

Another of Hank's techniques is to push the trem arm down a little before plucking, to slide into the note 'from below' - impossible with finger bending.

[Uncleboko]

Another of Hank's techniques is to push the trem arm down a little before plucking, to slide into the note 'from below' - impossible with finger bending.

I'd wager Jeff Beck would find a way to do that!

[noelford]

There is a fairly easy way to do that, which I sometimes do. You fret the note one or two frets below the correct fretting and bend up to the right note.

[JimN]

Another of Hank's techniques is to push the trem arm down a little before plucking, to slide into the note 'from below' - impossible with finger bending.

I'd wager Jeff Beck would find a way to do that!

Indeed, but Jeff does also use that technique when playing a Stratocaster (which he usually does, these days).