Captain Spasm
03-21-2008, 07:01 AM
So I have an Aria Pro-II Diamond Series 'superstrat' with this trem unit.
Lady Spasm bought it for me as a birthday gift around eight years ago, when I was still in my musical hiatus (bedroom player only at the time).
The guitar looks great and plays beautifully ... but as well as the pups being rather more than lacklustre (got my eyes on some replacements off ebay), the damn bloody trem, locking as it is, just will not keep any semblance of tuning stability.
Either the whole set of stings gradually go sharp, or flat, or the 3 unwound strings wander off pitch wherever they will. Although I do enjoy playing it (the neck fits beautifully in my hand), I just can't trust it enough to play live with it - sometimes it won't even last for one song!!
This is with .010" gauge (OR .012" gauge, as I had recently) strings on it ... and all new and well-stretched. Clamped down hard at the nut, so I don't 'think' that string slippage/stretching is the problem.
The string anchorage is 'similar' to the quick-loading Floyd, in that the strings pass through the rear-end tubes (which the fine tuning screws bear on to), with the ball-ends still attached and are clamped down as they pass over the saddles.
Incidentally, the knife-edges and bridge posts seem to be ok and there's no visible wear at the interfaces.
I suspect that the problem 'may' lie in the fact that there are only two trem springs fitted. The bridge does 'flutter' more than I'd like anyway, so I think I'm gonna try adding a third spring to see if it improves the 'feel' for me ... but does anyone have any bright ideas about the tuning stability? think I'm on the right track? or any other possible causes ... before I start looking for a replacement bridge as well as new pups?
:D
Lady Spasm bought it for me as a birthday gift around eight years ago, when I was still in my musical hiatus (bedroom player only at the time).
The guitar looks great and plays beautifully ... but as well as the pups being rather more than lacklustre (got my eyes on some replacements off ebay), the damn bloody trem, locking as it is, just will not keep any semblance of tuning stability.
Either the whole set of stings gradually go sharp, or flat, or the 3 unwound strings wander off pitch wherever they will. Although I do enjoy playing it (the neck fits beautifully in my hand), I just can't trust it enough to play live with it - sometimes it won't even last for one song!!
This is with .010" gauge (OR .012" gauge, as I had recently) strings on it ... and all new and well-stretched. Clamped down hard at the nut, so I don't 'think' that string slippage/stretching is the problem.
The string anchorage is 'similar' to the quick-loading Floyd, in that the strings pass through the rear-end tubes (which the fine tuning screws bear on to), with the ball-ends still attached and are clamped down as they pass over the saddles.
Incidentally, the knife-edges and bridge posts seem to be ok and there's no visible wear at the interfaces.
I suspect that the problem 'may' lie in the fact that there are only two trem springs fitted. The bridge does 'flutter' more than I'd like anyway, so I think I'm gonna try adding a third spring to see if it improves the 'feel' for me ... but does anyone have any bright ideas about the tuning stability? think I'm on the right track? or any other possible causes ... before I start looking for a replacement bridge as well as new pups?
:D