O.K. yesterday (two posts back ) I described how I tested two of my guitars side by side (only acoustically, not plugged into the amp) and came to the conclusion that it's a waste of time fitting a big block to your bridge if you have it adjusted flat to the body.
It was a surprise but thats the way it is. I can detect no difference at all in sound or sustain.
So, today I adjusted both guitars so that the bridges are floating (ie. slightly raised away from the body) the recommended 1/8th of an inch.
I must stress here that both guitars are set up identically. The same neck relief, same strings, string heights the same across the fretboard, pickup heights the same, tuned exactly the same, intonation spot on etc.
Did I notice any difference ? Nope. No difference at all. My wife agrees and even my daughter agrees, which is unusual as she normally disagrees with everything I say.
We played a little game where my wife closed her eyes and I would play both guitars, just going up and down scales type of thing. I'd say "ok this is guitar A" then "and here we have guitar B" and after several demo's I'd ask her which sounded the best.
She said " Is this a trick question, because it sounds to me like your just playing the one guitar and not swapping them at all."
Now then, whether a big chunk of steel makes a difference to the sound when the guitar is plugged into an amp is another subject. Personally I don't think it will make any difference. My 60's classic vibe sounds good, but then I thought it sounded good before I swopped the block.
Unfortunately I can't compare it to my 50's classic vibe because they have different pickups and do sound different anyway.
Personally I think it's a bit of a myth that these things actually do any good.
After all my 2008 American standard does'nt have a particularly big chunk of steel hanging off the bridge. Surely if a big chunk of metal was required for good tone Fender would fit them as standard. They don't even sell them as an accessory on the web site.
Any one else have a 50's and a 60's (or two 50's/60's) and care to do back to back tests?
