Brad Gillis sig strat

[soc_monki]

No tuners. You tune it and lock. You may have to re-tune a little here and there until the strings stretch, but once they have stretched these have really good stability. Mine almost never goes out of tune.

Mike

cool! do you ever have to compensate by tuning slightly flat? i notice when i lock the nut down on my Floyds i have to fine tune a little afterwards.

and i think im nearly the only person in the world who doesnt stretch their strings when i change them...i just tune up, do a little vibrato, check tuning and retune if need be, lock the nut, whammy, and fine tune and im done. couple days later the strings settle a bit, and i usually have awesome stability.

everyone has different methods i suppose!

[Twisteramps]

The secret is to crank down the string retainer behind the nut pretty low - this puts pressure on the strings in the nut, so when you clamp down it doesn't change the pitch. If the strings are stretched well, a non fine tuner floyd can stay in tune amazingly well... I think they made them out of better metal than later ones. Some floyd copies feel like they are made from pressed aluminum cans compared to the old ones.

Pete

[Blazer]

Cool guitar.

It reminds me of the guitar that my junior high music teacher had: a Fernandes Steve Lukather. Which was a similar model but with EMG SA pickups.

I guess that This guitar is the Rarest Lukather signature model as there is VERY little info on them to be found.

[soc_monki]

The secret is to crank down the string retainer behind the nut pretty low - this puts pressure on the strings in the nut, so when you clamp down it doesn't change the pitch. If the strings are stretched well, a non fine tuner floyd can stay in tune amazingly well... I think they made them out of better metal than later ones. Some floyd copies feel like they are made from pressed aluminum cans compared to the old ones.

Pete

cool! see i havent really messed with string retainers...both my Jacksons dont have them, but my Schecter does and when i put new strings on today it was quite interesting LOL im not used to having that bar in the way, so it took more time than usual to change strings!

and the OFR on the Schecter seems really solid and sturdy, and smooth. i liked my JT580's but now that ive played on a real Floyd, i dunno how im gonna like going back to the Licensed bridges! i like the flutter of the Floyd and i cant get really good flutter out of the other bridges. might have to put OFRs on them too! LOL

[Racerx2k]

The secret is to crank down the string retainer behind the nut pretty low - this puts pressure on the strings in the nut, so when you clamp down it doesn't change the pitch. If the strings are stretched well, a non fine tuner floyd can stay in tune amazingly well... I think they made them out of better metal than later ones. Some floyd copies feel like they are made from pressed aluminum cans compared to the old ones.

Pete

Exactly. I was just gonna say this. You have to ensure that there is a certain amount of fall-away in the string, cause what happens is that if the retainer is too HIGH, to string is sitting up in the back of the nut block. Then, when you clamp down, you push the string down, making it go sharp. With the proper amount of fall-away, you ensure the string is fulling contacting the entire face of the block. You don't have to really CRANK down on the retainer. Just enough to achieve what I mentioned. You can check, by eye, if you get close enough. If it goes sharp, turn the retainer a tad more, and re-check. Many people forget, or don't know how, to set up this part of the system. Once you know, it's no big deal.

[soc_monki]

Exactly. I was just gonna say this. You have to ensure that there is a certain amount of fall-away in the string, cause what happens is that if the retainer is too HIGH, to string is sitting up in the back of the nut block. Then, when you clamp down, you push the string down, making it go sharp. With the proper amount of fall-away, you ensure the string is fulling contacting the entire face of the block. You don't have to really CRANK down on the retainer. Just enough to achieve what I mentioned. You can check, by eye, if you get close enough. If it goes sharp, turn the retainer a tad more, and re-check. Many people forget, or don't know how, to set up this part of the system. Once you know, it's no big deal.

hmmm sounds like my Jackson's could use the retaining bar! its not a big deal with them...a little fine-tuning after locking the nut fixes it. ill have to think about it though!

[Racerx2k]

Jacksons, far as I can remember, don't normally come with retainers, due to the tiltback headstock, but I guess it IS possible to still no get enough fall-away. You mostly see retainers on Stratheads, but I know my Ibanez came with one, so............


.......by the way, Twister: Super-nice Gillis. Been a fan of him since I heard him on Ozzy's Speak Of The Devil.

[soc_monki]

yea, my Jacksons dont have enough downward pressure on the strings behind the nut (you can see the strings slightly lifted above the back of the nut, until you lock it down of course!)
not a big deal really...just requires a little fine-tuning once the nut is locked down. after that i have no problems so i think its purely a cosmetic issue.

[fuel0707]

While the guitar is pretty darn neat, the bridge is even more so.

How often do the old, non-finetuning Floyds show up on ebay?

[Twisteramps]

Not very often. Sometimes you can find them on old guitars and then part out the remains.

Pete

[Deneb]

Pete, how long have you had the Gillis? I remember awhile back, you were looking for one.

[Twisteramps]

Pete, how long have you had the Gillis? I remember awhile back, you were looking for one.

Over a year I think... got it from Brad (XXX).

[neilli]

You guys seen this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=010&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=200112227929&rd=1&rd=1