All Telecasters have Tremolos

[Lerb21]

I'm sure a few of you are like, "Hmmmm!?!?", but I find it to be true.

Be warned this can damage this Tele if you do it too hard. (Heh that's what she said (okay I'm done))

By simply pulling the neck back or pulling the neck forward one can bend notes up and down. I've seen Redd do it before. (and therefore it is divine mandate)

Don't do it too hard cause you can crack the finish on your Tele (guilty).

I'm sure a good bit of you fellas know this, but I've never seen it discussed here (and if it was it was a LONG time ago) so I figured what the hey.

Course you can't dive bomb but I find it adds a heckuva lotta depth to your sound.

[esteban]

Actually, you can do that with any guitar. (Sorry to burst your bubble! lol)

Whenever I do it, I only do half-steps. Anything further than that, and I freak out.

[Lerb21]

Originally Posted by esteban

Actually, you can do that with any guitar. (Sorry to burst your bubble! lol)

Whenever I do it, I only do half-steps. Anything further than that, and I freak out.

DUHHHH!!! (tries not to look stupid)

I recently had a conversation with a "Friend" who didn't wanna buy a Tele "Cause you can't divebomb with it man!".

Ah well, no one talks about it, I think it was discussion worthy.

[neocaster]

Rubber neck bolts, anyone?

[Lerb21]

Originally Posted by neocaster

Rubber neck bolts, anyone?

Looks like Redd is rockin' the rubber neck...

Redd.jpg

[scooteraz]

I remember as a kid, when I took guitar lessons, being told to NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER stress the neck like that...

[Chewy]

You should try an SG! It's hard not to bend the neck on one of those!

[Lerb21]

Originally Posted by scooteraz

I remember as a kid, when I took guitar lessons, being told to NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER stress the neck like that...

Hey, what are truss rods for? A little tension is gonna bend steel? (oh God, I hope they're made of steel)

If I snap a neck, big deal I'll buy a new one.

[scooteraz]

Originally Posted by Lerb21

Hey, what are truss rods for? A little tension is gonna bend steel? (oh God, I hope they're made of steel)

If I snap a neck, big deal I'll buy a new one.

I don't think t was so much snapping the neck, I think it was the stressing of the neck pocket that was more of an issue. The first guitar I had (and took lessons on) was a cheap acoustic. My best friend had some sort of cheap strat copy and he had a wobble stick. One day, on my Grandmother's porch, he was bragging on the wobble stick and I said something like "hey I can do that too" and wobbled the neck pretty hard. Later that week, I showed my guitar instructor the cool sound I could make, and he about came out of his skin.

I understood over-stressing things, since I lived in a farm community and helped out at area farms; something was always breaking (oh, and a couple of blown engines along the way). Breaking the guitar would be BAD, so I became scared to do it, and really have tried to avoid stressing the neck ever since.

However, it is gratifying to see those who ignored the instructor making such cool music.

[Lerb21]

Originally Posted by scooteraz

I don't think t was so much snapping the neck, I think it was the stressing of the neck pocket that was more of an issue. The first guitar I had (and took lessons on) was a cheap acoustic. My best friend had some sort of cheap strat copy and he had a wobble stick. One day, on my Grandmother's porch, he was bragging on the wobble stick and I said something like "hey I can do that too" and wobbled the neck pretty hard. Later that week, I showed my guitar instructor the cool sound I could make, and he about came out of his skin.

I understood over-stressing things, since I lived in a farm community and helped out at area farms; something was always breaking (oh, and a couple of blown engines along the way). Breaking the guitar would be BAD, so I became scared to do it, and really have tried to avoid stressing the neck ever since.

However, it is gratifying to see those who ignored the instructor making such cool music.

If Redd's doin what I think he's doin, listen at 1:20 and 3:19

Like Esteban said, only half steps. I rarely do it to even that point.

Kinda like how you subtly and softly push the whammy bar of a Strat on a large open chord to give it some character.

[Westerly Sunn]

Originally Posted by Chewy

You should try an SG! It's hard not to bend the neck on one of those!

I love SG's and own a couple of 'em... With an SG, you can just grab the body and shake...

[braderrick]

Originally Posted by Westerly Sunn

I love SG's and own a couple of 'em... With an SG, you can just grab the body and shake...

I noticed that the last time I played my SG about a year or two ago...

[Tim Armstrong]

Bill Kirchen does it too!

He hasn't snapped the neck off the Ol' Coalburner yet!

Cheers, Tim

[newtwanger]

You should try an SG! It's hard not to bend the neck on one of those!

Best, deepest example goes to Tony Iommi for the first note (repeated) of the song Iron Man. First time I saw him do it live (100 years ago) I was all "WTF??" Raced home to try it on my 61 SG !

[Crawfish]

Originally Posted by Westerly Sunn

I love SG's and own a couple of 'em... With an SG, you can just grab the body and shake...

Pete Townshend's another player who did this a lot during the era when he as playing SGs. In fact, he stopped using SGs because of the weakness of the neck joint.

[octatonic]

Strictly speaking this is vibrato.
Tremolo is a change in volume, not pitch.

[Dan German]

I do it (carefully). I'm sure I'm just being overly cautious, but it is an added stress probably not considered in the original design parameters. That said, I would never tell someone not to do it to their own guitar. Had a guy one time do it while he was playing MY guitar! That's just bad manners.

If I'd had a tele at the time, I woulda clubbed him with it, but I wasn't sure my Gibson could stand that kinda abuse. So I just took it away from him, sent him to pick up beer, and went home before he got back.

[ddewerd]

Originally Posted by octatonic

Strictly speaking this is vibrato.
Tremolo is a change in volume, not pitch.

Well, he's still right...

That's what that first little knobby is

Cheers,
Doug

[e-merlin]

I use that trick when I play the harmonic run in Sweet Home Alabama on a Tele. Heck, I got so accustomed to doing it I do it when I'm playing it on a Strat now.

If you want a real lesson in neck bending, watch The Derailers' Austin City Limits performance. Brian Hofeldt is all over the place with it.

[teleamp]

I do tremelo with the volume knob and vibrato with the neck. AS noted in the above post, trem is volume... vibrato is pitch. I use neck vibrato with my Nocaster all of the time. I don't think you'll have to worry about the neck unless you have the strength of a gorilla. If you ever saw SRV, you'd realize how tough a Fender neck is.

Fender amps have never had vibrato... for an amp with vibrato, you need a Magnavox.

Originally Posted by Lerb21

....Course you can't dive bomb but I find it adds a heckuva lotta depth to your sound.

Have you ever seen SRV lay his strat on the stage and stand on the body and pull the neck of #1 about a foot in the air? Fender necks are tough!

Originally Posted by scooteraz

I remember as a kid, when I took guitar lessons, being told to NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER stress the neck like that...

Those were the same guys that said to never, ever turn an amp up so loud that it distorted.

Originally Posted by scooteraz

I don't think t was so much snapping the neck, I think it was the stressing of the neck pocket that was more of an issue....

As long as the neck is properly installed and the screws aren't loose, it's not an issue.


All the above said, I only do it in have step, every once and a while I do a whole step or more with my Nocaster.

[pengipete]

You could just try wiggling your fingers about a bit on those metal stringy things. That makes the notes go all wobbly and you don't need Popeye's forearms to make it work.

[Joe Chaney]

hmm, i'll just get a bigsby, i know what i'm like.
(conjures up mental image of destroying tele, *PWANG!*)