Albert Lee HH - to trem or not to trem?

[Tollywood]

Welcome to the forum. That is an awesome guitar.

 

[Stratty316]

Congrats! Now you need to start planning your next EBMM...

 

[Norrin Radd]

Above all?

Hardtails resonate differently, and not everyone wants a trem. (Me, for example.) Yes you can block it, but it's not the same.

Just curious, what about having a trem makes the wood resonate differently say than having 2 different pieces of wood (which, I would argue also resonate differently from each other)?

Seems to me there are better arguments for preferring a non-trem than how a guitar resonates. Of course, as someone who always prefers a trem, I have no idea what those arguments are!

And OP! Congrats on a very nice guitar! That particular guitar color is the ONLY EBMM that I personally prefer with a black pickguard (although in reality, by any measure of good taste, no black pickguards of any kind should exist. I'm certain any civilized person would agree. )

 

[DrKev]

Just curious, what about having a trem makes the wood resonate differently say than having 2 different pieces of wood (which, I would argue also resonate differently from each other)?

The body may resonate differently because guitars with trems are missing a sizeable chunk of wood from their heart and have a big whopping mass of metal in it's place. But how much/what effect that has to the sound of plugged-in electric guitars is still a tough question to answer.

If we accept that variation between two different pieces of the same wood species can change the tone of an electric guitar, even if constructed with the exact same neck and same pickups and pots, then comparing two different guitars not made from the same pieces of body wood is of *no use*. We would have to first make a hard tail guitar and record the result, then rout and drill that same guitar body and put a trem bridge on it, and then block the trem off, and then record that and then compare the two recordings. I don't know if anyone has ever done that. And even then we could not say how much of any tonal change was due to the different bridge construction or the loss of body wood.

 

[beej]

In addition to the big chunk of wood missing, and how the bridge is physically mounted to the body, you also have the effect of the springs which slightly reverberate what you're playing.

 

[guitfiddle]

Beauty!

That's a real beauty gully!

Congrats, and I'm sure you are going to have a blast with it. ALs are fantastic guitars!

 

[Axisssnut58]

My Axis SS has a trem, and I love it - and use it. The cavity resonates in itself. My new AL HH has no trem, and I love it. Don’t miss it at all. Why? Dunno. Solution: buy at least two MMs, one with trem, one without it. And a few more.

 

[Vegaman]

I prefer hardtail, more wood left, feels more solid, no give while doing big bends. The trem also generally saps a bit of sustain out. More defined "direct" pick attack when going with a hardtail.

 

[GWDavis28]

Personally I've always been a hard tail guy, but lately I've been thinking it might be nice to hava trem on at least one guitar, so if I wanna use it I've got it.

In the end it really just comes down to personal preference.

Lately, I'd say I've been agreeing more with Magic Jason's comment:

"If you have a trem and don't use it... Well, it's there. Waiting for you. No inconvenient. You can even remove the wang bar. "

Glenn |B)

 

[V_S]

+1 for trem. My trem rests on the body... one way only. No detuning when palmuting. Did I say that I love my AL HH?

 

[CaseyBall]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, I really appreciate it. In the end I went back to the shop (today!) and bought the non trem version that I've been ogling and playing all this time. I think it fits better with my playing style as of now, plus this guitar in particular definitely seemed to be calling me, if you know what I mean. Oh and I got a Wampler Euphoria too, as the combination when I tried them in store was irresistible. I am one of you now!

Looks like you picked the right one!