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Luke floating bridge setup. No fluttering

S

sha33

Active member
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
28
Hi guys.

I'm kind of defeated right now... I spend the last couple of days triyng to properly set up my floaing bridge on the luke. But i can't get that fluttering - or cricket sound-...

Seems the Luke 3 has it . Go to 13:10 .


Do you think that it has something to do with my sting gauge? I use 9-42. Maybe try 10-46 ?
Do you have any set up ideas, or maybe someone who has that flutter can post a picture of it's trem height?

Thanks.
 
Give us some details on how you have the guitar set up. Without question you can get it to flutter if you set it up correctly.
 
Thanks.

I tend to search for a smooth working trem. Here is my set up:
with 9-42 ernie ball slinkys.

WP_20151004_09_30_40_Pro.jpgWP_20151004_09_31_11_Pro.jpgWP_20151004_09_31_41_Pro.jpg

With only 2 springs the trem seems to be still rigid...

Do you keep 3 springs? And what's your trem height?
 
Two, three, four springs, doesn't matter. It is really just personal preference. If you want your bridge to tilt forward a little bit so that you can lower and raise the pitch with your trem arm, it is usually easier to accomplish with two or three springs. The v shape you have your springs in is common and your tilt on the bridge looks fine. I usually make mine so that when I raise pitch, my G-string will go up 1 1/2 steps. If I'm playing fret 12 and I pull up on the arm all the way until the bridge hits the top of the guitar, it will sound like the B flat at fret 15. To do the flutter, tighten up your trem arm at the bottom of the bridge with a tiny hex key/allen wrench. Tilt the bridge forward with the trem arm and look from the bottom of the guitar up towards the bridge and you'll see the little hole for the hex key. Once you have it tightened (unless you already had it tightened) just move the bar either up towards the neck, so that it is basically parallel to the neck, or you can move it 180 degrees the opposite and have the bar pointing towards the bottom of the guitar. Towards the neck the pitch will lower when you flutter, towards the bottom it will raise when you flutter. To flutter, just "hit" the end of the trem arm really rapidly and get your hand out of there quickly. You just have to run your hand along the end of the trem arm really rapidly and you should have no problem getting it to flutter. The only thing that would prevent it fluttering would be if you have something preventing the bridge/bridge block from moving.
 
BrickGlass said:
Two, three, four springs, doesn't matter. It is really just personal preference. If you want your bridge to tilt forward a little bit so that you can lower and raise the pitch with your trem arm, it is usually easier to accomplish with two or three springs. The v shape you have your springs in is common and your tilt on the bridge looks fine. I usually make mine so that when I raise pitch, my G-string will go up 1 1/2 steps. If I'm playing fret 12 and I pull up on the arm all the way until the bridge hits the top of the guitar, it will sound like the B flat at fret 15. To do the flutter, tighten up your trem arm at the bottom of the bridge with a tiny hex key/allen wrench. Tilt the bridge forward with the trem arm and look from the bottom of the guitar up towards the bridge and you'll see the little hole for the hex key. Once you have it tightened (unless you already had it tightened) just move the bar either up towards the neck, so that it is basically parallel to the neck, or you can move it 180 degrees the opposite and have the bar pointing towards the bottom of the guitar. Towards the neck the pitch will lower when you flutter, towards the bottom it will raise when you flutter. To flutter, just "hit" the end of the trem arm really rapidly and get your hand out of there quickly. You just have to run your hand along the end of the trem arm really rapidly and you should have no problem getting it to flutter. The only thing that would prevent it fluttering would be if you have something preventing the bridge/bridge block from moving.
Click to expand...


Yeah i did everything. But the trem just won't flutter. When i hit it, every single way, fast slow, hard, soft, the note just drop and the bridge immediately comes at its initial place. So it's like a simple bend withe the trem. Does the trem have to hit the body?

I will do a quick video, so everyone can see i'm not crazy... :)
 
Does the trem pull up as smoothly as it pushes down? From what you are describing it sounds like maybe the springs aren't pulling the bridge back aggressively enough so maybe a third spring would help.
 
Is that a real Luke ? From the pictures the saddles don't seem ok. If it's a copy then the trem itself could be the issue.
 
threeminutesboy said:
Is that a real Luke ? From the pictures the saddles don't seem ok. If it's a copy then the trem itself could be the issue.
Click to expand...

Yes. The original saddles were fender style bended steel. I changed them for grahptech strings savers. Could this be the problem?
 
It can be two things: if it's adjusted to low the front of the vib is in contact with the body.. If you adjusted the Hight of the system with strings and springs on you made grades in the knives..only way to fix this is to take everything off and use a file to take of the grades.
 
sha33 said:
Yes. The original saddles were fender style bended steel. I changed them for grahptech strings savers. Could this be the problem?
Click to expand...

It's possible those saddles are 'soaking up' some of the vibration, but unlikely to be the entire cause. I'd try jacking up the trem block just a touch to get the bridge off the body, and also swap the trem springs for some fresh ones.

Saddles make a HUGE difference to the sound/feel of the instrument. I changed my original Luke II saddles (with the large 'V' indent, for the newer design EBMM saddles which have just a small indent for the string. They sound way better, much more sustain, and better stability. I've never liked the 'block' style saddles though, always preferring the bent steel type, but that's just a personal thing, there's no right or wrong.
 
Saddles can change the tone a little but have nothing to do with flutter, which is "underdamped oscillation" of the entire bridge. I wold expect mass of the bridge assembly and number of springs to be important. This bridge should flutter nicely exactly as is.

Looking at the above photos, notice the trem block. It's not the big brass trem block I would have expected and that may be part of the answer. There is not enough mass (momentum) for the bridge to be underdamped. Guitars warble because the spring can't damp the oscillation fast enough. Without the mass of the trem block, the springs are damping the motion of the bridge very quickly. The bridge can't warble.

And what's with copper shielding under there?
 
Last edited:
What DrKev says is true. That bridge block should be made of brass and be thicker. The bridge block looks like the typical cheap ones you find on many, many guitars. The brass ones weigh more and would have more pull back towards the springs.
 
That doesnt look like a musicman bridge to me. Did you get this guitar new? Did you check the serial number on it?
 
Guys, this was the OLP that was refinished. Remember the thread?

http://forums.ernieball.com/music-m...uke-dargie-delight-conversion.html#post976128

If the weight of the trem block makes a difference to fluttering I can't say for sure (Do Floyds with light trem blocks flutter? I've never owned one) but the OLP trem is not the same quality and this may be part of the answer. Perhaps try lower tension trem springs?
 
Most cheap trems do not react the same way as propper ones. Flutter is just impossible without enough mass. I'm not saying that olp is bad but don't compare it to a real luke or expect it to react the same way.
 
sanderhermans said:
Most cheap trems do not react the same way as propper ones. Flutter is just impossible without enough mass. I'm not saying that olp is bad but don't compare it to a real luke or expect it to react the same way.
Click to expand...

Ayyyy. I tought the trem was the same since it looked the same :/ So i guess that a good reason the aquire a Luke 3 :D

I don't plan on changing the bridge since the guitar is a cheap one. I would be better off with a l3..
 
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