Bass VI or Floyd strat with conversion neck? (aka, how good is the trem?)

[Hollowway]

So, I want to mess around with a bass vi. But, I know nothing about the trem on those things. Especially if I get a cheap (sub $1000) model. The other alternative is to buy a guitar with a Floyd that has a strat neck heel, and swap in a conversion neck.

So: Anyone have a bass vi with the funky trem? How good is it staying in tune, and can you get much pitch change?

Anyone do a bari conversion?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Most have a version of the Jag/JM trem. I'd put the usability somewhere around a Bigsby in real life use. You're at the mercy of the nut and saddles all the same, but you do get a bit more range. If you can live with more conventional Strat trems, you can probably live with one of these.

 

[budda]

Pro tip: buy the bass vi, dont use the trem.

 

[Hollowway]

@budda @MaxOfMetal With your experience with this sort of trem, you think it's finicky? I love trems, but if this is something that routinely goes out of tune, I'll probably just grab a cheaper Harely Benton bass vi hardtail, and call it a day. I have read conflicting reports about the quality of the Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI trem, which is why I'm leery. Sounds like the range woulld be OK, but I'm seeing people say the whole unit moves around, and a swap out to the higher end model (of the trem) is required. I ain't got time for that. I'm just looking to mess around on one for inspiration.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Folks don't know shit about fuck when it comes to trems.

Not talking about you, just what you've read.

Again, it's like a Strat or Bigsby. If the setup is good issues will be minimal with caveat you understand the limitations of any system that doesn't lock.

 

[Hollowway]

Folks don't know shit about fuck when it comes to trems.

Not talking about you, just what you've read.

Again, it's like a Strat or Bigsby. If the setup is good issues will be minimal with caveat you understand the limitations of any system that doesn't lock.

100% agree. (And nice Ozark quote!) I'm always skeptical about anyone talking down about trems, because for some reason people think it's easier to invent cold fusion than set up a trem.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

100% agree. (And nice Ozark quote!) I'm always skeptical about anyone talking down about trems, because for some reason people think it's easier to invent cold fusion than set up a trem.

For real.

These are pretty basic, so there's not really much to do bridge wise. It's all down to the saddle, nut, and how tidy the strings are wrapped around the tuners.

 

[budda]

I dont use the trems on the guitars I own hence my suggestion of not using it. I had a baritone jazzmaster and it was hardtail. I will say the mastery on my old Novo was the trem Ive used the most (currently have a strat with a Callaham set to full float but I still didnt end up using it and its listed).

 

[stinkoman]

Well what brand are you looking at for a bass VI? From owning 4 of them, 3 of them was Squier's the Trem's work good just like any other properly offset guitar , and will stay fairly stable in tune, but these have been setup nightmares. If you aren't too familiar with offsets, they need to have a proper pitch back to help keep the strings in place and every squire Bass VI, or offset squier I played needed shimed to correct this. Then you had to swap the bridge, because they wouldn't intonate properly and grooves wasn't deep enough to accomodate the the strings, same with needing to file the nut later for going up larger strings. I know you asked about the Trem, but that is the least of your worries with a lot of bass VI's.. The newer Classic vibes may or may not have the bridge issues resolved, as I heard mixed things and no first hand experience, but I know you like Pink and can get a pink one from CME.

 

[bostjan]

Disclaimer that I've never owned one, but I've played quite a few and set up one or two. Definitely not my favourite trem, but I wouldn't recommend ruling it out if you like weird funky trems. You can get decent vibrato out of it, but I wouldn't bother trying to do any dive bombs.

Warmoth does a bass VI. They're actually pretty cheap if you paint it yourself. That way, you could get whatever trem (Warmoth won't do a floyd route, though!), fretwire, pickups, pickguard, paint job, etc. that you want, and the neck and body are as close to Fender as you can get without the Fender logo. I very nearly did one for myself this year, but I just gotta have at least seven strings...

 

[Bearitone]

If you want a 30” scale baritone, with a Floyd, you can grab a Schecter Hellraiser C-VI and throw on a Floyd FRX.

 

[PK317]

I own two of these - Squire classic vibe with Jazzmaster style tremolo and Harley Benton with hardtail. After proper setup and change of tuners to locking ones, tuning stability is fine. The problem with Squire is that because of the trem you need really long strings, not so many options on market.