Skyway

[Stevo57]

Had a great time with Rick and the boys on Sunday. Man I can't get the sound of that tremolo out of my head, and it's a looker to boot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/stevo57/Canaveral-4631-14abs1.jpg

[ToneGurus]

Yeah, baby. May have to be one of those in my future...

http://www.tonegurus.com/assets/images/rick.jpg

Mike

[hawkeyeinexile]

i got a crack at that axe for an entire jam tune & gotta say that's - wait, let me think about this...okay - mebbe the perfect vibrato. i was divebombing all over the place, chorusing, pulling up a whole step, then a minor third (just enough so i could hear it & not bug the other players)...and when it was all over, played me an A6 and the intonation was right where i started.

wunnerful. well done, Rick :dude

:cool:

[trisonic]

Keeps looking better.....

Can we persuade Rick and/or Bill to offer up some clips for us plebs?


Best, Pete.

[MightyGuru]

Is there a link to the Skyway tremolo? I can't find anything googling it. TIA, MG.

[DerekMinnich]

Originally posted by MightyGuru
Is there a link to the Skyway tremolo? I can't find anything googling it. TIA, MG.


www.skywaymusic.com

I'm really looking forward to getting my new Chapin with my Skyway....it was the final ingredient in putting that guitar completely over the top and I can't wait to develop my technique around it.

[hawkeyeinexile]

Originally posted by splatt
jeff.....
just for my interest:
which strings were you up-pulling a whole-step and a m3rd?
thanks,
dt / spltrcl

2nd & 3rd together, some. 2nd & 3rd & 4th separately for single-note stuff.

and whole chords (six-finger 7ths & five-finger 9ths & a couple 5-string 13ths) (mostly half-step & whole-step)

:cool:

[muddy]

Originally posted by splatt
jeff.....
just for my interest:
which strings were you up-pulling a whole-step and a m3rd?
thanks,
dt / spltrcl

HEY!!! izzn't you s'posed to be in london listening to pressed rat & warthog?!!!


ml

[big mike]

Yup Yup. Always a pleasure Jamming with Rick, and playing with that BADASS trem.

[hawkeyeinexile]

Originally posted by splatt
thanks, jeff!
dt / spltrcl

welcome. i really dug your clip (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/splattercellmusic.htm) . am surmising what a little (or a lotta) Skyway woulda done here and there ;)

:cool:

[Neill MacInnis]

Can anyone compare the skyway to hipshot. Is it that much better as far as functionality goes? Tonally I would imagine it would be fairly hard to compare (variables).

[big mike]

Hipshot is a great evolution of the Fender style bridge.

Skyway is revolutionary (my opinion of course). Much smoother, completely unique setup. Very very cool.

[Jim Soloway]

Is the Skyway an actual shipping product yet, or is it still in pre-production? I'd love to put one on one of our guitars, but it's been a long wait.

[hawkeyeinexile]

Originally posted by Jim Soloway
Is the Skyway an actual shipping product yet, or is it still in pre-production? I'd love to put one on one of our guitars, but it's been a long wait.

i asked Rick and said either it's in production or ready for production - dang me, i fergit which :jo

:cool:

[PlexiBreath]

Nice picture! I've been waiting to finally see the new Skyway bridge, and I must say the wait was worth it, that's a classy looking piece of guitar art! I've played the old design Skyway and was blown away by it's performance as well as the engineering concept behind it, it didn't look bad but it didn't look like something that could become a classic, but this new sleak design looks like something of classic lines that won't look dated 30 years down the road with lot's of heavy pro use wear.

My hats off to Rick for a perfectly executed design!

John Kelley Brown

[Testudo]

I had a chance to chat with Rick on Sunday, as well as see the new design! It is an incredible product. I only had a brief chance to fiddle with a Skyway-equipped guitar this time, but the pleasure of listening to Rick and Jeff putting it through its paces was worth the price of admission.
There is some upcoming news on the Skyway, but I will wait for Rick to chime in on that. I know Skyway-equipped Chapins are in the works.

[decay-o-caster]

Originally posted by Testudo
I know Skyway-equipped Chapins are in the works.

Yes, there are some in the works, aren't there! :D

[alpep]

.

[big mike]

Well, it was in the prototype phase until recently. Anyone that got one to this point basically halted production to get it. Rick is done, and they're ready to go. Innovation is not created easily.

[big mike]

Originally posted by BrewBeck
so i'm the guy who halted production!
;)

btw having prototypes out there is an important part of "production" and provides crucial information to keep things moving in a positive direction.

props to my bro rick!

Yup. I agree. Hope the flow will happen now. Should be very cool.

[Amitar]

Originally posted by big mike
Anyone that got one to this point basically halted production to get it.
I don't believe I halted production.:(
As Brewbeck said "having prototypes out there is an important part of "production" and provides crucial information to keep things moving in a positive direction."
With these proto trems Rick was able to see them in action and see the possibilities gain valuable feedback. I think hearing the trem on a Chapin just inspired Rick that much more.

Neil: The Skyway is in a league by itself. Way above everything else. It transfers tone like a hardtail unlike other trems. The control you have over a Skyway is amazing and with the tone transfer you get the best of both worlds.

The Skyway is an awesome trem. I compare it to the other guitar innovations like the Les Paul, Stratocaster, Marshall amps ect... It's that good!

[patchesprescott]

so what's the deal with installing it on a guitar with, say a wilkinson or gotoh trem. like a basic strat-style guitar.

is there routing involved?

will the width and string spacing match up?

and what kind of block is going to be used for the Skyway?
a standard steel block?

also - does any one know what the price is figured at?

[Dan Desy]

Originally posted by big mike
Hipshot is a great evolution of the Fender style bridge.

Skyway is revolutionary (my opinion of course). Much smoother, completely unique setup. Very very cool.

Please elaborate...

[John Hurtt]

Yeah, I'd like to hear more about this. I seem to recall asking Rick about a strat retrofit at the NorCal tonefest a couple years ago and he said (I think, it's been a while) that there was a retrofit coming. He also suggested ordering a strat-type body through USA Custom as they had the routing already setup.

So, anyone have an idea of availability/price, etc.?

[PlexiBreath]

Originally posted by patchesprescott
so what's the deal with installing it on a guitar with, say a wilkinson or gotoh trem. like a basic strat-style guitar.

is there routing involved?

will the width and string spacing match up?

and what kind of block is going to be used for the Skyway?
a standard steel block?

also - does any one know what the price is figured at?

There is no block, you can't think of it in terms of the typical Fender style tremolo. It involves a small amount of routing into the top of the guitar, about as much area as a pickup route, not the big through body route with the huge area routed in the back for springs as a Fender trem. The ones I've played had standard Fender Strat string spacing. Rick told me that there will be several price points depending on how exotic your choice of metals are, but I don't know what those price points are. It really is a whole re-thinking from scratch to solve all issues with tremolo designs of the past. Mainly that there are no pivot points where two pieces of metal are moving against eachother as in the "knife edge" idea, that, plus the fact that so much less wood has to be routed away, make this such a perfect tremolo. In my opinion it makes anything that came before obsolete.

[sonicparke]

So how do these things work? If there's nothing traditional about them what do they do that's different. They look really cool.

[PlexiBreath]

Originally posted by sonicparke
So how do these things work? If there's nothing traditional about them what do they do that's different. They look really cool.

Brad,

I'm at a loss to be able to describe it, but I'll try. It involves what are called "flexure beams", the pivot action takes place by these beams of metal flexing which means there never are pieces of metal hinging against each other that would inhibit a return of the bridge to it's absolute zero rest state, that's how it rotates, but there are small springs involved that counter the spring tension from what I understand.

My main concern when I first heard about it was how does it perform? I was concerned because I wanted a tremolo to perform like a Fender trem, not like a sluggish Bigsby or Kayler, or those cheep flex bridges Gibson put on their entry level MusicMakers of the mid 1960's. I want a tremolo to perform in such a way I can nail the Jeff Beck kind of tremolo use, and I must say, these trems do that absolutely! I have a Strat project I've been wanting to build for the last three years, bought the neck and have been waiting on this bridge so I can get the body routed for the Skyway, I like this bridge so much I know the waiting will have been well worth it.

I'd suggest a call to Rick to ask more detailed technical questions.

[trisonic]

I hope that Rick has all this solidly patented!

Best, Pete.

[VegasGreg]

I definately want to try one of these bridges in one of my next guitars.

[big mike]

Originally posted by Dan Desy
Please elaborate...

Sorry Dan, missed your response buddy.

Um, completely different feel, tone and action than any other trem I've played. It's really it's own beast. It doesn't feel or sound like Fender, Hipshot, floyd or what have you. very intuitive action..well, tough to describe. It's just different....in a very cool way.

[PlexiBreath]

Anyone ever wonder how a Skyway would couple with a Les Paul? I have. The biggest problem would be that the LP neck angle sets the strings too hight above the body for the Skyway. But after more thinking I came up with a solution. Those Gibson Custom Shop early fifties goldtops with the trapeze tailpiece/bridge configurations where the strings wrap under the bridge, those guitars have the strings running very close to the body in the bridge area. What would be done is have an experience luthier strip the finish of the face of the guitar, inlay new maple where the holes for the bridge are, then do the small route for the Skyway tremolo, then refinish in goldtop to cover the lines of the covered holes. It could also be routed for humbuckers.

Note I only consider this with newer custom shop Gibsons, NOT the real deal vintage guitar.

[ToneGurus]

Hey Rick, thanks for the nice voice message the other day. Same to you man!

Mike

[WCR]

I have been trying to get one for a long time now, and even got to talk to him once or twice about. I *will* have one, if I have to get Big Mike to step on someone for me........:p :p
I first heard about them from Muddy.
That's 2 things I'd like to get done this year. Get a Skyway, and get Muddy to get his arse on out to California to visit with me !!!
:dude :dude

[jaimo]

Originally posted by WCR
I have been trying to get one for a long time now

+1
gave up

[muddy]

Originally posted by WCR
I have been trying to get one for a long time now, and even got to talk to him once or twice about. I *will* have one, if I have to get Big Mike to step on someone for me........:p :p
I first heard about them from Muddy.
That's 2 things I'd like to get done this year. Get a Skyway, and get Muddy to get his arse on out to California to visit with me !!!
:dude :dude

hey dood, did you get my message on yer machine?


ml

[alpep]

Rick
if you are reading this please answer my e mail .
thanks
al

[PlexiBreath]

Greg,

That guitar is sweet! I remember playing it at the Santa Cruz West Coast ampfest, love the burst!

My next Strat is going to be with a Skyway, have WCR pickups and relic'd by RS Guitarworks as I really am happy with the relic job they did to my goldtop R7. I can't wait.

Kelley

[trisonic]

Greg,
Is that the piece that you changed out the bridge P'up from Humbucker to Single coil? It looks way more beautiful (if that's possible).........

Best, Pete.

[WCR]

Originally posted by muddy
hey dood, did you get my message on yer machine?


ml


I.....I.......I don't think so.........send again, waste of time calling me right now, my voice is a barely audible whisper. :cool:
If you talk to Rick, be sure to steer him in this direction......:D

[PlexiBreath]

Originally posted by BrewBeck
kelley-how ya been!


I've been just great since I've decided to sell the house, soon to resign from the high stress, high income job, take my equity and go to Guitar Institure of Technology for their 18 month Associates Degree program. It's all very exciting. I'll work here for another 6 or 8 months then move down to Hollywood to start GIT next spring semester. I know I wont make all that much money on graduation, but I will have my sanity.

[Stevo57]

A hearty Huzzah to sanity and your life choice!