Anybody know if Grissom floats his trem?

[ruger9]

I've been a big fan of Grissom for years, and I just realized... I've never heard him mention if he floats his trem, or has it decked? Just curious...

I think I've read the DGTs come floating? With all the bends he does, I would think he'd keep it decked to keep unbent strings from going flat, but I've never heard him say either way...

 

[JoeB63]

All PRS trems float. You can't elegantly deck them.

 

[PSLUAN]

He floats his trem. You can see that from lots of tapes including this one:

I remember he said he uses his right hand palm to press on the trem for some vibrato effects.

 

[jetydosa]

It floats. Hes just really, really good. LOL

 

[pcbb]

Dave is just an awesome guitar player and musician. Love my DGT

 

[Mike Duncan]

Floater.

Here, have some DGT pictures. On the house...

 

[ruger9]

Looks just a tiny bit of float? Do they come that way from the factory?

You'll have to forgive my ignorance, my only PRS is a hardtail, and my only 2 floaters are a Charvel (Floyd Rose) and Gretsch (Bigsby)... ALOT of float.

 

[Mike Duncan]

Slight float from the factory. The way the PRS trem works it's supposed to float - they don't work as well when decked.

 

[racecarracecar]

In that video, what song is he playing, with the band, at the beginning?

 

[Holliman]

In that video, what song is he playing, with the band, at the beginning?

"Belly of the Beast" off his Way Down Deep album.

 

[racecarracecar]

"Belly of the Beast" off his Way Down Deep album.

Thank you!

 

[ruger9]

I emailed David and asked him about keeping things in tune on doublestop bends with the floating trem and his reply was:

"Good question really. I just make it happen."

Gee... thanks.


Aaaand..... for any Andy Timmons fans:

"My main guitar is decked. I have another one set up floating for the few songs I need it."

 

[ldizzle]

It floats. He's pretty accessible too like stated above.

 

[ProfRhino]

This has been a constant struggle for me too, coming from blocked Strats and Teles for country bends.
It's definitely a matter of learning by doing.
What works for me is a combination of blocking with my right palm for bigger, more complex endeavours, and compensating double stops (with a bent lower string) by slightly bending the higher string up a bit, too.
The 2nd technique often works better for spontaneous or faster stuff, ime.
Ultimately it will become 2nd nature, I'm sure, like intonating correctly with higher frets or something.

ymmv,
Rhino

 

[moozak]

Looks just a tiny bit of float? Do they come that way from the factory?

You'll have to forgive my ignorance, my only PRS is a hardtail, and my only 2 floaters are a Charvel (Floyd Rose) and Gretsch (Bigsby)... ALOT of float.

It floats exactly like all PRS trems. However, there's enough resistence in the setup to not cause much of an issue at all when bending strings. I have no problem bending notes, even double stops, to the pitch that I want. Now, if you detune a string (say drop the low E down to D) you'll notice it a bit and you might need to quickly adjust tuning accordingly. David is a very particular guitar player so if this were a big issue he would either be bugging the crap out of Paul or he wouldn't be using the guitar. It's also worth noting that the PRS trem is one of the best on the market.

 

[ProfRhino]

Don't know what causes this, but I recently got into floating strat trems too, same basic idea, but the PRS reacts better about this bending/detuning issue, more predictable, easier to compensate ...
not talking global tuning stability, which can be achieved adequately on both, more or less.
ymmv,
Rhino

 

[David Garner]

5 springs and 11s help keep things in tune for compound bends.

 

[ProfRhino]

5 springs and 11s help keep things in tune for compound bends.

yup, that's what I use too.