diablo175

Yikes. 😬 Been wrestling in recent months with getting myself a V but it won't be this one, even with the cool 6-in-line Standard head stock.

I ran into some cost inflating issues with insurance. I have been told they couldn't cover the full value of the guitar(s) on several occasions. Even with that, the insurance over and above the default level adds to cost.

Current or recently let go:

I can't friggin' stand this day but I'll play, anyway. Past.

Nope. All good. (I think... Ted?)

Hey, intentionally, unintentionally; if it works, it works!

I gotta believe that others practice this. There has to be others that have discovered this tactic. If not, I think I might be onto something. Here's how it works: Rather than purchasing new guitars, I take a couple from my current, existing collection and hide/put them away for about a year. Then, break one out again and it’ll be like having a new guitar without having to pay for it.😆 At least, that’s what I did with my Stevenson “Bass boat” Std. 24. I really struggled playing it for whatever reasons, a year ago- it felt like it was fighting me on a number of levels. (let's skip over the psychology; the mental gymnastics and borderline textbook delusion inherent in blaming one's instrument for shortcomings in their skill!) So, I decided to sell it. It went into hiding in the case and in the less used part of the basement. Then ads went up to sell but obviously, it never sold. This morning, I was in the guitar workshop area of the basement and looked at it and decided, WTF! Let’s get it out and have a go on it! Holy weasel wizz! It played and sounded hella better than it did a year ago. It was like having a new guitar. 😆

You said it yourself, the tension Ed used allowed him to bend up at least whole step. I'd call that sufficient. "Stunt-guitar" 😆 I'm reminded of how Frank Zappa called Steve Vai his "stunt guitarist" as well as "little Italian Virtuoso". Floating trems are just another tool in a guitarist's tool belt. Between Jeff Beck, Vai and Brad Gillis and yes, Satch's innovative and expressive use of floating trems, I'd rather have that capacity vs. easier double stop bends. Fact is, you can do both on a floater with some difficulty. The same cannot be said for decked or blocked, dive-only systems. Then it becomes a personal preference issue.

Absolutely it's limiting. Consider that I've spent decades playing and learning on floating trems. I can do double stops bend and bending to the stratosphere on them. It's a technique adjustment but it's instinctive now. I'll cop to the fact that it's easier on a decked or blocked bridge BUT you give up the techniques and nuances you can do on a floating Floyd. I'd rather have to work a little more for double stop bends and bending to pitch (which is a non-fucking issue if the springs are tension-ed properly. Eddie and others did it all the time on two springs.) than give up some of the cool shit you can do on a floating bridge. Kahler offers a locking device on their 2300 and 7300 models. There are are a few newer brands that have that same function. One made in Turkey that was demoed at NAMM had that function.

In MY day when ya had a performance issue you took a little blue pill and... oh, not that kind of performance issue? Hell's bells, these dagnabbit, wing ding dilly, frammistatted, thingamajigs! All technical and ornery-like. On a slightly less inane note, been here a relatively long time as far forums go. And like a few others mentioned, I've cultivated a couple of very meaningful friendships along the road of near-bankruptcy and divorce because I was hoarding Cali's. I'm grateful for the herculean effort Ted's put in to this and am also committed to contributing in whatever modest financial way I can to see it preserved and thriving.

On that LP Axcess? Yeah, I keep it blocked and locked. The Charvel w/ a D-Tuna is also blocked to dive only because it has to be. Everything else is fully floating.

I know it's sacrilege but I avoid all that nonsense with this one. Locking nut and a blocked off Floyd actually work REALLY well for tuning stability. I dare say I really enjoy playing it more as a hard tail/fixed bridge than I did as a floating Floyd type.

Any idea what the mini-toggle switch does? Coil tap/split? Blower switch?

Two are in DBraz's hands. I've played both, was there when Mike delivered the first one and designed the inlay for his second one.

I got dinged years ago chasing down a Gibson 50th Anniv. SG Diablo w/ Floyd, though it was not on Reverb. "Severely pissed off" didn't quite cover my state of mind after that con became apparent. Ironically, a few months later, I eventually found a legit one on Reverb, residing in the UK, that I bought.

I highly recommend getting another Floyded ax. If you do (and it's for a D-Tuna), make sure it's got a hard decked (flush mounted) Floyd. Save yourself the aggravation I'm encountering with a trem stop or having to add a shim block. I have played guitars w/ fully floating Floyds for almost 4 decades and it is very f-ing challenging to go to a dive-only set up. So, I have converted 2 of my numerous soopah Strats into drop D (or C# in my case) tunings. It saves from having to forgo all the techniques I use w/ a fully floating ax but the trade off is having to lug one more ax to a show and an ax change mid set in the event I do a Drop D tune. If time and efficiency are needed, I'd like to have my San Dimas be functional and with acceptable playability standards.

If there are any experts on D-Tunas and/or EVH's set up of it out there I could use some input on how to set mine up more like Eddie's. This assumes he had his signature V-shaped, 2 spring configuration and fairly easy play to the bridge's dive. I've got my Charvel San Dimas set up with a D-Tuna, using a trem block like this: The problem I'm having is it makes a lot of noise when the Floyd is returned to pitch quickly. I need to have the spring tension be a bit heavy to keep the block from rattling against the stop (which is plastic). It also makes for slightly easier double stop bends etc. The bar then becomes a PITA to use because there's no room for finesse. No nuances or subtle techniques because I'm "muscling" the bar down. So, what's the answer to the conundrum of how to have the D-Tuna remain functional and still have adequate play to the bridge?

Don't think I contributed last year. Good for this year.

I'm neither.

I luckily never had to work with old PAR lighting set ups! 4 LED units on a tree x 2 was our usual bring-along. We had a bigger set up with the trestle and a 6 mirror reflecting gizmo and some other PAR units. Only used that 2 times in 10 years. Sold everything but the 2 Chauvet 4 unit trees.

Yup. I was the one who had to schlepp the PA gear (24 channel board, power amp, mains, stands, milk crate full cables) AND the lighting in the previous band, along with all my shit. It was the hauling it up and down my basement stairs that got to me. If I was lucky, I had another band mate to help. In most cases, it was just me. 😑

Agree with the apprehensions listed above. Reverb does offer peace of mind for buyer and sellers so, if it's a matter of making sure you get paid, I think you're okay IF it goes through the proper channels in Reverb.

I suppose it could... 🤔

As mentioned by a few on here, I also streamlined my gear due to the declining willingness/ability to hump a heavy ass cab and amp head along with 3-4 guitars and a gig bag with pedal board and other gig necessities. It's why I went to the Fractal modeling system and I haven't regretted it for a second. My FM-9 in a Gator shoulder case w/ power cable, expression pedal and humbuster cables. Gig bag with gig necessities- cables, wah pedal, microphone & XLR's, string change kit, ear plugs and/or IEM's, power strips/ extension cords, batteries, etc. 2 guitars- one Floyded 25.5", one 24.75" hard tail. One guitar stand. Depending on the venue, I sometimes bring a mic stand and a 1 x 12 Head Rush powered speaker. They work well as monitors and, in a pinch, as an amp. The only potential downside to this set up is being at the mercy of whatever FOH board and stage mains are present, to say nothing of the prowess of the sound man running it. 2 trips from the car if guitars are in gig bags w/ shoulder straps. 3 trips if stairs are involved and/or the Head Rush monitor has to be used.