So I asked a question....

I sent a message to Hipshot asking about the amount of drop one can expect out of a Hipshot bass trem. Here was the reply:

Hello Eric,

My name is Bill and I'm a Tech at Hipshot. Thank you for your question about our Bass Tremolos.
With the Bass Tremolo adjusted to the point where the plate rests against the body, the range will increase. With the arm pushed all the way forward, both the E and A string have real pitch to them. I would say that an octave plus is not a problem.
Hope this helps, let us know if there are any other questions.
Thanks!

Bill Woolery
www.hipshotproducts.com
bill@hipshotproducts.com
607-532-9404

Your thoughts, Everyone?

now my question to your question is, what are you asking us to comment on?

dropping/pulling compared to the kahler?

I guess I was curious to see if this sentence was as confusing the others as it was to me:

With the Bass Tremolo adjusted to the point where the plate rests against the body, the range will increase. With the arm pushed all the way forward, both the E and A string have real pitch to them.



Now this sentence made sense:

I would say that an octave plus is not a problem.

I just tossed it out there to see if the confusion was as obvious to everyone else.

I think he means the trem set up so that you don't get any pull up, just dive. Like a non-recessed OFR?

i think that he responded to your e mail the same way 90% of americans do their jobs ... with a minimum of concern.

EricHaven wrote:

I guess I was curious to see if this sentence was as confusing the others as it was to me:

With the Bass Tremolo adjusted to the point where the plate rests against the body, the range will increase. With the arm pushed all the way forward, both the E and A string have real pitch to them.



Now this sentence made sense:

I would say that an octave plus is not a problem.

I just tossed it out there to see if the confusion was as obvious to everyone else.

His entry makes sense to me. I think what he means is the same thing that I experience with my Hipshot trem. I have mine set with the baseplate bottomed out so that I can use my Hipshot Xtender for drop tunings yet still be able to use my trem. Both the E and A string have a considerable pitch drop when you dive, but the D and G not so much. I've also noticed that when I tune my bass a full step down and use .055-.115 strings there is even more considerable overall pitch drop than when I tune it standard with .045-.105 strings.

bass_lord_mutha wrote:

EricHaven wrote:

I guess I was curious to see if this sentence was as confusing the others as it was to me:

With the Bass Tremolo adjusted to the point where the plate rests against the body, the range will increase. With the arm pushed all the way forward, both the E and A string have real pitch to them.



Now this sentence made sense:

I would say that an octave plus is not a problem.

I just tossed it out there to see if the confusion was as obvious to everyone else.

His entry makes sense to me. I think what he means is the same thing that I experience with my Hipshot trem. I have mine set with the baseplate bottomed out so that I can use my Hipshot Xtender for drop tunings yet still be able to use my trem. Both the E and A string have a considerable pitch drop when you dive, but the D and G not so much. I've also noticed that when I tune my bass a full step down and use .055-.115 strings there is even more considerable overall pitch drop than when I tune it standard with .045-.105 strings.

is it true? no problem with the detuner or when you drop to D?

I have no experience in practice. But it makes sense to me.

When you set your detuner on your E-string to detun to D, the tension on the string decreases. As a consequence so does the tension on the tremolo bridge. When you set you hipshot tremolo bridge with the base plate bottomed out against your instruments body it can't sink any further. This would keep all other strings in tune and give you a perfectly detuned E-string.

I will go even further in my claims! You could have a detuner on every string! As long as you set your tremolo so that it is bottomed out against the instruments body with the tuning with the highest tension you should be fine. (This last option might be a bit over the top for most, but isn't that why we are here, because we are somewhat over the top?)

Owh, I forgot to mention the other side of the story, of course with the tremolo bridge bottomed out pulling up to higher notes is not possible with the tremolo (solely with bending).

Great observations, Jim. And I totally agree.

Jim wrote:

I have no experience in practice. But it makes sense to me.

When you set your detuner on your E-string to detun to D, the tension on the string decreases. As a consequence so does the tension on the tremolo bridge. When you set you hipshot tremolo bridge with the base plate bottomed out against your instruments body it can't sink any further. This would keep all other strings in tune and give you a perfectly detuned E-string.

I will go even further in my claims! You could have a detuner on every string! As long as you set your tremolo so that it is bottomed out against the instruments body with the tuning with the highest tension you should be fine. (This last option might be a bit over the top for most, but isn't that why we are here, because we are somewhat over the top?)

Owh, I forgot to mention the other side of the story, of course with the tremolo bridge bottomed out pulling up to higher notes is not possible with the tremolo (solely with bending).

I'm sorry but I don't understand "When you set you hipshot tremolo bridge with the base plate bottomed out against your instruments body it can't sink any further. This would keep all other strings in tune and give you a perfectly detuned E-string"
could you post some picture about "base plate bottomed out"?

I try to gain as much information i can get since kahler was require a real estate and hipshot trem look fit to my bass (which already equipped with hipshot detuner and I love that)

I'm very sorry, but since I do not own a Hipshot I cannot make it visual very easy. I have tried and came up with this:

There are virtually two ways of mounbting a hipshot.

1. No cavity routing.

Only rout away the room neccesary for the springs.

2. Cavity routing.

Rout away a hole the size of the bridge so you can get more semi tones to pull up with the trem.



Cavity routing is a NO GO when you want your bridge to bottom out on the body!

When you want your bridge to bottom out you have to install it as described under 1.
The second step is to adjust your springs tighter until the bridge is just resting on your bass body.

AND YOUR DONE!

When you now use your detuner, the tension on the strings becomes lower, and the trem will want to go lower as well BUT since your bridge just touches the bass body it CAN NOT SINK ANY FURTHER (the so called bottemed out tremolo bridge), thus keeping all your strings in tune.

As said, you can not use your trem to pull notes up anymore, but you can use is to dive bomb, and you can without problems keep using your hipshot detuner.

Hope this explains it! At least I gave it my best shot.

that was actually pretty good, but then I'm an english speaker as my #1 language.

Thanks man. As I said I gave it my best shot. English is only my second or maybe even third language though. I sure hope I helped SPYD3R out with this, I've got no idea how to make it more clear then this....

Jim wrote:

As said, you can not use your trem to pull notes up anymore, but you can use is to dive bomb, and you can without problems keep using your hipshot detuner.

Hope this explains it! At least I gave it my best shot.

BIG thanks Jim, it's all make sense..

so its only can happen with hipshot, not with kahler right?

kahler do up-down too?

yes Kahler will do up/down because the cam where the strings attach is suspended in the middle of the frame.