Supervee Bladerunner

Started by aliensporebomb, January 13, 2012, 08:28:01 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

aliensporebomb

I just installed it tonight.  Stay tuned:



In brief:

-Guitar seems acoustically louder.
-Guitar seems to sustain longer.
-Tuning stability better of course.

I'll be reporting how this does with the VG and the guitar-to-midi feature on that box in the near future, I'm shot from being at my day gig all day and then installing this, getting it set-up and playing for several hours.  More tomorrow!
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

musicman65


aliensporebomb

So I received the Bladerunner yesterday afternoon:



It comes in a cardboard cylindrical tube with two plastic end caps that are stapled in place to prevent loss of the contents.

Inside are the following items:



You also get installation instructions as well as a Supervee sticker for your guitar case or car bumper.

Everything is highly polished chrome except the tremelo block of the bladerunner:



The old stock tremelo on this particular guitar sits in place with six phillips screws.

The backside of the whole works looked like this - the tremelo block was heavy, dull metal.



I removed the entire works and test fitted the Bladerunner to the instrument as shown:



The Bladerunner that I bought uses four screws instead of six.  It intonates similarly to any modern stratocaster bridge as far as bridge
height and saddle positioning.  The bridge comes with two allen wrenches to adjust this. 

Oddly my bridge was perfectly intonated out of the box - no adjustment required.


Here's a picture of it freshly installed:



Part of the process of the install is removing the stock tremelo claw so I had to detach the ground wire soldered to it:



Here is the new claw with the new springs connected to the Bladerunner.  The nylon screw towards the bottom of the picture is used to adjust his tight or loose the tremelo bar is.



All strung up and ready to go:



My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

aliensporebomb

#3
Here's another view of the guitar with the bar installed.

Happily, the bar extends farther away from the body of the guitar and I'm very happy about that - the stock tremelo bar lies flat and often collided with the top and edge of the GK3.  This is a much happier solution and the bar screws into place and can be as loose or tight as one would like:



A final shot:



The first thing I noticed about the setup was the guitar seemed much louder acoustically. 
This was unexpected.
If I play a note and touch the whammy bar, I can feel the note vibrating in the tip of the bar.  It's freaky.

The other thing I noticed is everything felt "tighter" - not so loose so the bridge seems to sit on the guitar with more pressure.  It seems more tightly coupled so several things improve.

The guitar used to have a sort of "distant" sound to it under heavy overdrive and everything became more present and chimey clean or dirty.

Weirdly because the tone block is made of a lighter material the whole guitar feels about half a pound lighter.

The bridge can be set to float and it can be set to just go downward in pitch.

The bridge assembly seems to sit more integrated with the guitar so you will hear louder acoustic tone, it will sustain longer and the added bonus is the tuning stabilty:  the design is frictionless so when you raise or lower the bar the "blade" forces a true "return to
zero" action.  If the nut is set up properly there's no locking nut required.

My recommendation: if you have a strat with a stock tremelo system this will improve things.  And you can go back to stock if you find you don't like.  That's a real beauty of the system - with Floyd systems lots of guitars underwent surgery that never were able to back to stock configuration without sings of their alteration - if I want I could go back to stock in 30 minutes and nobody would ever know I had a
Super Vee on the guitar.

I've done some conventional audio tests as well as tests with the VG-99 and everything seems improved.  Anyone want to hear a tune I put together using the setup just to get a feel for the sound?



My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

paults

Sure - let's hear it :)


What tremolo was on it before the Super Vee?

notnomiistakes

sound sample for sure.  thanks fo posting

aliensporebomb

Just a stock Fender tremelo. 

Here's a minute or so of clean playing followed by a minute or so of dirty playing on various settings thru my mesa studio preamp and tc electronic g sharp setup for a little reverb.

You'll notice the longer held dirty notes carry on a lot more than they would have with a standard tremelo.  I was monitoring this thru
my studio monitors at about a conversational volume level.

The other thing I like about this is besides the rest of the benefits is I practice a lot without plugging in so raising the acoustic volume of
the guitar was a nice bonus for my practice sessions.

Anyway, just a bunch of licks, not really a tune or anything.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

musicman65

Alien,

glad to hear the Super-Vee BladeRunner is delivering even better results than you expected. That was my take on the original locking Super-Vee. Their build quality is excellent. The bridge is screwed down tight and flexes through a spring "blade" so the sonic coupling to the body really makes the guitar sing. Awesome!

bd


aliensporebomb

Right.  The other thing I noticed that made me think I was hearing things at first is it seems like there's almost like a reverb in the guitar now - the guitar is louder but the springs are somehow coupled to the bridge in such a way that it is like a built-in-natural-spring reverb. 

I thought I was crazy at first but it's great - it gives the guitar a lot more character and response.  Anyway, yeah, if I upgrade this one it will be to the full-on Super-Vee.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

mbenigni

The Bladerunner completely transformed my RRStrat.  It was a decent guitar before the swap, but it's basically my #1 now.  A $400 mexican strat is my #1, how awesome is that!  I commented a lot on my impressions in this thread, if anyone is interested:  https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3778.0

Also just wrote a bit about the SuperVee MagLok, which I installed last night, here:  https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=4565.msg35224#msg35224

aliensporebomb

As an update: here's a little MP3 with a fresh set of the Ernie Ball cobalt strings and various clean clips, distorted clips and synthy clips with the SuperVee installed:

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

notnomiistakes

Nice work aliensporebomb.  you are super good.  what control and of course and what a great ear you have.  these are much to my liking & much shorter for my attention span too.  much more interesting. fav clips are from beginning to about 2/3's thru.  awesomesk!!!

curious did you see the Carl Verheyen 'Stratocaster Whammy Bar Setup Secrets'.  if so would that work on Supervee Bladerunner?  if i had a strat it would work on i would try it.  anway what are your thoughts.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=4565.0

mbenigni

#12
Quote from: notnomiistakes on March 29, 2012, 10:12:25 PM
curious did you see the Carl Verheyen 'Stratocaster Whammy Bar Setup Secrets'.  if so would that work on Supervee Bladerunner?  if i had a strat it would work on i would try it.  anway what are your thoughts.

It's absolutely possible.  The bladerunner is essentially a traditional strat bridge with a better pivot design.  The claw and springs are the same.  In fact, if you read the thread you linked in full, I comment at length about having set up a bladerunner-equipped RR strat per Verheyen's recommendations, and then about a variation that I prefer.

aliensporebomb

Thanks for the nice words.

As far as the Supervee - it's really insane.  I set it up per the directions and it's the most stable non-locking trem I've ever experienced.  I mean, it's silly.  I can go nuts and it doesn't really go out.  I did angle the claw a little ala Carl V's way of doing it and I concentrate mainly on playing rather than tuning.  It's a joy!  Check it out.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

notnomiistakes

Quote from: mbenigni on March 30, 2012, 06:37:11 AM
It's absolutely possible........In fact, if you read the thread you linked in full, I comment at length about having set up a bladerunner-equipped RR strat per Verheyen's recommendations, and then about a variation that I prefer.
Totally forgot did read back then.  remember being impressed. 

notnomiistakes

aliensporebomb looked at photos i didn't see much of an angle that's why i asked. the important thing is it's staying in tune.  I'm really liking it from your feedback and others.  for my next strat. 

aliensporebomb

I set mine up to float so I can pull up and push down ala Jeff Beck in his recent strat trem explorations (except, no way can I play like that guy).

I took a quick side view pulling the GK3 cable up a little....

Does that picture help at all?  I could have gone more extreme with the bending up but the only "downside" if there is one is that the tremelo block is larger than the original and thus the amount I can bend down isn't like a Floyd Rose where you can go completely slack.  It's at least an octave though.   
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

notnomiistakes

Quote from: aliensporebomb on April 04, 2012, 06:40:38 PM
I set mine up to float so I can pull up and push down ala Jeff Beck in his recent strat trem explorations (except, no way can I play like that guy).

I took a quick side view pulling the GK3 cable up a little....

Does that picture help at all? 
@ your January 14, 2012, 08:46:32 PM post - I meant the 4th 7th, 8th  photos  down showing the claw.  my friend nailed it with his american strat just like CV whammy video.  if you're happy that's fine.  just thought it would be cool to have special pitch settings when you whammy it like Carl V or mbenigni's 'Stratocaster Whammy Bar Setup Secrets' post.  i just watched his again. 
CV's
g string minor 3rd
b string whole step
e 1st string half step

mbenigni's
1st   Major 2nd
2nd  Minor 3rd
3rd   perfect 4th (!)
4th   ~Major 3rd
5th   ~perfect 4th
6th   ~Major 3rd

notnomiistakes

listened again to you last mp3 and think you're getting to be such an expert with your luxe orchestra patch(es).  i assume is what you're using starting at about the 3 minute mark. this luxe orchestra is definitely my all time fav of your recordings 

aliensporebomb

#19
Quote from: notnomiistakes on April 05, 2012, 03:45:22 AM
listened again to you last mp3 and think you're getting to be such an expert with your luxe orchestra patch(es).  i assume is what you're using starting at about the 3 minute mark. this luxe orchestra is definitely my all time fav of your recordings

In that recording the "synthy" patches are downloadable at the following links:

2:51-3:46 is this patch:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=4852.0

3:44-4:24 is this patch:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=4752.0

4:24-4:44 is this patch:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=4376.0

4:45-6:12 is this patch:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=5725.0

6:19-6:39 is this patch
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=5119.0

6:40 and onwards I'm not sure I've uploaded this one - I'm still kind of working on that one.....

Glad you like them, download and see how they work for you!
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

notnomiistakes

aliensporebomb, good to know thanks

merman93

I installed the Bladerunner on my mex Deluxe Players Strat, and it Is by far the best direct replacement trem for a strat. Besides increased tuning stability, and smooth vibrato, the increase in Sustain is one of the best benefits. All of these features are also necessary for accurate guitar synth operation.

One note though. I had to retain the original claw. I don't know if it's a Mexican Strat thing, but the screw holes for the claw did not match up and I wasn't prepared to plug one of holes and redrill, so I just kept the Fender claw,.. No effect in usage etc.,, but wanted to make a note of it.
Ibanez RG 1520 GK
Ibanez RG 420 GK
Ibanez RG 920 (GK KIT)
Ibanez RGA 121 (GK 3)
Fender Deluxe Players Strat (GK KIT)
Roland GC 1/G 505/G 707
Hamer Phantom A7 (24 pin)
BX 13 (24 -13 pin converter)
GP-10
FishmanTripleplay (2)
VG 88 2.0
Apple Imac/Logic 9
MOTU Utralite 3
Kemper (2)
Gemini 2 Active FRFR

aliensporebomb

And that's odd too since my strat is a MIM FSR (Fender special run) that the new claw fit fine.  Interestingly, the sustain and loudness increase just makes the guitar more fun to play.  If the guitar seems a bit dead, this will liven it up.  If it's already lively, it will be much more so after the bladerunner is installed.  FYI.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

merman93

#23
I also replaced the tuners at the same time I replaced the trem. I went with Gotoh HAP-M, vintage style. They were also direct replacement, no redrilling the holes etc.,, just remove old, install new. They are Height adjustable, and have the New version of Magnum Lock. Some people have had issues with the way these lock, but to me, the trade off with direct replacement was better for me. I don't need the string tree now, but until I have the time to plug the little hole, and sand it down, I'm still using it.

The combination of Bladerunner, and locking tuners has really improved this Strat, (  I'm afraid Im going to be a bit dissapointed when I get my new GC 1 next week, at least until I can get another Bladerunner, and locking tuners for the newbie).

Here's a shot of Claw hole issue,..the original Fender is still installed, Bladerunner Claw setting on top to show how holes do not align.



And here's a shot of Bladerunner, and Gk Kit installed in Fender Deluxe Player Strat Mexie




Ibanez RG 1520 GK
Ibanez RG 420 GK
Ibanez RG 920 (GK KIT)
Ibanez RGA 121 (GK 3)
Fender Deluxe Players Strat (GK KIT)
Roland GC 1/G 505/G 707
Hamer Phantom A7 (24 pin)
BX 13 (24 -13 pin converter)
GP-10
FishmanTripleplay (2)
VG 88 2.0
Apple Imac/Logic 9
MOTU Utralite 3
Kemper (2)
Gemini 2 Active FRFR

aliensporebomb

I've GOT to get a GK kit installed in my strat.  Then I can get my GK3 set up on another guitar. 
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.