Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

When playing Shadows music the vibrato arm is more or less exclusively used to dip the tone. Only the slight constant vibrato you get while holding the arm at all times use a dip-raise tone.

Thus you can adjust the bridge so that it is almost level with the guitar body when in the resting position. This has the effect that the strings will require considerably more pull to cause the bridge to move which gives less problems with the strings going out of tune when using the vibrato (talking about strats here)

I agree completely Goran, this is a good set up for this style of playing.

A bigger block also helps considerably with sustain especially those blocks that are countersunk just enough at the bottom to allow the ball end of the string to be inside. Compare this to more modern stock stratocaster blocks that have the strings set far into the block thereby reducing the sustain.

Fender has made bigger blocks in more recent times but Callaham has got it perfectly right in my view with regard to the use of cold rolled steel and shallow countersinking.