Recently I was at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, NJ filming the last 6 or so reviews that we posted, and while talking to studio proprietor Kevin Antreassian the conversation turned to the subject of EverTune bridges. It turned out that hanging on the wall was the ESP that Ben Weinman used to test out the system before committing to one in his signature model. So we asked Kevin to give us a quick rundown of what it is and how it works.

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It was nice to see that although he had it set to essentially zero vibrato (which could be really useful in some situations, because I often have to watch out for unintentional bends when I’m playing some jazzy chord with a 6th and 9th or something in it), you can alternatively have the EverTune configured to allow all the bends you want.

So if you’re looking at the new ESP Ben Weinman or Ken Susi models, or are just planning on installing an EverTune in a guitar you currently own, check out Kevin’s take on it below.

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Chris Alfano has written about music and toured in bands since print magazines and mp3.com were popular. Once in high-school he hacked a friend's QBasic stick figure fighting game to add a chiptune metal soundtrack. Random attractive people still give him high-fives about that.

Latest comments
  • This is literally the dumbest thing that has ever existed.

    • How do you figure? Your guitar literally can’t go out of tune.

      • It takes ALL of the feeling out of a guitar performance. Literal auto-tune for a guitar, in real time. Also, the argument about it being great for frequent fliers is fucked too because fluctuations in temperature, humidity, air pressure, etc. affect the truss rod first which directly affects tuning. Guitars with this bridge will be constantly mis-diagnosed for poor performance.

        • Except that it does compensate for truss rod changes. You should consider trying the product before spewing shit about it.

        • Except it doesn’t have to “auto-tune” you. He has it set up that way now, but you can also set it up to allow as much vibrato as you want.

        • You clearly don’t play guitar

        • A second point: the auto-tune analogy really doesn’t hold up because a guitar is a mechanical instrument and nowhere near as human as a voice or even a horn. Yes, for leads and melody lines and etc you want the ability to bend, and as I said below you can certainly set it up to allow that, but for the genres of music that we cover let’s be honest: most rhythm guitarists DO only play the 12 chromatic notes the majority of the time and would love to be perfectly hitting those notes. So in a recording environment especially (when you don’t have to worry about that one section of your song with a bend in it because you can switch guitars for that part), an EverTune can be an invaluable time saver. Nothing kills your workflow like chasing tuning problems.

          All that said, when we’re talking about how an EverTune can negate the damage done by holding a chord badly and bending it out of tune, I could see the argument against tools that clean up after sloppy playing. Our generation certainly doesn’t need the level of professionalism required to be a recording artist in the ’60s. I might feel a little guilty about using an EverTune to prevent pulling chords out of tune for the same reason that I refuse to use fret wraps or drum quantization. But that’s a rabbit hole that goes deep. You can’t be a total recording purist unless you’re tracking a full band live, no punches, no edits. And pretty much no one in the heavy music scene is doing that.

          • Well the biggest downside I see to this device is the massive hole you punch in the guitar. It’s worse than a Floyd. As far as function if it works as they say then great, but it’s new so I still have reliability concerns. How will they hold up after 10-15 years of use. Im old school and love the Ibanez edge (original) over most others, but that’s just me.

          • I think if a devise can make it through one tour with Ben Weinman it’ll probably hold up really fucking well.

          • Probably so, but truth be told I’m not really interested in one so I suppose I’ll find reasons to ignore it. Though if you break a tune o matic you’ve done something really wrong or really right.

          • It’s actually not worse than a floyd, it’s exactly the same as a Floyd.
            I just got one installed in a Prestige 7 string RG; and it actually sounds infinitely better.
            Sustain is better, tone is much fuller, harmonics ring out longer, pinch harmonics are instantly louder and fuller and ring out much much longer.
            I had a Lo Pro Edge 7 string version with an upgraded brass block from F-U too, but in comparison to this it sounded so thin with crap sustain. I literally only have one complaint about it and I’m getting it addressed with them right now, so hopefully after it’s solved it will be perfect.

        • lol at all these old people who don’t realize how banging this shit is. it aint auto tune yo, this aint even like that min-e-tune bullshit gibsons been pushing on all their guitars, this is some good shit right here, you best be wising up to that knowwhatimsayin?

          • Is this you?

          • Fuk u nigga

        • What planet are you living on? It its literally nothing like auto-tune for guitar. It keeps your guitar perfectly in tune through consistent tension. Have you ever even tracked guitar? Ten times out of ten, a guitarist has to stop and tune quite often. Some guitars can’t stay in tune no matter how many times they have been adjusted. Perhaps it would be to your benefit to be less opinionated about gear, especially when you’ve probably never even tried it out. I wonder what you think about

        • You’re an imbecile…It doesn’t “autotune” you it plays and feels just like a standard hard tail bridge. You can vibrato and bend all you want. And you’re an even bigger imbecile by saying that fluctuations in the truss-rod will effect the tuning on a guitar with an Evertune bridge — because it doesn’t. How about actually trying one before you spout all these debunked myths online? Literally every criticism you have said is 100% nonsense as in NOT TRUE!

    • Yea what are you talking about? For studio applications this is every guitarists dream. You never have to tune. Do you know how much time that saves when recording? And as Kevin stated in the video, for tracking rhythm it’s a God send too, as you can set it so that you do not bend chords a bit out of tune.

  • How much of a pain in the ass are these bridges for setups? The thing that keeps me with hardtail guitars in general is that I’m fairly lazy and cheap, and they’re pretty easy to set up. Is the Evertune in that ballpark or is it fairly involved like a Floyd? How easy is it to change string gauges or tunings?

    • Setup is easier than a Floyd and marginally more involved than a hard tail. The biggest difference is when you set the saddle height and string length you also need to reset the tension on the saddle to ensure that the string is tuned (similar to a floyd in that respect) however unlike a floyd you don’t need to block and unblock or buy any extra contraptions.

      I found when I last set mine up that it was a three step adjustment for each string: set the tension, set the intonation/action, set the tension, takes almost no time and once you do it you can change strings until the cows come home (provided the strings are the same size and brand.) The allen key you need to adjust the saddle height, string tension and string length comes in the box and if you lose it any 2.5 mm allen key will work. But the one in the box is pretty and shaped like the Evertune logo (so don’t lose it!)

      The guitar I have with an Evertune on it came with a faulty saddle module so I got to learn all about it the hard way.

      • Awesome, thanks! There’s a ton of info out there on how well these things stay in tune but not a lot on the nitty gritty of owning one, so your reply is appreciated.

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