Do you like tremolos or not? - Page 2

swsman · #16 03-30-2014, 04:51 PM

Hardtail on my strat - five springs, bridge is flush with the body.
Carl Verheyen has a good video on how to set up the tremolo on Youtube.
If I decide on ever changing it I will buy a Kahler tremolo and have the body routed for it. Not a big fan of Floyds.

s2y · #17 03-30-2014, 10:32 PM

Perhaps inspired by this thread, I've been grabbing my Floyd Rose equipped guitars. Today it was my 7 string GMW as I restrung it and will be fine tuning the setup. I then grabbed some Kramer Nightswan IIs. I'm kinda debating restringing my guitars that have 9s to 10s.

Davis Webb · #18 03-31-2014, 12:35 AM

I have an Ibanez with its pretty good tremolo on it. I have mixed thoughts. Its a hassle to keep in tune. Even changing strings is a hassle with the locking nuts to deal with so always carrying an Allen key. And then you need another Allen key on the Ibby, and wire cutters, because you have to remove the ball end and open up the bridge attachment, then the whole thing goes slightly out with the new string as the other strings exert more force on the bridge. And so on.

If one is going to have a trem, than there are dozens of techniques one can use; dive bomb harmonics (metal and rock), melodic soloing (Jeff Beck, who plays somewhere over the rainbow only using the trem), surf music, and fake pedal steel licks for country, although you can do that without it.

I am tempted to block mine off. Then I watch David Gilmor and am glad I didn't.

perttime · #19 03-31-2014, 03:17 AM

Oh, you mean "vibrato" (which Leo Fender started calling tremolo)
and not "tremolo" (which Leo Fender started calling vibrato)

I used to have a guitar with a Floyd Rose. Never really got along with. So I made an exception and sold a guitar - and kept the hardtail one. I can manage without dive bombs and full chord vibratos.

stratokatsu · #20 03-31-2014, 04:08 AM

I don't like them. I've blocked down every trem I've ever had.

LouieAtienza · #21 03-31-2014, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swsman

Hardtail on my strat - five springs, bridge is flush with the body.
Carl Verheyen has a good video on how to set up the tremolo on Youtube.
If I decide on ever changing it I will buy a Kahler tremolo and have the body routed for it. Not a big fan of Floyds.

Please, don't defile your Strat by taking a chunk of wood off the top to install a Kahler! Horror story - I have a friend who got a '63 Strat for his 18th birthday and had a Kahler installed on it.... Also from experience, they work best with 9s; work just OK with 10s even after changing springs. The locknut behind the nut creates a pinch-point for the strings. And like a standard trem, if you dive enough, the ball engs slack up and reposition themselves when you return, causing the strings to go out of tune.

LouieAtienza · #22 03-31-2014, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2y

Perhaps inspired by this thread, I've been grabbing my Floyd Rose equipped guitars. Today it was my 7 string GMW as I restrung it and will be fine tuning the setup. I then grabbed some Kramer Nightswan IIs. I'm kinda debating restringing my guitars that have 9s to 10s.

Always loved the NightSwans (was Vivian Campbell fan back in the day). I had a Stagemaster arched top (custom, deluxe I forget) and Baretta II at one time. Still have two 1984 Barettas, cream and CAR. and an '82 Pacer Special with the coolest graphic ever....

s2y · #23 03-31-2014, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Always loved the NightSwans (was Vivian Campbell fan back in the day). I had a Stagemaster arched top (custom, deluxe I forget) and Baretta II at one time. Still have two 1984 Barettas, cream and CAR. and an '82 Pacer Special with the coolest graphic ever....

Kramer sounded nice and played nice. It would have been nice if they survived.

I have had these guys a while. The two in back are all original. The 3 in front were assembled from NOS parts.

TBurst Std · #24 03-31-2014, 07:37 AM

I do, though I do not use them extremely. Have a 6 point Strat, a Bigsby on a White Falcon, and a sort of a Bigsby on a Doozy Starplayer TV. All stay in tune. The setup is key.

LouieAtienza · #25 03-31-2014, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2y

Kramer sounded nice and played nice. It would have been nice if they survived.

I have had these guys a while. The two in back are all original. The 3 in front were assembled from NOS parts.

Nice... The original lightning that Viv played was actually a re-necked guitar, the body was built by a luthier in Hawaii. Never had a NightSwan, but liked the shorter scale. My two babies were at Ed Roman's who I sold then to, and now listed as NOS.. that scum....

But yes all in the setup, and knowing how to do so helps..

s2y · #26 03-31-2014, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Nice... The original lightning that Viv played was actually a re-necked guitar, the body was built by a luthier in Hawaii. Never had a NightSwan, but liked the shorter scale. My two babies were at Ed Roman's who I sold then to, and now listed as NOS.. that scum....

But yes all in the setup, and knowing how to do so helps..

Buddy Blaze built the original/prototype. Ed Roman was trash. Almost all of the Kramers, Steinbergers, and many others were seized NOS parts that he assembled as originals. The prices were all sky high and some of the combinations were simply incorrect for the time period, yet labeled as custom.

The Nightswans and ProAxe series all featured a really flat fretboard, 24 frets, and 24.75" scale. The Nightswan II and ProAxe series featured the new (at the time) Floyd Rose Pro, which I generally consider a nicer trem. The shorter scale length and Floyd Pro made for a trem that felt like a high performance sports car. My Nightswans have the lowest action I've ever seen on a guitar. Even shredders have commented that the action is too low, but it's totally buzz free. I can go from my acoustic archtop with high action and 13s to the Nightswan with 9s and low action without too much adjustment.

arie · #27 03-31-2014, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

So, do you like tremolos or not? I know there's always that song you need it in but generally speaking, do you prefer it or not? Do you use it a lot?

I have some guitars when the whammy bars on them (Floyd Rose w/lock nuts) but rarely use them so I tend to prefer the guitars without them myself.

i would like to have a nice kahler 2300 but i don't want to chop up any of my guitars. i don't like floyds -i knock them out of tune everytime i play one. i have an old charvel with a kahler 2520 but the locking nut is broken and it never did stay in tune -it has the 3 lever style string clamps that are designed poorly. i'll have to make the parts for it though as they are no longer made. one of these days i'll get to it.

i wouldn't say that i prefer one, and my current favorites don't have one, but i'd like a decent one someday, i'm just not in a hurry.

Sombras · #28 03-31-2014, 11:17 AM

I cut my teeth on a Floyd Rose equipped flying V back in the 80s and I feel like I got pretty good with it. Once the dive bomb sickness subsided, I realized it could be used tastefully as an accent and didn't have to overpower my playing. Fast forward twenty years and I got my Strat. I loved having the trem again, but constantly having to fine-tune diminished my excitement for playing. Several set-ups from knowledgable guys resulting in my being told that to enjoy the tremolo, I'd have to settle for some tuning instability. Heck with that. I screwed in the claw, slapped five springs on it, and decked the bridge. Voila--no more tuning problems and I love that guitar.

LouieAtienza · #29 03-31-2014, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2y

Buddy Blaze built the original/prototype. Ed Roman was trash. Almost all of the Kramers, Steinbergers, and many others were seized NOS parts that he assembled as originals. The prices were all sky high and some of the combinations were simply incorrect for the time period, yet labeled as custom.

The Nightswans and ProAxe series all featured a really flat fretboard, 24 frets, and 24.75" scale. The Nightswan II and ProAxe series featured the new (at the time) Floyd Rose Pro, which I generally consider a nicer trem. The shorter scale length and Floyd Pro made for a trem that felt like a high performance sports car. My Nightswans have the lowest action I've ever seen on a guitar. Even shredders have commented that the action is too low, but it's totally buzz free. I can go from my acoustic archtop with high action and 13s to the Nightswan with 9s and low action without too much adjustment.

Buddy Blaze.... Yes couldn't remember the name! My Stegemaster had a FR Pro, and the low profile tail was a huge improvement. I think when EVH left around 1988 that spelled the end for Kramer; they were for a time the largest electric guitar manufacturer! After EVH, some maligned ideas like endorsees Gorky Park. I heard stories about the Neptune, NJ "factory" that could be the story for a Larry Flynt dive. They did associate with some great local luthiers like Paul Unkert and Phil Petillo, but everything 1981-closing was parts subbed out (necks from hockey stick manufacturer LaSiDo and ESP), one of the reasons EVH broke ties. Eddie really went aboard because Kramer was smart enough to be the exclusive distributor of the Floyd Rose in '81; but by '86 other manufacturers were able to get one.

I was a Roman's Fairfield shop, and you wouldn't believe what I saw there; for all his rants he was pretty hypocritical. He (or his shop since he'd passed on) also has the largest stash of NOS BC Rich stuff (including neck-thrus) I've ever seen. Not to mention the J. Frog guitars he sells with Kramer neckplates.

s2y · #30 03-31-2014, 12:01 PM

How are you guys knocking Floyds out of tune? Mine stay in tune a really long time once the strings are stretched. The amount of fine tuning is minimal, compared to my fixed bridge guitars and a heck of a lot less than my Bigsby guitar. It's generally time to replace the strings if they're needing a lot of fine tuning.