Guitar players: What tremelo do you prefer?

Really for that type of stuff a good nut and good locking machine heads work wonders. A lot of the time you won't even need to yank the trem bridge which is usually a much more complicated affair.

When the first finger gets tired you can switch to another.

Just a bump since I've yet to get an actual choice here!  My next guitar will have a trem, but not another Original Floyd Rose.  I'd like to get something a bit less obtrusive that looks cleaner too.  Wilkinson maybe?  Don't know - hence the question.

ya, sorry craig. It's such a huge question and everyone responds differently to different stuff. I actually gave up on trems YEARS ago because they were just too much maintenance work for what I did and the amount of gigging/abuse that was going on. As zungle mentioned Gotoh stuff is supposed to be quite nice. The most impressive locking style system I've encountered recently was on an Ernie Ball Music Man. Not sure what they use but it was nice. IDK... swing by the local shop and check out the different whammies and see what you like. It's a very personal thing. I didn't think I'd ever use a tremolo again but the simple stock trem on my Yammie, although certainly not perfect, has been getting used quite frequently. I used to just bend the neck to do my dives. Surprised I never snapped a rod doing it. lol

the Wilkinson trems get pretty good reviews, i think as long as well set up with a decent nut, and locking tuners, there's no reason why that wouldn't stand up to a decent amount of use. There are other option too, such as the Tremsetter http://hipshotproducts.co...ry/tremsetter-faq.html and the Tremel-No http://www.tremol-no.com/products.asp which can aid tuning stability. And didn't PRS or someone have a trem which was 'locked' when the arm was in the down position and became floating when you used it? or something like that.

Thanks for the replies!  My luthier is partial to the Wilkinsons which is why I brought that one up.  I'll have to go research the Gotoh's.  Basically, I can put anything on the next custom guitar and, since Space Cowboy now owns the last guitar I had with a trem, I need one on the new axe.  Here's my list of hopes and dreams:

- I need the ability to toy with sounds (without bending the neck - lol!)
- I can avoid the need to dive bomb
- I might like a little play up but, for the most part, I only bend down
- I don't want something that is always putting me out of tune or takes a lot of effort to maintain
- I don't want something that sucks all the tone out of the guitar
- I'd like something that doesn't dominate the front of a nice custom guitar with a ton of metal!

(Not asking for too much I hope!)

Hi Craig,

I'll give you my take for what it's worth and give you some tips and tricks as well. :)

For insane dive bombs and pulling up, in my opinion nothing tops Floyd or the Ibanez trems. They simply work incredible for stuff like that and are very easy to maintain if you knowhow to handle them. But, since you're not interested in those...let's go another way. :)

From what I'm getting out of your post, you're not looking at extreme "Vai" type stuff. If that's the case, just about anything will work for you. I would also recommend the Wilkinson as to me, it feels better than any trem out there and never loses an ounce of sustain. The problem with it for me, it just doesn't stay in tune enough for me. This could be due to how I tune real low, but no matter what tuning I've used, this trem just seems to remain a few increments out for me.

To solve stuff like this, I always use new springs and greese them up with lithium. I like to use 3 springs and make them look like a V with one spring in the middle. So it should look like this.

\|/

If you want less slippage in the nut, go with graphite and with any bar that will be used a bit, I recommend Sperzel locking tuners. They lock at the tuning pegs, so there is no need for a locking nut nor do you need to worry about slippage. Your only concern at this point should be, if you want your bar to be able to bend up and down, it will need to be flush with the body. If you are jack-knifing forward or backwards, you usually ALWAYS get a tuning issue because the springs never let themselves get back to a normal position.

A true fix for bar and tuning issues is to just lock it back so you can't pull up with it. Another good thing about this...the trem assembly is no longer floating. Therefore, if you break a string, you can still use this guitar and finish out a song. Do that on a Floyd or something else where it's a flaoting trem (the new Ibanez solves this problem...amazing piece of kit, that new one) and your entire guitar will be out of tune to where you must grab another to finish the song.

But if your luthier is good with the Wilk, definitely go that route man...and just make sure you use locking tuners and you'll never have a tuning issue. You may not be able to beat that Wilk up like a Floyd, but it doesn't sound to me that you want to. You're looking at using it in between a Floyd and a Bigsby, right? If so, a Wilk set up right with locking tuners will be perfect for you in my opinion.

I actually hated that the Wilk I had wouldn't work for me. I bought a Carvin with one installed on it and had it build for the Wilk. It just wouldn't stay in tune the way I tune...and many other friends of mine had the same problem with the trem when using it with dropped tunings. Not matter what springs or setting we used, it just didn't want to cooperate. Good luck brother...hope this helps.

Ah wait...some of the Kahler stuff is pretty good too. What I like about their trems is they allow you to adjust each string at the saddle. This is great if you like custom action per string without using the entire bridge up/down to adjust things. I have a few of these set up so good, they are nearly as good as my Floyds...I can even make them do that flutter sound which is really hard to do on a Kahler unless it's a Kahler Spyder series...which is like a Floyd. :)

-Danny

That's an easy one trimph, bar set up right and a wah pedal brother. :) Here's an example.

I got together with a prog band and did this song. The whole thing is 12 mins long...so I'll spare you (really killer though as it keeps interest the whole way through) but here's a snippet of the solo section using that wah/trem bar technique. It's pretty cool....every time I hear it, I go "meow meow meow meow" and it just cracks me up. :)

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4909348/EpochSolo1.mp3

-Danny

There are cool little set-up tricks you can use there trimph...if I can keep my stuff in tune, anyone can. Ever see the video I posted with my strings going to complete slack? LOL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEa5yL1B7xc

-Danny

bapu


Danny,

Are you feeling all right? I mean are you coming down with something.

Your post was only one sentence.




BTW, your vid says it's "private". No can view.

Sorry Ed....doing like 100 things at once...figured I posted enough in the first comment on this. LOL!
 
Yeah my bad on the vid, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEa5yL1B7xc&hd=1
 
-Danny

Just yankin' yer chain bro.

Here's mine.... on the 69 SG.




I took the whammy bar off because I don't use this tremelo gizmo.   If I use it for more then a very very mild pitch waver, it will put the strings so badly out of tune I will need to stop and retune.  I quit using and removed the bar so as to avoid the temptation to reach down when I was getting into the music and give her a wank..... 

Actually, this guitar will hold tune excellent..... but break a string.... and its game over. The other 5 go out instantly and the guitar is a bear to try to finish the song if you are on stage. I used to change strings to a new set on a weekly basis when I played professionally so I would not have those embarrassing episodes very often. 

 All my other guitars have been whammy bar free.... intentionally.  With them it's all in the fingers... or grab the neck and slap it around a bit like a dirty mule. 

I like my trem set up like Jeff Beck. High. I dread breaking a string though !

Cheers,
Jerry

Danny Danzi

bapu


Danny,

Are you feeling all right? I mean are you coming down with something.

Your post was only one sentence.




BTW, your vid says it's "private". No can view.

Sorry Ed....doing like 100 things at once...figured I posted enough in the first comment on this. LOL!
 
Yeah my bad on the vid, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEa5yL1B7xc&hd=1
 
-Danny

What this?  A steel linguine video?  Where's the 12 minute prog song?  Now THAT would be fun!

Guitar hacker... That is cruel and unusual punishment. I miss my 73 SG with bigsby.