Guitarzan Posted March 31, 2002 Share Posted March 31, 2002 i noticed some wild reviews on the callaham trem block on HC , and i am wondering if anyone has benefited from upgrading thier trem blocks from cast zinc to real steel? or how about you guys and gals who retrofitted a wilkinson in place of your standard trem? i feel this is highly overlooked as a tone enhancement. the question is..trem mods and tone improvements....ready set goooooo http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=193274 rock it, i will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboDog Posted March 31, 2002 Share Posted March 31, 2002 I have my Floyd Rose tightened all the way back, so it doesn't float. I never could get it to stay perfectly in tune when it floated. I would have blocked it, but I just tightened the screws in the back and did a set-up on the guitar to set intonation and action and it's perfect now. I will probably never have another guitar with a tremolo. Just too much bother and I hardly ever use it. If anything, I'll get a tremolo pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarzan Posted March 31, 2002 Author Share Posted March 31, 2002 i am partial to trems , seeing all my past guitars have had them. i have only owned maybe 3 that didn't have trems. anyhow what i am refering to is the actual trem block or" inertia block" as leo fender called it, you know the part you feed the strings through before they go over the saddles. this of course does't apply on a floyd rose. "blocking the trem" is another issue altogether, i have done what you do , which is put it flat to the body. only one guitar i had worked withit floating. that was my yamaha pacifica 812 w. the W is for wilkinson. sweet trem. but i don't know how much effect it had on the guitar because it was factory installed. i am trying to find out if it has an effect on tone over the standard use of cast zinc block equipped trems ..ie fender etc. from what i gather the old vintage fenders had a steel block( probably one of the tone secrets) . if you think about it the strings pass vibrations through the saddles, and the block into the springs and then the body, oh yeah the 6 screws that the callaham block comes with are case hardened. i see this clearly, quality metal will give good tone transfer. wood is very important , but it seems that hardware isn't thought of being important in the manufacturing world. check out the callaham trem reviews on harmony central, you will find them under the guitar section. i welcome all info positive and negative info. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=193274 rock it, i will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baronedo Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 To get a Floating Trem to work, install a Tremsetter aftermarket trem stabilizer (see Hipshotproducts.com). This thing really works when properly installed and adjusted. It's compression is adjustable and works like a stabilizer to return the guitar't trem to zero after use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog951 Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 Originally posted by guitarzan: i noticed some wild reviews on the callaham trem block on HC , and i am wondering if anyone has benefited from upgrading thier trem blocks from cast zinc to real steel? or how about you guys and gals who retrofitted a wilkinson in place of your standard trem? i feel this is highly overlooked as a tone enhancement. the question is..trem mods and tone improvements....ready set goooooo I looked into the Callaham trem as a replacement for my Mexi Strat. It looks REALLY nice but, at the last minute, I decided it was too much $$$ for such a cheap guitar (besides, I'd just spent $200 on EMGs for the damn thing!). So, I decided to go with a Stewart MacDonald trem instead. I know nothing about what metals are used in the sustain blocks of the two bridges, but I can tell you my new bridge weighs significantly more than the stocker. Since I upgraded pickups and bridge at the same time, it's kinda hard to tell the effect the bridge had on tone by itself. All I can say is that the guitar sounds MUCH better now. Loads of sustain compared to before - not sure how much the active electronics are helping with that. Also, the new trem feels very solid and it "trems" really smoothly. I was careful with the way I set it up and it really paid off for a change. My American Strat hasn't even been out of its case since the MIM Strat was upgraded. None more black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarzan Posted April 2, 2002 Author Share Posted April 2, 2002 i would guess stew mac uses better metal, if you have more sustain its probably the trem, seeing pickups can only produce what is allready there. is there a sustain and tone improvement when you play it unplugged? i should check out stew mac, did you get the vintage one or a two post american standard style? i am familiar with the trem setter, but my last term equipped guitar had a wilkinson and it was fantastic , i could even palm mute and it was stable. the saddles lock down and add to the tone, i am getting the feeling i need to upgrade my trem. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=193274 rock it, i will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog951 Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 Originally posted by guitarzan: i would guess stew mac uses better metal, if you have more sustain its probably the trem, seeing pickups can only produce what is allready there. is there a sustain and tone improvement when you play it unplugged? i should check out stew mac, did you get the vintage one or a two post american standard style? i am familiar with the trem setter, but my last term equipped guitar had a wilkinson and it was fantastic , i could even palm mute and it was stable. the saddles lock down and add to the tone, i am getting the feeling i need to upgrade my trem. Mine is the vintage style...I wanted to make it an easy swap. Of course, it didn't turn out that way. The spacing of the six mounting holes was completely different between the new and old trems. I had to fill the old screw holes in the guitar body and drill new ones of the proper spacing. If I'd known the holes weren't gonna match, I probably woulda just gotten a friggin' Wilkinson. Anyway, unplugged, the guitar definitely feels more "lively" for lack of a better term. For strings I use .009s (yes, I'm a puss) and with two trem springs installed, it's just barely floating...the claw is screwed down almost all the way. I'm thinking aout a trem-setter myself... None more black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peel Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 man I am sooo all over this topic...see my top 5 upgrades to MIJ strat post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baronedo Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 With respect to Rog 951's reply indicating he is thinking of getting a Tremsetter, I would highly recommend it. As this topic was started to address tone, I forgot to mention the tone and intonation improvement you will get with a Tremsetter. The standard floating tremolo is not very stable and the string pitch will waiver as the bridge is always moving, ever so minutely when you are playing during non-trem use (you can hook up an electronic tuner to verify this). The tremsetter really imparts stability to the point where, when properly adjusted, it makes the "floating" bridge perform more like a fixed bridge. The benefits you get from this are no pitch waiver (unless you are using the trem), better sustain, and ability to bend notes with less effort - with a standard floating trem, some finger energy is lost in sagging the bridge during bending. I've found that by and large, people who have criticized the Tremsetter really don't know how to adjust them. I once brought my Tremsetter equipped Strat, which I had properly set up, to the dealer's guitar tech to fix an electronic warranty problem. The guitar tech told me that he fixed the electronic problem and also adjusted the setup of my guitar (which burned me up). He then said that he hates Tremsetters as he could never get them to work. During the process or readjusting my setup, I found out why the tech could not get Tremsetters to work. He had fully released the string loaded stop collar (which loads the stablizer compression spring) which in effect TOTALLY DEACTIVATED THE TREMSETTER. I had to set up the guitar again and my stable tuning returned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peel Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 tremsetter=hipshot??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steevo Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 I bought the TremSetter on advice from some on the board here. Maybe I just don't understand how it is supposed to work. I have a Floyd Rose on my cheap Ibanez Roadstar II. It stays in tune great. The ONLY thing I don't like about it is when bending, the other strings go flat. This is not a huge deal but I thought the TremSetter would help this. It didn't. It also made the trem feel really clunky (not smooth). I guess I didn't realize that I 'up trem' that much so it ruined the feel for me. I took it right back out. Where did I go wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 Steevo, the TremSetter does just that: keep the bridge stable while bending strings, even on a Floyd Rose. It also helps with palm muting. I don't have one, but I tried a friend's (with a floyd) setup with a TremSetter, and it works great! I should get one for my Ibanez RG560, but it's not a high priority for me just yet. Hoping to score an Austin Les Paul copy in a few months... just tried one at a store in NYC a few blocks from Music row on 48th St. (college d00d here, see http://www.stlouismusic.com for more details) sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexGtr Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 I have several floyd rose equiped guitars. Most guys that dislike floyds have: 1-Played one but went sharp during palm muting 2-Had one installed incorrectly a)The pin point of where to drill is crucial for the floating bridge. b)The nut must be in the right spot for proper intonation With my floating trems I can pull up on the G 8 semitones or drop the strings completely off, I even remove the two springs and pop the bridge out with the strings dangling from the neck & pop it back in just to show guys the tuning-100%. I don't have to tune my guitars, just the odd check and tweek. For tuning I always tap the bar a little down and I go by that position for playing and tuning. I don't like the tremsetters personally, (It kills the flutter) if strings go flat while I'm bending, that's just something you deal with. For blocking, (I don't like blocking) if I break a string I grab another guitar. But I haven't ever broken new strings, just ones that have been on for a while. For tone, pickups and wood play just as much a part of the overall tone as the amp, pedals, racks, cords, strings, picks, bridge and the person playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baronedo Posted April 4, 2002 Share Posted April 4, 2002 One other Product that sounds interesting is a newly patented and designed replacement Tremolo Bridge offered by Hipshot Products for $100. (their website is www.hipshotproducts.com ). In talking with the inventor David, the design uses a much better mounting post design wherein there are ball bearings at the friction points instead of the knife and post method of most guitars. David indicated that friction is greatly reduces and the trem works much smoother and is greatly stablized with this design. I have not personally tried one but am considering retrofitting one of my guitars for one. Check out their website. Hipshot products also makes the Tremsetter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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