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Post subject: thoughts on tremsetters
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:57 pm
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I've never been a big tremolo user until fairly recently. The guitar I've been using has the 7 1/4 inch radius which has limited the bends I can do (I do a lot of 2-2 1/2 step bends, but can only do 1 1/2 now) so I've been compansating with the tremolo arm. I put locking tuners on, and had a great setup done, so I'm not going out of tune, but the tremolo isn't always going back to the zero position. Has anyone had any experience with hipshots? If so do they work well for this problem?


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Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:41 pm
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Sorry I have no experience with hip shots. I have been racking my brains on why your tremelo is not going back to the 0 position. Have you put a light coat of 3 in 1 oil on the tremelo? I have heard of people putting graphite on the saddles. Are the mounting screws too tight? Is the Claw mount even in the back? Are the tremelo springs evenly spaced? Sorry I couldn't help more.

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Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:06 pm
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I had a few friends that had them, and have used their guitars. From what I've experienced, they can help it stay in tune better, but aren't perfect. It also depends on how you use the trem.

With no roller nut, but just locking tuners, I can keep my mia in tune fairly well with some mild 2-step and less drops, and only occasional sharp pulls. With a tremsetter on my friends', I can do a little more, but not much more.

Anything more than that, you might as well just get a floyd, since that's what they're made for. Normal fender trems aren't made for steve vai antics. Although Jeff Beck can do some crazy things on his strat....


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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 6:17 am
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Even properly set up, I have absolutely no use for them.

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:01 am
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I've never used a tremsetter, but I've been considering it in a couple of guitars I'm told that they will really stiffen the tremolo, but it remains to be seen how well they work. I'm going to try the tremsetters in my Showmaster guitars since they don't do so well even with the LSR and locking tuners. If this does'nt work, then I will be going to Floyd Rose Trems on all the Showmasters.

As a footnote. My Surf Green Strat is set up with the vintage tuners and a bone nut, and the vintage tremolo bridge. I use Selmer Tuning Slide & Cork Grease (No. 2942), that comes in a little white squeeze bottle. Just a tiny drop in each nut groove really helps keep this guitar in tune with some of my twang bar antics.

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:07 am
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The Tremsetters are cool but not infallible. If you are a "trem monster" you can still end up out of tune. Just not as badly or as often.

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:29 am
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mthorn00 wrote:
The Tremsetters are cool but not infallible. If you are a "trem monster" you can still end up out of tune. Just not as badly or as often.


Maybve that would explain why Steve Vai has two of them in his favorite Jem guitar.

-Harley 8)

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:56 am
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HarleyHexxe wrote:
mthorn00 wrote:
The Tremsetters are cool but not infallible. If you are a "trem monster" you can still end up out of tune. Just not as badly or as often.


Maybve that would explain why Steve Vai has two of them in his favorite Jem guitar.

-Harley 8)


Two of 'em!? Wow, why not just go with a Floyd Rose?

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 10:07 am
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It is floyded. The tremsetter helps him return to zero, which floyds can suffer from as much as a vintage.

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 10:10 am
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nikininja wrote:
It is floyded. The tremsetter helps him return to zero, which floyds can suffer from as much as a vintage.


Absolutely! Any floating tremolo will suffer from that problem, and most of mine are floating, which is why I have tuning issues with my LTD Mirage and my Showmasters.

-Harley 8)

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:32 am
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Yeah, like I said, it's not a huge problem. After I play for a couple hours, I go to check the tuning, and the strings are almost always in tune relative to each other, but once in a while, they are all sharp a little, not even a quarter step. But they're all sharp the same amount, so I know it's because the tremolo's not always going back to the zero position. I think it's because of the 6 screw set up, my American with the two point never had that problem. It's not a big deal really, I usually just have to give the trem a little shake and it's at zero. I was just wondering how well the hipshot works. As for a floyd rose IMO, I cant stand them. I think they kill sustain, at least all the ones I tried do. Plus, when you do a string bend while letting an open note ring, the open note really goes flat. They do on all floating, but I find it much more noticeable on a floyd rose bridge.


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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:07 pm
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Really!
That's very interesting since my problem is the opposite, my vintage tremolo bridge stays in tune very well, but the Showmasters have the Standard bridge w/2-point pivot. The same with the LTD, it has a Wilkenson Bridge, none of these stay in tune. Both my Strats have 6-screw bridge designs and they do a lot better! Very strange.

As for the Floyds, I don't know about having those problems you mentioned, mine do come back to the zero point quite well, and they do handle my heavy handed whammy bar technique very well. At least, better than my strings do LOL! As for bending with the Floyds, I have been in the habit of putting the heel of my palm on the bridge of any floating bridge to keep it from diving during a bend. Any and every floating bridge, will "dive" itself when you are bending a string, simply because you are now increasing the tension on the string side of the springs. Even a flush mounted tremolo bridge will pull away from the body if you bend aggresively enough.

-Harley 8)

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:34 pm
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To change the subject just a little bit. Has anyone used the TremKing fixed bridge vibrato system?

http://tremking.com/

Doug -

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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:50 pm
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I just looked at it. I would think without the inertia block, it would lose allot of sustain, or at the very least, some of the tone, but that's just an assumption.


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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:24 pm
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I looked at it too, and the reviews tell you that it is'nt made for extreme whammy techniques. It's interesting, but not something I would use in any of my guitars that I presently own.
I'm also not sure if I'm reading this correctly, but it looks like the strings do pass through an inertia block of some kind before going over the bridge saddles, and it's this block itself which seems to pivot under the bridge plate. I agree that id the inertia block were removed from the stratocaster bridge that it would not be favorable to the sustain of the tremolo system.

-Harley 8)

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