2 point tremolo, certain strings go sharp?!?

[SnoozyWyrm]

I have a custom partcaster that suffers from the above problem. The neck is a custom job that I really like . There are 2 main suspects:

1)The no-name asian trem (took from an older DZPL strat) which I have setup to float. On the last guitar this was on, it performed adequately. It is on the list of things to replace anyway, however I am trying to solve the issue at hand first.
2)A bar string retainer that the luthier convinced me to install. The low-E was jumping out of the nut on intense playing, and a single string-tree looked very ugly. I suspect that this happens because the headstock is reversed and the tuners are not staggered, letting the low-E string cross a long distance at a not sharp enough break-angle.

It is strange since when I play the strings sounds correct, the tremolo seems to return to the neutral positiion and when I move to some other string I find them to be sharp by ~20-40 cents.
Any ideas? I'll upload photos when I return home.

 

[cardinal]

It's common on non-locking trems. After a dive, quickly pull up on the trem. If you have enough range, that usually will snap them back into tune. Alternatively, use the free fingers on your picking hand to yank the offending strings after a dive. That also will kinda snap them back into tune. But don't yank too hard, or now the strings could go flat. You'll get a feel for it.

 

[SnoozyWyrm]

Hmmmm... So in your opinion this won't be resolved or improved (at least a little) by removing the retainer bar - going to staggered tuners etc. Thanks alot anyhow. I'll try your method and report back.

 

[cardinal]

Anything to reduce friction can help. The guitars I have with locking, staggered tuners recover from tremolo dives much better than the ones with string trees. But it's still reasonably common thing.