Steve Vai's 'tool-less tremolo system' prototype

[Bloody_Inferno]

Turns out Vai's been developing a trem system that doesn't require an allen wrench. Hence 'tool-less'. Photos of a new Jem with the prototype unit. The nut's got a lever system, and a new bridge saddle design.

Interesting design overall, and in theory, it's good for practicality. Dunno if I can get used to the nut design though.

 

[A-Branger]

yeah the nut is pretty big, maybe they would find a way to make it smaler?. The bridge seems to be a non locking one. And that you wont need to cut the end ball of the strings either. Under the fine tunners is a tunnel from where you feed the strings. Cool design tho

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I'm all for innovation, but I really don't get the utility of this, as unlocking a locking tremolo on the fly requires a more than perfect set-up

 

[CaptainD00M]

Kinda seems a bit late in the game for this too.

 

[nerdywhale]

Didn't Yamaha have a similar "tool-less/clamping" nut and bridge concept once upon a time? I think it was on Wes Borland's old Yamaha sig model.

 

[SnoozyWyrm]

Wasn't he developing another concept? I seem to recall a Premier Guitar article showing a horizontally moving (instead of 2-point pivoting) tremolo. Can't seem to find it now though.

 

[MajorTom]

It's been done before and I'm pretty sure thousands of kids around the world have replaced the allen key bolts on the nut with the same style of ones used for the fine tuners on thd bridge, I know I did as a teenager. In fact the guitar I did it too is still like that to this day I'm sure, but this nothing new, kids have been doing this since the stone ages when I was twelve and desperate to put my weiner to good use.

This may be the first time that a guitar manufacturer has made it commercially available instead encouraging kids to do more with their brain cells than abuse them and introduce them to Leary and Chong.

Don't forget Floyd Rose had the 'quick string change' system that was unsuccessful and went down as well as Britney Spears, but it was still designed and for a short time available.

So apologies for wetting every ones chips.

 

[Sumsar]

Well I think it is always nice when someone tries to do thing in a more clever way. Floyd Rose has not really done much since they came up with the original design, while Ibanez has done a ton of different models, which all has some very nice ideas like ball-bearings, no-need-to-cut-ball-when-restringing-system, different-arm-inserts, smoother-surface, lo-pro-fine-tuners-out-of-the-way, weird-double-spring-system, easy-adjust-spring-tension, easy-trem-stop and now this maybe-better-or-at-least-easier-way-to-unlock-the-nut-system.

Ofc all of those inventions and systems has not all been perfect, but at least they are trying, which I for one really love.

I think if they could make it a little less bulky this could totally fly. Alternatively they could have the release system on the back of the neck/headstock, though that posses the problem of being in the way of your hand/fingers.

 

[Pikka Bird]

I can't figure out what the deal is with that nut and the screws on two of the levers. And the trem itself looks like a regular non-locking dealio.

In any case, it looks rather odd, and I'd much rather have Bill Edwards' Finger-Tite nut, which works exactly like a modern bicycle skewer and even looks halfway sleek:

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you could convert a regular FR nut to the Edwards concept with a little zest.

 

[GraemeH]

Looks like you could replicate the bridge entirely by "just" hollowing out through your string retainer block screws. If you could do that accurately enough.

The real low-hanging fruit of Floyd Rose derivative trem design for me though is the intonation adjustment method. The fact that they have to sell a separate tool to ease the process shows the design isn't right in the first place.

 

[Pikka Bird]

^Those already exist. And for your second paragraph, I agree completely. I think Ibanez should bring their intonation tool and the off-center saddle lockdown screws back.

 

[bostjan]

My - I can get hex keys for $0.65 at the hardware store, and I'm not stingy about having one in each guitar case, one in my backpack, and even one in my wallet. The only time there is an issue is when some off brand trem manufacturer uses an oddball size screw or something.

So, what problem does this solve for me? Nothing, really. Do I want a bulky doodad on my guitar? Not really. Do I still think it's cool somebody is playing with this? I guess - I dunno, as others said, it's kind of late in the game for this. I think a lot of people are in my boat, that they already adjusted to using a hex key, or decided to use a different style of trem or no trem at all. Even seeing something like this ten years ago would have been too late.

I hope that if this system fails to get attention, Steve Vai will continue coming up with stuff - maybe something a bit more practical, though.

This reminds me a bit of the EVH D-Tuna. Cool concept, if you drop D on a non-floating OFR. Problem is, unless you get a vintage axe or an EVH sig guitar, you aren't likely to find much with an OFR that's non-floating. I had a guitar with a licensed FR non-floating trem and the D-Tuna wouldn't fit. Limited use - and no way to make the thing physically work on a floating trem, so … well, yeah, not for me.

 

[GuitarBizarre]

It's been done before and I'm pretty sure thousands of kids around the world have replaced the allen key bolts on the nut with the same style of ones used for the fine tuners on thd bridge, I know I did as a teenager. In fact the guitar I did it too is still like that to this day I'm sure, but this nothing new, kids have been doing this since the stone ages when I was twelve and desperate to put my weiner to good use.

This may be the first time that a guitar manufacturer has made it commercially available instead encouraging kids to do more with their brain cells than abuse them and introduce them to Leary and Chong.

Don't forget Floyd Rose had the 'quick string change' system that was unsuccessful and went down as well as Britney Spears, but it was still designed and for a short time available.

So apologies for wetting every ones chips.

It's not the first time a manufacturer has done it - There's this, for one - Bill Edwards Finger-Tite Locking Nut

Yamaha also made an attempt at this on their RGX-620 and the Wes Borland Signature Models.

As for the Floyd Rose system, you're talking about the speedloader, which failed miserably because you couldn't use normal strings with it, and had to buy their specially Calibrated Speedloader sets.

 

[GuitarBizarre]

My - I can get hex keys for $0.65 at the hardware store, and I'm not stingy about having one in each guitar case, one in my backpack, and even one in my wallet. The only time there is an issue is when some off brand trem manufacturer uses an oddball size screw or something.

So, what problem does this solve for me? Nothing, really. Do I want a bulky doodad on my guitar? Not really. Do I still think it's cool somebody is playing with this? I guess - I dunno, as others said, it's kind of late in the game for this. I think a lot of people are in my boat, that they already adjusted to using a hex key, or decided to use a different style of trem or no trem at all. Even seeing something like this ten years ago would have been too late.

I hope that if this system fails to get attention, Steve Vai will continue coming up with stuff - maybe something a bit more practical, though.

This reminds me a bit of the EVH D-Tuna. Cool concept, if you drop D on a non-floating OFR. Problem is, unless you get a vintage axe or an EVH sig guitar, you aren't likely to find much with an OFR that's non-floating. I had a guitar with a licensed FR non-floating trem and the D-Tuna wouldn't fit. Limited use - and no way to make the thing physically work on a floating trem, so … well, yeah, not for me.

I've wanted an answer to this for a long time - The Tremol-No guys are quite clear that if you take all the strings off your guitar, the tremol-no won't hold that kind of tension, and the springs will force it to move.

But wouldn't Tremol-No + D-Tuna make it pretty easy to use a D-Tuna on a floating OFR? It's only being asked to hang onto a couple extra pounds of force after all, not 60+.

 

[cip 123]

Didn't Kahler have something similar on the nut years ago? I remember Jason Beckers original Bluey had something similar at the nut.

 

[GuitarBizarre]

Didn't Kahler have something similar on the nut years ago? I remember Jason Beckers original Bluey had something similar at the nut.

Kahler's nuts are a weird history - I believe they did have a version of the Finger-Tite I just mentioned, but I'm not clear on whether that was an aftermarket thing marketed very weakly, or if it was ever a production option on anything.

The normal Kahler nuts however, were basically a floyd nute behind the actual nut, and worked terribly, because they allowed the strings to stick in the nut - the exact problem Floyd Rose's solution avoided. (Of course, they had no choice, while Floyd's idea was under patent, so whatever, but this was one reason kahler have repeatedly failed on the market)

 

[jl-austin]

I am kind of missing the point of this, I guess. I am sure Vai has a guitar tech. For the rest of us, what is the big deal about keeping a set of tools? I mean you have to have a place for extra strings right? Why not keep the tool there, like we all do.

My biggest complaint is that the nut puts extra weight in a place where you really don't want extra weight (at the end of a neck). Then also, as pointed out, the tremolo isn't double locking.

Why not just use locking tuners and a non-locking tremolo?

 

[bostjan]

Why not just use locking tuners and a non-locking tremolo?

Ken Parker had a really nice trem design twenty years ago that addressed all of these issues, and others. I recall a few other setups recently after that used a multimode single or double locking trem with locking tuners. None of that ever caught on. I know that the Parker system worked like a charm for me. I think the OFR was around long enough that people got used to it and anything different looked weird. Now, maybe, we are in a place where some bulky gadget can be added to a normal-looking thing to give us a tiny bit of the functionality of the weird-looking things nobody liked decades ago.

 

[xwmucradiox]

Ken Parker had a really nice trem design twenty years ago that addressed all of these issues, and others. I recall a few other setups recently after that used a multimode single or double locking trem with locking tuners. None of that ever caught on. I know that the Parker system worked like a charm for me. I think the OFR was around long enough that people got used to it and anything different looked weird. Now, maybe, we are in a place where some bulky gadget can be added to a normal-looking thing to give us a tiny bit of the functionality of the weird-looking things nobody liked decades ago.

The parker trem is a beautiful looking piece of hardware but it doesn't have enough string pressure over those ball bearings. If you dive bomb with it the strings ping and click all over the place. Its not a smooth sounding design. Would have been better if they did strings through the block rather than top load.

 

[Señor Voorhees]

Less shit to lose is the biggest positive to something like this outside of saving a bit of time, which is also always nice. You don't have to worry about misplaced or dropped hex wrenches. On top of that, you don't have to worry about the little blocks in the locking bridge side of things. Never much of an issue, but I have dropped each of them at some point, and I can only imagine if I wasn't at home in a workspace, finding them afterwards would have been a pain in the ass.

That said, it's just a thing that adds convenience. Like a string winder or something. Even better, one of those electric string winders. Completely unnecessary, but it shaves seconds off of a boring task, so why not? I won't ever decide to buy or pass on a guitar because it had something like this, but it's still pretty cool. What is there to hate?