Tremol-No hands on review

[The Dark Wolf]

Well, my voters card says Republican (needs to be changed to independant, im pretty much in the middle...).. Is that what you were talking about? lol.

A republican death metal dude?

Them 2 don't seem to go together too well.

 

[zak]

Hey, Kevan. How would you like to send me one! I'm a CFH columnist if that's enough to put down for a resume.

 

[Drache713]

I have a quick question for anybody that has used the unit...

when in fixed bridge mode or dive only with the deep-c, is there enough room with the fine tuners to tune down to drop d/drop a, or do you have to unlock the nut and then tune down the string with the regular tuner?

 

[Drew]

It takes most of the range of your fine-tuner, so you have to set up your guitar accordingly... but yes, you can.

 

[AsIAm666]

Whats happenin guys, I'm new here and I REALLY want the Tremol-No for both my Strat(vintage trem) and (see sig)Carvin 7 which has a floyd. I noticed, Kevan, that you said 7 stringers should use the Set Screw....what the hell is that? Lol When you say its provided with the Tremol-No, do you mean its already on the Deep-C or its just included? Also, with the Tremol-No, can you still flutter? Thanks a lot, Marc

 

[Drew]

Whats happenin guys, I'm new here and I REALLY want the Tremol-No for both my Strat(vintage trem) and (see sig)Carvin 7 which has a floyd. I noticed, Kevan, that you said 7 stringers should use the Set Screw....what the hell is that? Lol When you say its provided with the Tremol-No, do you mean its already on the Deep-C or its just included? Also, with the Tremol-No, can you still flutter? Thanks a lot, Marc

I'll take this one for the time being and let Kevan elaborate anywhere he sees fit when he gets a chance.

First, that's a gorgeous Carvin.

The set screw is a small allen screw that you can swap out the thumb screw for on the Deep-C. Because you tighten it with a hex key and not by hand, you can apply a lot more torque to it, and in turn a loty more pressure to the Tremol-no's shaft, meaning it will lock down that much firmer. On a seven string, while you CAN get away with using just the thumb screw, it's not that hardto jostle the Deep-C enough to make it shift, as there's so much more tension on the entire system due to the extra string. So, if you want it to lock down with that much more stability (especially for dive-only use when you'd just have that one screw securing the trem), the set screw is really the way to go.

Flutter is still possible with the Tremol-no, too. My experience has been that flutter is actually slightly tighter and faster with a tremol-no than without, but the difference is pretty subtle.

 

[AsIAm666]

Lol, thanks man. I had the wrong URL up there but I just changed it so now theres a bunch more pics of it. Is the set screw just one of the screws like from a locking nut? That sounds totally stupid but I still dont really know what it is. Does it come with the Tremol-No, just not ON the Deep-C? Thanks again, Marc

 

[Kevan]

Drew- We're at the 1 year mark!
Wanna toss us an update on how the Tremol-No has held up over the past year?

 

[Drew]

I'm just seeing this now.

Well, I got the production Tremol-no instaled in my UV the other night - I'd been putting it off because I also needed to do a full setup anyway, but finally got around to it Saturday (I'd had a pretty big Friday, so I stayed in to practice, and then got bored and decided to do the install).

Installation was pretty painless - it helps that I've done it a couple times now, between my CST and UV. I think all told, for pulling the prototype Tremol-no, installing the new one, and then re-shimming the neck for a slightly steeper angle (I used a complimentary admission card for a local strip club a buddy'd given me - this is either pretty damned metal or prtty damned false, depending on how you want to look at it, lol) and adjusting the bridge angle, I had the guitar put back together again and in tune within an hour.

Performance-wise, the production version of the Tremol-no stomps all over the prototype. The proto was very obviously hand-machined in small batches - it gives it a cool industrial sort of vibe (you gotta love raw machined aluminum ), but the final one is much smoother, a little more rounded, and an overal more "finished" looking bit of gear. My one main problem with the original design, the impractically-small claws for the trem springs, has been vastly improved on the final problem, and I had absolutely no problems getting the springs seated.

Kevan would have to confirm this too, but it seems the shaft (a little smaller, appears to be a better grade of steel, too) seems to have been designed to provide a litte bit of side-to-side wiggle room that was absent in the original, wich makes it significantly easier to dial in.

Aside from that, I don't have a hell of a lot to add. I've had a blast with the thing for the last year and change, if nothing else solely for the fact it still cracks me up to no end to be able to do in-tune compound bends on my Universe, and because I can now jam along with my Tool albums without spending an hour tuning down to drop-D/A. While I've got essentially zero progress done on my album to show for it, the thing's a godsend when it comes to tracking rhythm parts - lock the thing down and even if you really slam at the low strings it sounds a lot more "stable" because you can't throw the trem into oscillations. Chording just sounds better, even with the heavy-ass strings I use - I'd imagine it's even more pronounced with lighter strings, where there's much less tension on the trem.

Basically, it's just fun. It makes playing guitar even more enjoyable, and that's all you can ask of any peice of gear.

 

[vampiregenocide]

I just got one o these installed in my xiphos. Love it. All trems should come with them