Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

That90'sGuy

That90'sGuy

DyzaBoyzologist
Ok... I am lucky enough to have bought a guitar that has a trem that stays in tune with HEAVY use. That's just about anything I think anyone can ask for.

My trem system is a Gotoh 1088 vintage style trem with bent saddles (apparently Grosh and Suhr among a few others use bent saddles to make it stay in tune better and it's really flawless).

Here's the kicker, I know NOTHING about trems. If at all possible can someone explain to me what they're all about?

I notice when I play unplugged that there appears to be a little bit of a reverb type sound to the notes. How would I go around to fixing this (can anyone explain what's causing it?)?

The action at the moment is nice and low. If I wanted to adjust that, what would it entail?

I'm not sure how the saddles work as well as the individual holes to the side of the saddles on the bridge? What are trem block? I know my next purchase will be a solid steel one from Callaham, but I don't even know what to do when it comes in.

How do I adjust how much the trem bar goes down and up? What are trem claws and how do springs work?

I really don't know that much about the setup of a guitar. I just know how to check to see if it's intonated properly (the fretting/harmonics sound on the 12th fret with the strings). Would I have to adjust with a trussrod after tweaking with the trem?

I know this is A LOT of questions, but I'm pretty much lost when it comes to these things :laugh2:. I'm not sure what a simple screwing of something would do to my guitar so at the moment I'm leering of doing anything.

If there any trem fans here that know the ins and outs of the parts of a trem and how they work, it would be very helpful and interesting. I think for a lot of beginners, or people like me that are new to these, trems can be overwhelming and confusing. Lack of knowledge about such a complicated system could lead to tweaking something wrong and completely ruining the guitar, which I'm petrified of.

I give huge props to anyone who has knowledge of these things and is willing to help explain them :)
 
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Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

I notice when I play unplugged that there appears to be a little bit of a reverb type sound to the notes. How would I go around to fixing this (can anyone explain what's causing it?)?

That reverby sound is actually the trem springs vibrating. One good way to prevent this is to put a little foam underneath the springs.

The action at the moment is nice and low. If I wanted to adjust that, what would it entail?

To adjust the action, all you really need to do for slight adjustments is adjust saddle height and reintonate. The increased height may slightly change the tensionpulling the bridge up, or leting it rest down, but this probably wont be noticeable, but if it is, you can readjust by tightening or loosening the spring claw screws.

I'm not sure how the saddles work as well as the individual holes to the side of the saddles on the bridge? What are trem block? I know my next purchase will be a solid steel one from Callaham, but I don't even know what to do when it comes in.

Im not sure what you are asking by how the saddles work, care to elaborate?

The trem block however, is the solid steel or zinc or brass block whihc you insert the strings into through the back of the guitar. When you look in your trem cavity, the block is the large metal peice towards the bottom. Im not familiar with grosh's trems, but standard trems have their blocks screwed in through the top via 3 large screws. When you get the new block, simply unscrew the old one and reinstall the new one(make sure the screws are tight). They are fairly simple to install.


How do I adjust how much the trem bar goes down and up? What are trem claws and how do springs work?

Once again, do you mean the height of the bar in the body, or how far you can push and pull it?

To adjust the bridge merely for bending pitches downwards, it is eaiest to tighten the screws on the trem claw(the peice of metal near the top of the trem cavity, to which the springs are attaced to along with 2 screws going into the body) until the bottom of the bridge lays flat against the body. If you would like to be able to bend notes slightly upwards, the bridge should be set up to slightly be floating. This is done by loosening the screws slightly.

The springs work, by pulling on the far edge of the bridge balancing out the pull from the strings A trem bridge has a pivot point(where the scres actually enter the body) and can rock back and forth on that pivot point tightening tension on the strings thus raising pitch, or loosening the tension to lower pitch. The springs acta as a force to pull the bridge back to its equilibrium point, without springs, the bridge would be very very far forward. The springs bring it to a level which the bridge is relatively flat.

I really don't know that much about the setup of a guitar. I just know how to check to see if it's intonated properly (the fretting/harmonics sound on the 12th fret with the strings). Would I have to adjust with a trussrod after tweaking with the trem?

You should not have to adjust the truss rod unless you can see too much, or too little bow in the neck. There are a lot of parts to a good set up. Your guitar probably is set up very well from the get go, but if you have problems with it, I think its advisable to take it to a tech to work on, if you do not know what to do.Its a relatively inexpensive propsal and willbe much bettwe than being set up by a first job. There are however, many great sites to check out if you want to give it a go. One would be www.projectguitar.de and you can also check out Mr. Gearhead (fenders tech site) for basic trem set up as well as various other parts of the setup procedure.

BTW Im not familiar with the whole bent saddles concept. Do you have any pics of one close up so I can get a good look at it?

Good luck with your beautiful new guitar,
Brian
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

Wow Brian, you're a God-send. Really, thank you :)

I'm going to see if I can do some slight adjustments to mine. It doesn't seem quite so complicated after all (of course I don't have a Floyd Rose :D )
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

the_Chris said:
Wow Brian, you're a God-send. Really, thank you :)

I'm going to see if I can do some slight adjustments to mine. It doesn't seem quite so complicated after all (of course I don't have a Floyd Rose :D )
Click to expand...
No problem, trems arent as hard as they can seem to be at first. Floyds are trickier, but after an intitial setup, keeping up a floyd isnt too bad with the proper techniques.
Later,
Brian
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

bvc310 said:
That reverby sound is actually the trem springs vibrating. One good way to prevent this is to put a little foam underneath the springs.
Click to expand...

Or you could take off the back plate and let your gut mute the springs! :laugh2:
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

mrid said:
Or you could take off the back plate and let your gut mute the springs! :laugh2:
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LOL. Thatll work too if you have it. I fortunatly dont have much of a gut to speak of, but i still play with the backplate off... really just for looks.
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

mrid said:
Or you could take off the back plate and let your gut mute the springs! :laugh2:
Click to expand...

:laugh2: ROFL!

At the rate I'm going, that won't be such a bad idea :D

I finally got the bridge set to floating. I can go up a full step bending upward while still being able to dive bomb. I tried throwing it out of tune and thankfully, it isn't happening.

I can now see why people who change tunings often would want a hardtail. Tuning with a trem does take a little time (unless there's a trick I'm not aware of).
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

DO NOT GET A FLOYD ROSE TREMOLO SYSTEM, UNLESS YOU INTEND ON SPENDING MORE TIME PUTTING ON STRINGS THAN ACTUALLY PLAYING THE GUITAR! lol... Believe me, I know from experience, which is why I no longer have a guitar with a Floyd Rose Tremolo System. I'd go with a hardtail. :)
 
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Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

I think You don´t know RID very well, because he, Jono and I are some of the strongest Floyd supporters around. I´m 100% sure he didn´t mean that seriously, but that it was more of a resingative reaction to the "hardtail craze" of the last few weeks. Which BTW I too cannot understand.. Are there no decent techs anywhere in the world anymore??? ;)

I´m sorry, but that saying with spending more time putting on strings than playing is :bsflag:, please excuse me for being so harsh.

I can set up a Floyd within 60 minutes or less to any tuning on the planet, it´s all a question of knowing what you´re doing, and I´m sure that any of the other pro or semi-pro repairmen will agree. And I´m sure that anyone can do it within at the most 1.5-2 hours (first try) with proper instruction.

1. Properly set up, a Floyd is impossible to knock out of tune
2. strings tend to last longer than on most vintage-trems or Hardtails (further weakening your stringing argument).
3. If you restring correctly (one at a time, stretching each string as you go, etc..) restringing takes about 2 minutes longer than with a Hardtail (cutting the ball ends off and locking the clamps).
4. Once a Floyd is set up, you very rarely have to change anything unless you change strings or tunings.
5. You have the added advantage that WHEN a string breaks at or near the bridge you can just open the locks and unwind the string 1 or 2 turns, retune, re-lock, fine-tune, and keep on going. Takes 15 seconds less than a string change on a les paul or vintage trem. :saeek:

I´m not saying that Floyds are for everyone, they´re definitely not. The ones that really DO suck are for the most part cheap imports, btw. But again, properly set up an Original Floyd, Kahler Steeler, Gotoh, Ibanez Edge or Schaller unit is impossible to throw out of tune without physically damaging either the unit or the guitar ;)
 
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Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

Rid said:
^Hehe just got to work now....had a good laugh over this one!!:D
Agrees with Zerb bigtime.
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So did I, I just hope GG503 doesnt think I´m pissed or anything, I´m having a bit of a ****ed up day ;)

How long ya in for, RID? I´ve been here since 6:30, and there´s no end in sight.... :blackeye:
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

Ah he will probally survive;)
Hmm until 18:00 I guess......studio is booked and they need a hand in there...plus I have some tests to run...groans.
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

I was simply saying they've been nothing but a pain in the the a$$ in my experiences with them, which is why i do not like them. Obviously they are not for me, so why do you feel the need to be such a smartass? For someone who claims to be 28 sure doesnt act like it. Grow up dude... seriously. Your opinion could have been stated without that smarta$$ attitude of yours. :fing25:
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

I am 36....I still act like I am 20;)
Maybe all this "wecannotfiguretremsoutisgettingabittiresomemethinks"
There is tons of info on how to setup your trem, and nothing beat trying yourself, that is the only way to learn.
Floyds are quite easy to use and setup as Zerb points out, it is like everything else, knowhow!
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

Rid said:
Ah he will probally survive;)...
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GuitarGuy503 said:
I was simply saying they've been nothing but a pain in the the a$$ in my experiences with them, which is why i do not like them. Obviously they are not for me, so why do you feel the need to be such a smartass? For someone who claims to be 28 sure doesnt act like it. Grow up dude... seriously. Your opinion could have been stated without that smarta$$ attitude of yours. :fing25:
Click to expand...

He obviously didnt. Or he overlooked the multiple attempts to tell him that it wasn´t directed at him. :rolleyes::D:D:D

But it´s ok, I´ll just remember to not post information on gear in threads that already have a post by Him, regardless of how misleading I feel that post might be....Not :fing25::friday: (GG, please understand, I´m not the kind to be taken seriously if you find yourself in in any way insulted, I´m hoping that I managed to convey that just now ;))

Hmm until 18:00 I guess......studio is booked and they need a hand in there...plus I have some tests to run...groans.
Click to expand...

I probably won´t get out any earlier the way it looks. Kinda sucks, I think the Charvel will probably arrive today, but I can pick it up tomorrow if I have to ;)
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

mrid said:
Or you could take off the back plate and let your gut mute the springs! :laugh2:
Click to expand...

cotton wool balls work best IMO. really cheap and stop that annoying reverb completely
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

cotton wool balls work best IMO. really cheap and stop that annoying reverb completely
Click to expand...
Hmm I disagree here, it is one of the Strats trademarks....gives that wonderful sound when you use the trem on open chords...ring ring well that is one of the reasons why I like the sound of those oldfashioned trems.
 
Re: Tremolo people, tell me everything you can : D

Rid said:
Hmm I disagree here, it is one of the Strats trademarks....gives that wonderful sound when you use the trem on open chords...ring ring well that is one of the reasons why I like the sound of those oldfashioned trems.
Click to expand...

i did it on my Ibanez RG, so i could do a gargle without the springs shaking forever :)

i agree with what zerb said about the Floyd.

it takes a bit of time getting used to them but they arent impossible to use

i dont even cut off the ballend i just string it upside down and use the whole string..

i still prefer hardtails though ;)
 
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