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Originally Posted by bujecas
I've check the Tremsetter and the Tremol-No, and I think that Tremsetter fits best my needs. Am I right?
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That depends on what your needs are.
I've got one n my UV, and have a tremsetter in my 7620. The tremsetter is a spring-loated zero return point, while the Tremol-no is a way to go from a fully blocked trem, a dive only trem, and a full floating trem on the fly. Observations:
Advantages of the Tremol-No
-the tremsetter will not hold tune when you break a string. The tremol-no (if it's on) will.
-the tremsetter does not allow you to explore
alternate tunings- it won't hold tune if you go to Drop-D, much less DADGAD. The tremol-no does (and ADADGAD's an awesome tuning for heavy riffing, by the way.
)
-the tremsetter, if set firmly enough to allow approximately in-tune string bending (at even the firmest settings, there will be a SLIGHT detuning when you bend, although if set right it's too little for most people to pick up on), will not allow flutter, as there's a "return point" in the trem. Additionally, you'll feel a slight "catch" as you move from dive to pull back. The tremol-no, when set for full float and aligned correctly, allows full flutter and gives you a perfectly smooth trem feel - like there's nothing there.
-a tremsetter needs drilling and slight routing to install into a guitar. a Tremol-no is uninvasive. I didn't consider this a big deal until I bought a UV, at which point I was like, "Wait a second, I don't want to cut up these guitar, there are only 876 of them out there!"
-a tremol-no can be used to open a beer, in a pinch.
Advantages of a Tremsetter
-the tremsetter is "always on." with it, you can do compound bends that are to all extents and purposes still in tune, and then grab the bar and dive or pull back, or apply vibrato. With the Tremol-no, if you want to use the bar, you have to have the tremol-no set for either full float or dive only, and in both situations it will not hold compound bends in tune. It only takes a few seconds to switch between modes on the fly, but a few seconds is a few seconds, and you have to plan solos accordingly.
-the tremsetter is currently on the market. The tremol-no won't be widely available for, at the earliest, another few months.
-many of the Tremsetter's flaws are slightly ameliorated by the fact that you can physically remove the unit (but not the mounting hardware) from your guitar in about five seconds, without throwing the bridge out of line (assuming you were in tune to begin with and the tremsetter wasn't artificially holding it in tune). Not an option on the fly, but workable in a recording environment.
Um, that's about all that comes to mind, actually. For MY needs personally, the tremol-no owns the tremsetter. Sure, it'd be nice to be able to bend in tune and then grab the bar for vibrato, but the change in feel (and in turn the fact that with the "zero return catch" you had a harder time doing a perfectly smooth bar vibrato) was too much for me. And, honestly, if you set it for dive only, and then upped the spring tension a bit, you could set the unit up like a strat, so you can still dive, but there's enough tension on the bridge to hold the bridge in place for bending.
In summary, if you need to be able to do everything at once, don't mind drilling into your guitar, and are willing to take a slight trem performance decrease, the tremsetter's a good bet. If on the other hand you want perfect trem performance and perfect bending (plus the flexibility to explore alternate tunings without spending a hour or so adjusting your
trem springs afterward), but don't necessarily need to do them together, the Tremol-No is the best bet.
DC_Mally, Kevan doesn't recommend removing ALL the strings from a guitar with the tremol-no locked down, as it'll take all the counterstresses off the device and apply stresses that it wasn't designed to take. I'm sure you could do it, but his suggestion is to always leave at least one string on.
Personally, I'd say either device is a substantial improvement over a floyd without one. You CAN learn to apply just enough pressure with your palm to the side of the trem to hold bends in tune as you play, and I did this for a while, but it's not a perfect compromise. If you need something now, grab a tremsetter - both devices are (or will be, in the case of the T-no) quite affordable. However, if your trem needs are similar to mine, the Tremol-no is definitely worth waiting for.
-D
