Tremol-no

What does it do?

This cool little device allows you to easily switch between fully floating, dive-bomb only or fixed bridge mode. Dive-bomb mode can be useful when you don’t need fully floating mode because even if you break one string the others will stay in tune. Fixed bridge mode works nice when bending strings because bridge doesn’t move and affect tuning.

How it works?

It consists of 3 main parts: shaft (A), small block (B), big block (C). Big block is clamped onto the tremolo block and it slides across the shaft as tremolo moves. When those two thumbscrews (or one of them) are tightened they lock the block to the shaft thus preventing the tremolo from moving. That’s how you get into fixed bridge mode. When small block is not tightened to the shaft it can freely slide. To switch to dive-bomb mode just move it right next to the big block and tighten the screw (fixed block screws should be lose). That will allow the tremolo to move in one direction, but small block will not allow it to go the other way.

Tremol-no installed

My impressions

There are few models that cover pretty much any tremolo out there. If I remember correctly, the one I got for my Ibanez RG2550 was “small clamp” model. Installation is not hard, but it takes some time to tweak to make sure that the shaft is perfectly aligned with tremolo block. That way we’re avoiding friction between the shaft and the rest of the mechanism which may interfere with tremolo operation.

Once it’s setup it’s pretty much maintenance free. What I was hoping from this mode was also to keep the tremolo in place when changing strings, but unfortunately, it doesn’t have enough grip to keep the balance with the tremolo springs. It can stay put with 2 or three strings removed which may still be useful when changing strings. I usually change one or two strings at the time which makes it faster to get back into tune later.

Dive bomb mode is a bit of a let down for me. It works fine and everything, but if tremolo arm is released abruptly, force of springs will make a clicking noise on the way back when hitting into the locking block. Maybe it doesn’t matter when playing loud, but I can definitely hear it and it’s annoying. It’s not apparent if you’re using the tremolo gently.

Pros:

  • Does what it’s supposed to do.
  • Reversible installation. Don’t like it? Just take it out.
  • Seems well built.
Cons:

  • Dive bomb mode makes clicking noise when making a contact with the block.
  • Doesn’t have enough grip to hold the tremolo in place without any string installed.
  • A bit expensive for a small piece of metal.
  • Takes a bit of time to adjust perfectly to avoid interfering with tremolo operation.
  • Cannot install all 5 tremolo springs once the Tremol-No is installed.
Update (2 years after)

Being able to lock the tremolo is cool, but over time it become more and more annoying to setup the system to work trouble free. Most obvious issues are tuning instability, even without using the tremolo. Eventually, I took the thing out, value added wasn’t worth the effort to set it up and annoyance with tuning stability.

Comments
2 Responses to “Tremol-no”
  1. Jon says:

    Thanks for that 2 year update, very honest review.

    And thanks for your site in general because there’s lots of great stuff here.

  2. Connor says:

    I would like to build something similar, anyone out there have any ideas?

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    The idea behind this site is to share my experience with Do It Yourself approach to guitars, amplifiers and pedals. Whether you want to save a couple of bucks by performing a mod or upgrade yourself instead of paying a tech, or want to build your own piece of gear from scratch, I'm sure you will find something interesting here. Also, this is the home of DIY Layout Creator, a free piece of software for drawing circuit layouts and schematics, written with DIY enthusiasts in mind.