Tremol-No question

[Desperado]

I'm looking to get a Tremol-No fitted to my Custom 22. Just wondering if anybody knows whether the device will affect fitting the cavity plate once installed? I don't want to leave it off. I'm not looking to use the Tremol-No regularly, it's more of a way to hardtail it for now but will allow me to float the bridge easily if I decide to do so.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

[justmund]

If you just want to lock it and forget it, then you can put the cover back on. If you want to regularly go from free to locked then you'll need to keep it off, or route a new slot in the cover.

I'm interested in the Mag-Lok:

http://www.super-vee.com/products.html

Which may be the best solution of all, no trem movement when you bend or drop-D (I assume) but as soon as you use the trem, it's free.

 

[Desperado]

Thanks for the response, that's just what I was hoping.

I have to admit, I've looked at the Mag-Lok but have decided to go for the Tremol-No because I've seen dozens and dozens of good reviews from PRS owners. I've not seen too much about the Mag-Lok and the type of person I am, I like to get some proper endorsements before modifying my guitars. I also am not too keen to make a new screw hole in the trem cavity. Might sound a bit daft, but it's something I'm not comfortable with.

 

[justmund]

No probs. Totally understandable that you don't want to drill a hole in your cavity. I might get one and try it on the SE before I do it to a US one.

I'll report back on here if I ever get around to it (I'm going to be away a LOT with work over the next year)

 

[Sage]

The Mag-Lok looks more like a "trem stability" product, not really a way to hardtail the guitar. I have a Tremol-no on my #1, and I love it. I prefer the ergonomics of the trem-equipped PRS guitars (the neck is not as angled from the body as on the stoptail-equipped guitars) but I don't use the trem and want to be able to remain in tune after breaking a string, so I locked mine down tight. It doesn't affect the cover plate at all. It does, however, require a couple of things:

1. You need the "large clamp" version of the Tremol-no, and you will notice upon installation that the clamp appears to partially obscure the string holes on the trem block when you put it on. Don't worry about this. As long as you situate the clamp so that it sits at equal distance between the two holes, you'll have no trouble getting the ball ends of the strings in and out.

2. You will have to move one of the springs. Right now you have five places to anchor a spring, and probably only four of them are used. The center slot is empty. But the Tremol-no actually goes in the fourth slot, right next to the center. You'll have to move that spring over and it's not easy. You have to be VERY patient to work that spring out, because it's very tightly fitted into that trem block. You might not be able to accomplish it without bending the spring out of shape, so having a spare handy would be ideal. I not only bent the spring, but I put a nick in the finish in the back of the guitar and scratched the trem block up a bit because I was impatient. So be patient and just keep working at it. The tremol-no is a pain in the ass to install, but once it's in, it's awesome.

 

[Desperado]

Thanks for the tips Sage, much appreciated. This isn't something I'll be doing myself, there's a great tech nearby that specialises in PRS guitars, I'll get him to do it. He has done plenty in the past i would imagine and I'm not handy at all so it's best I get a pro to sort it out!

I just wanted to ensure I could get the cavity plate on after installation. Whilst I don't mind my strat hanging around without backplate, I'd prefer to keep it on my PRS.

I'm not a trem user and it appears to be a good way of hard tailing the guitar whilst keeping the trem block in place to allow me to change strings without having to remove the cavity cover.

 

[John Beef]

On my Custom 22, the Tremol-no did affect the fit of the plate. The tremol-no stuck out from the cavity just a fraction of a millimeter too far. The plate would still go on but there was a slight bump where it would push on the plate just a wee bit. I could see how this would vary from guitar to guitar. I could probably even fill the screw holes and redrill them a fraction of a millimeter deeper into the cavity and prevent this from happening without any effect to the rest of the guitar, but instead, I just leave the plate off.

FWIW, I bought mine in early 2007 when they were very new on the market, and the pin variety was the only one out there. They might be a little different now with the clamp. I had to file down the pin to make it fit the hole in the trem block. That said, 6 1/2 years of use, the thing has never failed me.