Last time, we discussed both chimpanzees and the problems with a floating tremolo system. To recap on the trem issues, in a floating tremolo system, any upset to the balance is going to throw things out of whack, even just temporarily. What to do about this? Well, we're sneaking up on the subject of tremolo stabilisers but we need to make a stop on the way. There's a category of stabiliser that's not really a stabiliser but can be really useful in the right circumstances.

Let's consider 'blocking' again.

hero image showing different tremolo stop devices.

We saw a few weeks ago that it’s possible to fully block a trem bridge to, essentially, hard-tail it. That’s great but, for some reason, there are players who like using these things so it’s not for everyone.

A ‘partial’ block is a possibility for a subset of trem-using players. A tremolo bridge doesn’t have to be fully floating. It could be set so you can only ‘depress’ the arm and lower the string pitch—a 'dive-only' mode like vintage Strat trems. Heaps of players only ever use their trems like this, never pulling up to raise the pitch.

Some guitars, you can set up like this relatively easily. If you can put the bridge-base flat to the guitar top and give the springs a bit of a tighten, you’ll eliminate some of the problems of a fully-floating tremolo. You’ll still be able to dive and wobble the bridge about but you won’t be able to pull up beyond the strings’ usual pitch.

Because there's now a 'stop-point', tightening the springs provides extra tension on that side of the tremolo-scale without being able to upset the balance and pull the bridge sharp—it can't move past the stop. The extra spring tension imparts more 'resistance' to bending and fluttering on the string side. The trade-off is you're now dive-only.

This might be perfect for some but it’s not always possible to do with every guitar. A lot of floating bridges can’t be lowered to the body without the string height becoming too low as a consequence. As for a recessed bridge (with an excavated niche in the body intended to allow just this sort of pull-up tremolo action), forget about it.

Permanently blocking for dive-only

If you’re sure it’s what you want, it is possible to half-block the tremolo by installing a piece of wood to the front of the sustain-block around the back. If you size this correctly, the sustain block will contact it in the bridge’s neutral position and just stop. It’ll act as a positive stop that means the bridge can’t pull-up. The procedure we discussed for blocking a floating trem a few weeks ago will do the trick nicely. You'll need to glue the wood to the cavity wall in front of the sustain block so it doesn't fall out but it's reasonably straightforward. Of course, you skip installing the second piece of wood (the one at the back of the sustain block) that would completely immobilise the trem.

If this glueing seems a little ‘permanent’ sounding for you, there are some devices you can buy to accomplish a similar effect with the option of easily removing them should you decide you need to yank that whammy bar back.

The 'not-recommended' blocking illustration

If you remember that what you want is a positive stop in the neutral position, you’ll probably see why, in the past, some players have chosen to install a cupboard-door bolt in their trem cavities. Yep, the the sort of small, brass barrel-bolt that’s used to keep a cabinet door shut will sometimes turn up in guitars. It’s certainly not elegant and I wouldn’t really recommend it (it’s a bit rattly and not terribly precise) but it does serve as a useful example of the principle here.

Not the most precise solution but it’s a good example of how this all works

In the bolt’s extended (bolted) position, the end of the barrel just touches the sustain block in its neutral position. So, the bridge is free to drop the stings but has a positive stop point when it comes back to neutral. It can’t go beyond that. The bolt has converted the trem into a dive-only system. The idea that you can then unlatch the bolt and retract the barrel to make the bridge fully floating again is worth mentioning too (mentioning, not trying—this is a good example but it’s not brilliant in practice).

Adjustable tremolo stop

What about something that, if not necessarily more complex, is at least a little better at the job? If you search online for 'Floyd tremolo stop' or similar, you'll probably find something that's not a million miles away from the kitchen cabinet bolt.

Not complicated but it’s pretty effective as a tremolo stop

It's just a right-angle bracket that screws to the floor of the tremolo rout. It's tapped to accept a threaded bolt. The bolt can be adjusted so it just contacts against the sustain block in the bridge's neutral position. Hey presto, the bridge is now a dive-only trem. The block comes back to rest against the bolt when you let go of the whammy bar. This is a really easy, reversible way to convert your floating tremolo to dive-only.

It's important to note that locking nut threaded up against the bracket too. Without this, the bolt could vibrate out of position. Make sure one is included if you're buying one of these things.

These stops do their job pretty well but they're a set-it-and-forget-it sort of deal. You can remove it easily but it's not adjustable on the fly.

The Tremol-No

The Tremolo-No looks similar to some of the tremolo stabilisers on the market but, personally, I'd call it a 'tremolo stop' rather than a stabiliser. Maybe that's nit-picking. Either way, it can be a useful device.

It consists of a receiver unit that clamps to the bridge sustain block (there are a couple of different clamp styles depending on your bridge). The receiver is free to move up and down a long shaft, which is anchored at the other end to a (new) trem-spring claw. When you wobble your whammy, the receiver slides up and down the shaft.

Also free to slide along the shaft is what Tremolo-No calls a Deep-C™ unit. I can't bring myself to call it that so I'll refer to it as a 'stop-block'. With the bridge in its neutral position, you can slide the stop-block along the shaft until it just contacts the end of the receiver. A thumbscrew on the stop block locks it in place and converts the bridge to dive-only. The stop-block locked to the shaft prevents the receiver (and therefore the bridge) from moving in the other direction. If you want to convert back to fully-floating, it's easy to loosen the thumbscrew and shift the stop-block out of the way.

The Tremolo-No has another trick up its sleeve. The thumbscrews on the receiver unit can be tightened to lock it into place on the shaft. That locks the entire bridge with it. With the turn of a couple of screws, you've hard-tailed the guitar.

All of this is reasonably easy and fast to do if the trem-rout cover isn't installed. It's feasible to hard-tail a guitar for most of a gig and convert it back to either fully-floating or dive-only for songs where it's needed. Or vice-versa, if that's your thing.

This article written by Gerry Hayes and first published at hazeguitars.com

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