Tremolo stabilizers

I'm still in the hunt for the best tremolo stabilizer available. The key factors are as low as possible slack of the strings when a string is bent and a natural feel around the resting point.

I discovered the Hipshot Tremsetter somewhere 80/90. I started to use them and found myself tighten the extra spring really hard to reduce slacking during bends. It worked really good but you really needed muscles to operate the whammy and that setup had a really nonlinear spring tension around the resting point. I used this solution for many years.

Some years ago I saw someone mentioning The Göldo Back Box. It was easier to install except that it had too little space for the screw driver when fastening it to the body of the guitar. I also found it a little bit more cumbersome to adjust. The test installation ended up with a problem. When I moved the whammy up and released it it did not manage to move the bridge to the same resting point as if I did a dive and released it. I therefore replaced it with the Tremsetter and I have not tested it since. Later I got the same problem, but less severe, with a Tremsetter, so it might not have been the Back Box after all. I still have two in possession so, who knows. I might give it a try again sometime.

The next discovery was the SuperVee Mag-Lok. It used magnets instead of springs. It did a really good job stabilizing the tremolo during bends and since the magnets only did it's magic in the resting position it did not require big muscles to operate during dives. It also was much more linear around the resting point. But after a while I discovered that I have gotten tuning problems. It seemed like it switched between the "correct" tuning and a slightly sharp one. It happened sometimes during dives and after some more investigation I realize that it was during really deep dives. You could also here a strange sound during these deep dives. I realized that the Mag-Lok tube hit the guitar body and forced the pin mounted in the sustain block to move up out of the hole. After release of the whammy it did not manage go down fully in the hole again. It therefore moved the resting point. I will redo the installation and put something under the mounting plate so that it never touches the guitar body. I think this be a small fix, I hope ;-)

Just a couple of days ago I found the Van Rosa Stay Tuned Tremolo Claw. After reading about it and seen some tests I got really interested. So I ordered a couple to try them out. It is said to be really easy to install and that it does the stabilizing job really well. Since it uses only normal springs mounted differently I guess that this setup will be really linear around the resting point as well. But we'll see :-)

Can't wait :-)

Rock on!

New Metallica

I just heard the second song made public from the new Metallica album "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct".

The first song they published, Hardwired, was a short thrash right-in-your-face song. I loved both the song and the sound. It was not crushed by a limiter as most of the songs was on the "Death Magnetic" album. The new album seems to have an overall fatter and bigger sound. The only thing I noticed was a just too clicky sound on the base drum, but that I can live with. I really good introduction to the new album!!

The second song "Moth into Flame" shows a slightly different Metallica I think. Okay, as soon as you here the riffs and the drums, wah-solo and the vocals, you unmistakably know it's Metallica. But there are some new spices in the mix. For example the harmonic guitar part before the pre-chorus and the harmony vocals in the same.  Some new spices, but it tastes good!

I am really in waiting now for the release of the full 2 CD album. If the rest of the songs have this hight quality this will be a full on thrash fest. Uahhh!! Yeahh!!

More cleaning

I thought my Agile Hornet Pro 725 volume pot was mended by the electronic cleaning spray, but when I started to do the recording for the Hybridia record I discovered that this was the case at all. Just before full volume the connection was not dependable at all. It really made things painful when performing the guitar tracks since I change the volume every now and between softer and harder parts. When I got home I removed the cover and did another heavy spraying of it. Since then it has worked just perfect so it must have been some dirt or oxide or something. It even survived a gig last Friday. :-)

Rock on!

Rewiring of the Agile Hornet Pro 725

I just wanted you to know that the rewiring of the Agile Hornet Pro 725 went really well. The only thing I discovered was that the pot that I wired in as the volume pot got a bad connection at almost full volume. I discovered the exact same thing once before when I rewired my BC Rich Mocking bird, and that time it went away after some weeks of usage. This time I drowned the pots in electronic cleaning spray and let it do it's thing during the night. That solved the problem. It may have something to do with the soldering procedure, but that's just a guess. Maybe I have to keep the temperature down the next time.

I've installed the Super Vee Mag-Lok on this guitar and a while after the installation I noticed some problems with the tuning. Somehow it changed a lot from time to time. After some investigation I found out that it was due to the fact that the Mag-Lok pin moved up and down the hole in the sustain block. When it had moved up and gotten stuck in a higher position the balance point of the bridge got altered which resulted in a higher pitch. But when the pin somehow got back to it's normal position the pitch dropped again. I tried to jam the pin shut in different ways and I almost succeeded with some sticky tape mounted on the pin and some plastic foam mounted between the Mag-Lok and the hatch. But it still moved slightly. I just did not get what the problem was until I really looked at the Mag-Lok while doing a full dive with the bridge. Then I realized what was causing the Mag-Lok pin to move. When the bridge was in full dive position, the sustain block not only had moved to the back of the cavity, it had also moved down towards the strings because of the turning motion. The bottom of the cavity is horizontal with the body, but the Mag-Lok now needs to lean back into the cavity to keep it's place in the sustain block. Halfway through the dive the Mag-Lok therefore hits the bottom of the cavity and that forces the pin to rice up the hole during the rest of the dive. So the next project will be a change of the installation of the Mag-Lok.



Rock on!

Some fixin'

I finally got some time to fix some issues with some of my guitars. It was not anything big, just a bad connection in the output jack in my BC Rich Mocking Bird that needed fixing. And when the soldering iron was hot I also adjusted the Agile Hornet to my liking, i.e. changed the wiring from two volume and one tone to one volume and one tone. I've never got it in to my head (fingers) which volume to use when, so one is better for me :-)

I also added another battery, so now it runs on 18 V as most of my other guitars. Some years ago I read about running EMGs on 18 V and after watching a demo on youtube I decided to try it out. I made a coupling that allowed for quick switching between 9 V and 18 V so that I could easy hear the difference, if any. And to my big surprise 18 V really made a difference. It increased the headroom and therefore reduced the compressed sound a bit without really removing the sound that I love with EMG pickups.

Since this guitar has a separate battery compartment I had to squeeze in the additional battery beneath the volume pots. There was not really room for this so now the pick guard does not fully rest on the body of the guitar. But hey, It's only rock 'n roll, so who cares. :-) It is impossible to spot anyways if you are not playing the guitar and looking specifically for this.

Rock on!