Options to block Floyd Rose trem?

[plexi59]

I'd like to sort of convert most of my guitars to a "fixed bridge" setup while leaving FR in place.

There's Tremol-no which I have in one of my guitars, and it leaves much to be desired - the thumbscrews undo themselves after a while. I suppose I could just cut a wooden spacer and insert it into the cavity, but that sounds like work. I supposed I could also use thread locker compound on the tremol no (the impermanent kind) but I'm not sure that'd improve matters sufficiently.

Is there some sort of a semi-permanent tremol-no like mechanism which I can easily undo on demand, but which won't undo itself during normal operation?

 

[Jeries]

I just have my guitar guy glue in a small piece of wood and it's super solid and you can take it off/out

He's advised me against every product/gimic

 

[skategeezer]

I just have my guitar guy glue in a small piece of wood and it's super solid and you can take it off/out

He's advised me against every product/gimic

What they said.......

 

[parlopower]

I just have my guitar guy glue in a small piece of wood and it's super solid and you can take it off/out

He's advised me against every product/gimic

Also dumped the Tremol-no after a few months since it was not stable and now my local luthier is putting a piece of wood in.

 

[Muad'zin]

I reckon the best solution still is to just get a hard tail guitar.

 

[Megadebt]

Here is what I blocked mine with. I have a chunk/block of kiln dried mahogany I could have cut a small piece to use, but like you said, sounds like work

https://www.fu-tone.com/product/brass-tremolo-stopper/

 

[Piing]

Schaller Tremstop

I have it installed at my Strat and at my Super-Strat for more than 15 years. It instantly converts the floating bridge in a solid hardtail trem. Very quick to block and release in the middle of a song. It can also save your live if you break a string during a performance

No need for an anti-ergonomic, heavy and and expensive Les Paul to get these solid bends

 

[Piing]

...or like someone did at GuitarThai forum:

https://www.guitarthai.com/webboard/question.asp?QID=356713

 

[luke]

A block of wood down the center with 4 outer springs.

 

[SalazarMcMantis]

This is what I've done on 2 guitars. No issues at all and super easy to block/unblock.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Before I ripped my Strat apart, I had a plastic cap from a Coke bottle between the block and body, held in place with a piece of tape. Worked great for about 10 years and only came out because I took it out.

 

[jon]

One of the best sounding single coil guitars I own is a strat copy with pennies I used to block the sustain block.....

Tremol-no works well if set up perfectly but it's a pain and not too easy to get absolutely perfect

Mag lok is a great solution but you have to get it perfect as well, but works a charm once you do

Try the pennies, it's cheap, customizable and readily available

 

[Muad'zin]

This is what I've done on 2 guitars. No issues at all and super easy to block/unblock.

View attachment 64819

I love the simplicity of that. Although he's the stability when its unblocked with only two springs?

 

[Tom Morris]

This guy makes nice stuff. I have a Global tuner block in one guitar works real well.

https://sophiatremolos.com/collections/global-tuner-upgrades/products/brass-tremolo-block-upgrade

 

[SalazarMcMantis]

I love the simplicity of that. Although he's the stability when its unblocked with only two springs?

I just pulled that pic from google, the guitars I have that installed on are put away right now. I always use three springs, two on one side, one on the other. When I have a guitar setup for only divebombs (I don't ever unblock these) I really crank the spring tension. Previously if I had mine set to where I could just flip it on or off for floating I'd get a noticeable "thunk" from the tremolo block hitting the blocker, even from just bending strings. So now I keep my guitars set to always floating, always divebomb only, or always fully blocked.

 

[plexi59]

This is what I've done on 2 guitars. No issues at all and super easy to block/unblock.

View attachment 64819

I feel like this has potential, but wouldn't it block in only one direction?

 

[OrganicZed]

I feel like this has potential, but wouldn't it block in only one direction?

That depends. If the spring tension is set correctly for floating then you would have the option to set the guitar to dive only or be fully floating with the two bolt positions. If you were to put a lot of extra spring tension on the claw then this would function as fully blocked because it would take a ton of force to get it to dive and the pull-up direction is blocked.

 

[plexi59]

Whoever made tremol-no should just take this design and make it bidirectional. Way simpler and can be made way more reliable, too. All they'd need to do is make a bolt which locks in either unlocked or locked position. This doesn't seem too hard for someone with equipment.

 

[warlockII]

The beauty of the block of wood is that it's reversible and you can still dive w/ the trem. If you have a piece of scrap it costs you nothing. ONLY downside is if you forget and get crazy trying to pull up

 

[SalazarMcMantis]

I feel like this has potential, but wouldn't it block in only one direction?

Yes it basically only works for blocking upward movement, but as @OrganicZed stated if you increase the spring tension enough then it's damn near fully blocked unless you very intentionally want to divebomb. Remove the bar and there's no chance of it moving.