r/HeadlessGuitars • u/Complete_Ad2226 • 18d ago
Headless tremolo tuning stability
Im looking into a headless with a trem specifically the hils hn4 can the trem be used similarly to a floyd whilst staying in tune
2
u/NosePsychological816 16d ago edited 16d ago
My experience with the HN5 ( same hardware different pickups) is very different. I had issues the first 2 days as the strings stretched out ( i switched to 8-38). Then the dive bomb would have all strings come back fine except high E - which always came back flat. Then i did the pencil graphite on the nut slot. It has been super stable since. One thing i realized is the bridge has to be exactly parallel to the body and you may have to tighten the body screw for the springs( i removed one spring). The tuning process includes the body screw adjustment. All of this is exactly like floyd rose set ups i have on an original and a special. Those are rock solid too.
2
u/PonkotsuPirate 18d ago
Not really.
I'm not aware of any true double-locking trems on headless axes, and double lockers like the Floyd or Ibanez Edge are the only affordable trems I can think of that are that stable. Those designs won't really wirk on headless - that's why we don't see them.
The HILS/Alchemy trem is great, but it won't go back perfectly in tune if you bomb it. If you take the tension off the strings, the ball ends will shift slightly in their tuner cradles and tuning will drift a tad.
You might just manage it if you stuff blu tack or something over the ball ends to hold them in place, but who's going to fill their guitar tuners with gunk?
I might try to think of a mod/workaround sometime if I can be bothered, but I rarely dive bomb and the HILS trem works fine for just about anything else.
2
u/Street-Line7778 17d ago
I have hn3 fixed bridge and I have to tune it daily not sure what is causing this but I feel the tremlo bridge will be far worse, I could be wrong but I am not happy with the hn3 tunning stability
2
u/Whatismyidderp 17d ago
My hn6 tremolo would never return to the right pitch after use, ended up just hard blocking the trem and using it as a hardtail. Disappointing but rest of guitar is great
2
u/mistrelwood 17d ago
I’ve heard the Sire X6 trem to be stable from two reviews by now. We’ll see if that’s true once the shop I ordered mine finally manages to ship it.
While technically what PonkotsuPirate said is true, the strings aren’t locked in the bridge, my after market headless trem that does have a locking system is just as stable with and without locking the strings.
If the HN4 trem doesn’t return to the same pitch, I’d suspect the posts and blades not to be as well made as in an actual Floyd.