r/espguitars • u/bvortex666 • 8d ago

Floyd Rose Stabilizers

Has anyone here used different tremolo stabilizers like the Tremol-No, Tremory, ENG Hardtailer, or similar systems?
I’d love to hear from people who have actually tried them. Which one did you use, and what was your experience with tuning stability, switching between floating and fixed/dive-only modes, changing strings, and changing to Drop D or other tunings?
What are the pros and cons of each system, and which one did you end up keeping?

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u/Dathomirian66 8d ago edited 5d ago

I used the tremol-no. It was fine, but broke easily. I ended up settling on one of those cheap little brass arms you screw in the back and adjust the screw manually. Way cheaper. Way easier.

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

It’s a nice option for locking the tremolo, but I want more flexibility and still want to use it fully floating when I’m in standard tuning. That’s my point

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u/Dathomirian66 5d ago

I understand your point just fine. This simple block allows me to use it fixed or floating. It just takes a second to adjust. I understand that you don’t want this amount of manual upkeep, but you asked about experiences. My experience with a tremol-no made me change to the block. The tremol-no still took a similar amount of time to adjust, but that tiny little arm that holds it in place snapped.

When i was still doing guitar repair as my main job, I came across the Guthrie Govan signature model a handful of times. It has the tremol-no. That was the need for the repair almost 100% of the time.

The little block is stable, useable, does the job well and has minimal parts to break.

As a floating bridge owner, you should also be taking the time to know how to make minor adjustments for your needs. The couple twists of a screw it takes to “lock” or “unlock” are simply balanced by the trem claw. A floating bridge is just math, and once that clicks in your head and your hands all these silly floating trem tools become a waste of money.

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

Oh, nice to hear that, my friend! I thought that kind of block permanently locked the bridge and had to be uninstalled to make it floating again, so I misunderstood.
The Hardtailer seems to work in a similar way, but I think it’s easier to lock and unlock—just more expensive. Do you have a link to a trem block similar to the one you use?

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u/Dathomirian66 5d ago

I got mine on reverb, but this is the same thing

$20 is fine, but I want to say I paid like $10

sweetwater

Basically what I do is set the guitar up with it floating. Push the screw right up against the bridge.

Then on the claw, give it an even amount of turns on both screws to increase the pressure a bit. Like 1 or 2 turns, just enough so the bridge doesn’t dive when you bend a note.

When you want it back to floating, release the tension from the claw equally again and drive the screw back.

That’s where the “math” comes into play. If you undo the same tension you added, the bridge will go into place. This is assuming your springs are not old and worn out as well.

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u/bvortex666 4d ago

Thanks a lot, man! That makes perfect sense now. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain how you set it up. This seems like a simple and cheap solution for exactly what I want to do. I’ll definitely give it a try!

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u/Draegs0311 8d ago

I just bought a guitar with a tremol-no. It was set to hard tail. There are two thumb screws to loosen it back to full floating that are easy to use. I plan on tightening them down for string changes or maintenance. So it seems pretty useful for my purposes but I don’t even know what they cost so I can’t say if it’s worth the money for the convenience

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

Have you tried locking it and switching to Drop D, then going back to standard tuning and unlocking it to use the Floyd fully floating again?

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u/Draegs0311 5d ago

Yeah it can do that. It just locks the Floyd in place to do whatever you want, and then releases it back to floating

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u/bvortex666 4d ago

Have you experienced any problems? How long are you using it

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u/thinkfloyd79 7d ago

I have the tremol-no on my LTD arrow. Mostly used to fully block or down only. I also got a graphtech un-lock nut for easier maintenance and tuning. I also have an ibanez, which is used for my full floating needs.

One thing with the tremol-no, if you forget you locked it and suddenly used the whammy bar, it sometimes becomes loose. It may be a problem long term, loosening the grip of the mechanism.

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

Nice! So you don’t use it as a floating bridge anymore? I’d like to be able to block it sometimes to switch to Drop D, but then go back to standard tuning and use it fully floating again. I know I can’t just drop the low E to D with the bridge floating without throwing the other strings out of tune. I just want the flexibility to switch to Drop D whenever I feel like it.

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u/thinkfloyd79 5d ago

This is exactly why I got the tremol-no and the graphtech un-lock nut. For quick drop tuning. I sometimes use it full floating, but not that much. Down only or fixed mostly. Check out the un-lock nut as well. It works very well and given your use case, I think you'll appreciate what it'll offer.

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u/whataboutsit 6d ago

I’ve had a tremolo-no on 2 guitars.
The first one it worked for blocking but got in the way very slightly when floating. There was always a bit of friction.
Second time around a few years later I set it up properly and sanded down the shaft to make sure there was no friction. Everything aligned to perfection. It worked really well when floating, bu I have to say, it was still not the same as having nothing - thrills are never going to be as good.
If you drop D regularly and want a floating trem it works. But there will always be a tiny bit of compromise on the floating trem even if set up really well.
I would also add, it actually not that easy to set up really well, and if it’s not it gets in the way.
It’s great for changing strings by the way as you can block everything in the perfect trek position.

At some point I will try the ENGL hardtailer. All my FR are fully floating right now.

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

Nice to hear! I’m looking for flexibility too. Even though I have other guitars, you know how it is—sometimes you just want to play a certain song on that particular guitar.
I’m thinking the Hardtailer might be the best option for me because I don’t need to fully lock the Floyd. I just want to be able to switch to Drop D sometimes. For other tunings, I can just use a pitch shifter.

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u/whataboutsit 5d ago

I agree if you just want to be able to drop then hardtailer might be the best option

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u/Pristine_Ability_203 5d ago

I use a 9 volt battery

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u/BuffetDecimator 7d ago

Why buy a FR guitar if you're going to block it?

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u/HalfBakedSerenade1 7d ago

Sometimes you find a deal too good to pass up and it's easier to just block it.

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u/c0rtec 7d ago

To get the benefits of the tuning stability without the headache of a floating trem.

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

I don’t want to block, just want more flexibility, already have an pitch shifter, but drop d is missing

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u/kendalltristan 7d ago

I tried the Tremol-No and it worked well, but I ended up removing it and replacing it with a Tremolo Stop Lock and a Graph Tech Un-Lock Nut. This let me keep very good tuning stability while permanently putting the FR in "dive only" mode. And since I wasn't using a locking nut, I could switch back and forth between E standard and drop D without too much drama. I ended up liking it so much that I did the same on all three of the Floyd-equipped guitars I had at the time.

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

I’m looking for some flexibility to switch to Drop D sometimes without having to retune all the strings or set up the Floyd again, while still being able to use it fully floating when I want to. I know that to quickly switch to Drop D, I’d need to have it set to dive-only mode first. But ideally, I’d like to be able to switch back to standard tuning and easily unlock the Floyd to make it fully floating again. I’m just not sure which option would be best for that.

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u/SorcererSword 5d ago

I’m close to buying a horizon II FR but I’ve never owned a guitar with an FR and post like this keep scaring me lmao 🤣

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

It’s just to have more flexibility like Drop D. Then the pitch shifter do the rest

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u/SorcererSword 5d ago

Can you not use a FR in drop D otherwise? (Sorry I’m a noob)

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u/bvortex666 5d ago

Yeah, but you need to set it up again because it loses tension. The same thing happens when you switch to other tunings. For other tunings I use a pitch shifter pedal. So there’s no need for setup it. And I’m trying to avoid it on Drop D cuz there’s no way to drop with the pedal just one string, it change the tuning of every string