EVH D-Tuna on my trans green Jackson SL2H. Extra cautious here so I wouldn't mark the body. As expected, the float caused the other strings to go sharp when I dropped from E to D, but it worked just fine when the trem was blocked by a screwdriver underneath that polishing cloth.
But hey, I still like this thing. It's easy to use and about 80 percent of the reviews I've read for it have been exceedingly positive. I'm the kind of guy that will do things very carefully and by the book, so I expect to successfully implement the D-Tuna by fine tuning it correctly. Plus, the mod doesn't infringe on the look of the body. It sticks out only about another inch or so from the other bridge screws. Only a guitarist with a trained eye would recognize it and say, "Oh yeah, that's one of those drop tuner things."
And so, with the window of opportunity to order the body just around the corner, I felt satisfied once again with the decision to go with the angled pocket so the Floyd Rose bridge would be flush-mounted against the top of the body—again, with the purpose of being able to dive down but not raise up.
Throughout this entire process so far, I kept reading about how a D-Tuna requires that the trem be blocked, and that there are several different methods of doing it, whether by purchasing new hardware, or simply jamming a wood block into the cavity to keep the bridge from moving. I waved all of those possibilities off, not wanting any feature to be second rate to the build of Big Riff. But I finally decided to put some research into two products on the market: the Hipshot Tremsetter, and the Tremol-No.
The Hipshot Tremsetter is essentially a bigger spring that replaces the middle of the usual three springs in any trem system. I didn't see anything that explained how it actually works except that it tightens up the springs' response back to their original setting, which makes it a trem stabilizer. Once I saw that installation of the Tremsetter requires drilling more holes into the cavity of the guitar, I immediately axed it.
Google image search: the Hipshot Tremsetter installed. See that hole that has to be drilled into the body? That's a no-go!
The Tremol-No is a trem blocker with a shaft-and-rod setup that clamps between the trem block and the claw plate. The claw plate itself is provided with the Tremol-no and needs to be replaced; otherwise, no other crazy modifications to the guitar need to be done other than making sure the ground wire is connected.
Google image search: the Tremol-No installed. Simple, clean, no heavy modifications or mess, and adjustable.
I became very intrigued by the Tremol-No. The three thumbscrews enable the entire Floyd setup to be used in three different modes: full-float mode (dive and raise strings), dive-only mode (blocked halfway), and fully blocked mode (no movement of the bridge). If the thing actually does what it's supposed to do, this means that EVERY feature I wanted for my guitar is now entirely possible!!! This would be a perfect best-of-all-worlds scenario. I'm certainly not the only person to have thought this. I've found YouTube videos of guys pairing the D-Tuna with the Tremol-No and it seems to work well given that it's set up properly (again, by the book).
I could leave the D-Tuna in at E and utilize the full float, I could put the guitar in dive-only mode and switch from E to D seamlessly, or I could block the trem completely and use the guitar as a hardtail.
And so with this in mind, I must revisit the possibility of having Warmoth do the custom routing job that I discussed in my fourth post. I will need to have exact dimensions figured out and agree to never return the body. All sales final. I'm going to call them back in the next couple of weeks and insist on a price quote. I imagine I will wind up saying something to them to the effect of, "No, really, guys, I want this job done and painted..."
There are a few complaints for the Tremol-No that I've seen on various forums. One is that players would need to remove completely or customize [i.e. cut a hole in] the back plate to reach the thumbscrews. That would be an easy fix. The other is that the thumbscrews can fall out while in full float mode, as they need to be loose to allow the shaft to move, but I'm reading up on how to fix that issue as well.
Part of what has made this such a fun and interesting project so far is the pursuit of the "end-all be-all" instrument. Heavily modified, customized, and entirely practical. Why should I stop at the trem system? I've been thinking, too, about having a second pickguard with a different pair of pickups in it so that I could swap it out on the body when I don't want or need the Sustainiac.
It's Independence Day, and... *sigh* Whatever. I was going to try to make a connection between this song and celebrating our nation's heritage, but I give up. Anyway, Queensryche are one of the few bands I can tolerate from the Monster Ballad era.
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