Can a EVH D-tuna be installed on a recessed floyd?

[Manning]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DTunaBLK

I was thinking of installing this on my Pro Am with recessed Floyd. Can it be done or is it junk with junk results?

[Salmon]

have seen it done on quite a number of recessed OFRs. I think certain makers even do the combination as an option.

1058

[Metlupass2]

It would all depend on how high you have your bridge set up.

[Pietro]

My understanding is that if the Floyd is floating, it simply won't be usable.

[Metlupass2]

It would have to be blocked someway.

[pipedwho]

For a recessed Floyd, you can block it inside the trem cavity with a slice of wood, use one of the screw in 'trem-stoppers', or with a product like the Tremol-no (which I didn't like myself). Once you've done that, the D-tuna will work as per any other bridge.

[tom]

slightly off topic, has anyone used the magnalok? and can it hold a drop D? i would assume if it did it would ruin the feel of the wiggle. i've emailed them a couple times but got no response.

[wolf]

slightly off topic, has anyone used the magnalok? and can it hold a drop D? i would assume if it did it would ruin the feel of the wiggle. i've emailed them a couple times but got no response.

I tried one when they came out and removed it 2 weeks later because it was impossible to get it setup.
The magnet was too strong so using the trem felt really strange but double stops would still make it ''pop''open and that felt really weird.
I don't use Drop D but my guess would be that it wouldn't hold it.

[pipedwho]

slightly off topic, has anyone used the magnalok? and can it hold a drop D? i would assume if it did it would ruin the feel of the wiggle. i've emailed them a couple times but got no response.
I tried one (Super Vee Mag-lok) years ago and ditched it because it interfered with 'vibrato around the zero point' - which is my number one reason for using a floating bridge. The magnet seemed to only hold in one direction - ie. it held only for dives to prevent double stops from going out of tune, and added no extra resistance when pulling up. But, that also means the magnet won't do anything to help keep the bridge in position if you drop tuned a string in the middle of a song.

Although you could probably set the zero point with the D-tuna set to the dropped position, and then 'lift tune' it to standard. The magnet will then try to hold, but I'm not sure it was really that strong. It barely held for big double stops with the thin strings, and I'm not sure what the relative tension difference between E and D would be, but I'd guess it would be marginal and would pop out the moment you bent another string - possibly requiring you to pull the bar back to zero to fix it.

Basically, the Mag-lok is perfect for someone that does a lot of double stops and wants to still be able to pull up and dive bomb.

But, I wouldn't recommend it for someone wanting to make live tuning changes.

[Salmon]

Thanks for sharing valuable info. I too had been considering the mag-lok, but no longer now that its confirmed that it messes with wiggle & flutter. Thats taking away one best thing about trems to achieve something others get hardtails for.

[Salmon]

For a recessed Floyd, you can block it inside the trem cavity with a slice of wood, use one of the screw in 'trem-stoppers', or with a product like the Tremol-no (which I didn't like myself). Once you've done that, the D-tuna will work as per any other bridge.

Could you say what you disliked about the tremol-no?

[pipedwho]

Could you say what you disliked about the tremol-no?
It did the job, but I could still feel it when I did subtle vibrato with the bar. That was a bit annoying, but not a show stopper.

Also it didn't really feel 'solid', not like when I block the trem with a couple of blocks of wood. My biggest problem was if I bumped the bar against something it would push one of the locks out of place. That moved the centre point causing the guitar to go way out of tune, making the guitar pretty much useless until I could re-tune/set the springs.

In the end I realised that when I use a Floyd I expect to hover like a full torso free floating vaporous apparition. I love the subtle (and crazy) vibrato you can get with it (and of course the occasional dive bomb). I find if I set it for dive only, I don't use the trem at all, so that wasn't much use to me. So basically for me, the Floyd floats, and everything else is decked or hard tail.

[Salmon]

It did the job, but I could still feel it when I did subtle vibrato with the bar. That was a bit annoying, but not a show stopper.

Also it didn't really feel 'solid', not like when I block the trem with a couple of blocks of wood. My biggest problem was if I bumped the bar against something it would push one of the locks out of place. That moved the centre point causing the guitar to go way out of tune, making the guitar pretty much useless until I could re-tune/set the springs.

In the end I realised that when I use a Floyd I expect to hover like a full torso free floating vaporous apparition. I love the subtle (and crazy) vibrato you can get with it (and of course the occasional dive bomb). I find if I set it for dive only, I don't use the trem at all, so that wasn't much use to me. So basically for me, the Floyd floats, and everything else is decked or hard tail.

Aha, Tom had mentioned that he didn't care for it because he hadn't known anyone who could make it stay in tune properly while switching modes on the fly. Anyway thanks for sharing, and sweetly summed up! Seems a hardtail T is in order for double stops, super-bends, and some twang...

[pipedwho]

Aha, Tom had mentioned that he didn't care for it because he hadn't known anyone who could make it stay in tune properly while switching modes on the fly. Anyway thanks for sharing, and sweetly summed up! Seems a hardtail T is in order for double stops, super-bends, and some twang...
There was that too. Even though it's slightly easier to change modes than putting in / pulling out a block of wood, it still wasn't something that you could do on the fly. There was always a retune in between going from float to locked and vice-versa.

As an aside, one of the sneaky methods I use to retune when setting up a recessed Floyd is to block the bridge where it's parallel to the body. Then tune up (which is far easier while the bridge isn't floating). Then unblock it and adjust the spring mount screws until any one of the strings is back in tune. At that point, the bridge is perfectly level, and fully set up and all strings are in tune. Even intonating it that way gets really close, and only needs ultra small adjustments (if any) once floated. I suppose the Tremol-no did help a bit with that.

[Salmon]

There was that too. Even though it's slightly easier to change modes than putting in / pulling out a block of wood, it still wasn't something that you could do on the fly. There was always a retune in between going from float to locked and vice-versa.

As an aside, one of the sneaky methods I use to retune when setting up a recessed Floyd is to block the bridge where it's parallel to the body. Then tune up (which is far easier while the bridge isn't floating). Then unblock it and adjust the spring mount screws until any one of the strings is back in tune. At that point, the bridge is perfectly level, and fully set up and all strings are in tune. Even intonating it that way gets really close, and only needs ultra small adjustments (if any) once floated. I suppose the Tremol-no did help a bit with that.

that sucks... piped do you think thats something that could be solved by making the clamp grab the trem-block at a completely straight angle, and adding lubricant to where the T slides around inside the unit?

Yeah I do that as well whenever tuning my ofr dtc, block it off with a rectangular eraser so that its basically still level with the body and tune up it saves a lot of work.

[pipedwho]

that sucks... piped do you think thats something that could be solved by making the clamp grab the trem-block at a completely straight angle, and adding lubricant to where the T slides around inside the unit?

Yeah I do that as well whenever tuning my ofr dtc, block it off with a rectangular eraser so that its basically still level with the body and tune up it saves a lot of work.

I doubt it. For me, adding lube worsened the problem where the little locks would slip when bumped.

[Salmon]

I doubt it. For me, adding lube worsened the problem where the little locks would slip when bumped.

ouch, thats horrifying. thanks again for sharing.

[pipedwho]

ouch, thats horrifying. thanks again for sharing.
It wasn't totally unusable, but I did send it out a couple of times by whacking the bridge with my hand. That's when I gave up on it.