Blocking a tremolo

[Wizard of Wailing]

      I've never had serious tuning problems with my strats' tremolos, but I'm thinking about trying some different trems in the future.  In case I do encounter tuning problems, will blocking a bad tremolo keep it in tune, (assuming there's no problem with the tuners and nut) and effectively make it a hardtail?

 

[BigSteve22]

I never use a Trem, but I put one on my Strat just because a thought my first Strat should have one. I keep it decked and have absolutely no tuning problems. It's a Hipshot US Flat Plate two point Trem. Very stable tuning with locking tuners.

 

[Cagey]

To answer your question directly, yes. Blocking a trem will generally help keep a guitar in tune. Just keep in mind that other things also affect tune, mostly the tuners themselves, the nut and the strings.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. Properly set up, Fender's Deluxe American Standard bridge...

...can be as stable and reliable as any modern aftermarket unit, but it's pretty tough to get a vibrato bridge from anybody that will perform worse than anything else Fender has ever supplied. So, you probably won't need to block anything you might install. If you don't anticipate using it much, then rather than block it you could just set it up with all 5 strings and pull the claw tight. That'll make it behave very much like a hardtail, but still allow you to dive it if the spirit moves you. It'll just take more effort than a properly set up unit.

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

    One of these years I plan on getting a distressed Callaham tremolo that's designed like the original Strat trems of the 50's.  Just in case it doesn't work as well as my Bladerunner trems, I'd like to know I could just put a piece of wood in the cavity and keep it in tune.

 

[Cagey]

For one of those, I might be tempted to block it, too. It's not a good design, no matter how carefully Callaham or anyone else makes it. But, there again, rather than block it, you could just tighten it up to the point where even if you break a string it won't move without malice aforethought. You get the same effect without totally eliminating the option of using it.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

If you have a straight string pull, locking tuners, and a well setup axe, you can get stellar Floyd-ish results out of many wiggle sticks.

I've pulled Petrucci's off the rack that weren't set up well, and I've pulled some that couldn't go out of tune no matter how much I Vai-Bombed them to try to knock them out.

Conversely, I've had the same results with just about every Floyd concoction out there. 

Heck, I toured with an Ibanez with a Lo-TRS that performed flawlessly.

It's not always the hardware itself, sometimes it is, but not always.

Well setup nut, clean/lubed knife edges on the base plate of the trem.  Good springs like those found on the Floyd site or at FU Ugrades.

Some cheap trems can be set up this way, but there are always more factors than just the trem, and most folks that hate Floyds, or even trems in general either don't know how, or don't want to know how, they just want the results.