Tremolo Tubing: It really DOES work!

[tbonesullivan]

So, during the setup of my Music Man Luke III when going from .009's to .010s, I had to add another spring. There was just no getting around it. The spring claw was already only about 1/2 inch from the end of the cavity in with 9s due to the saddles being pretty high.

So, when I went to take off the springs, I found that there was a bit of tubing on the inside of the springs. I'd never really seen this solution before to trem spring vibration, but it definitely seemed to do the trick. Only problem was that I only had the two 2 1/2 inch lengths that were in the guitar, so I googled, and read that i should just go to Home Depot.

I went there, and found 3/16 inch Outer Diameter fuel line, probably a 10 foot coil, and it's the exact same color, so definitely what I was looking for.

I did find that the 2 1/2 inch length is a bit too long unless you've got a lot of stretch in the strings, so I went with 2 3/8 inch, which was recommended in a youtube video I saw. So, now my Luke III is set up for .010s, and the springs don't make any noise at all.

Now that I've got a bunch of tubing, I will probably just put tubing on my other 4 guitars with tremolos, and still have a bunch left.

[BubbaVO]

I'm so glad I'm half deaf.  I've never noticed trem spring noise in any guitar I've played.  The noise coming out of the guitar when I play it has sufficed. 

[tbonesullivan]

It can cause weird feedback issues with high volume/gain that some people don't like. Steve Vai would cover his with tape and other stuff to keep them from vibrating.

I mainly just got it due to OCD issues. Like strap locks. Once I got a pair, then EVERY GUITAR had to have a pair.

[Studio Custom]

Or you could use a foam piece from a pickup box. 

[diablo175]

On 4/4/2018 at 10:19 AM, BubbaVO said:

I'm so glad I'm half deaf.  I've never noticed trem spring noise in any guitar I've played.  The noise coming out of the guitar when I play it has sufficed. 

Pretty sure  I'm not half deaf but I've never noticed trem spring noise- ever. Certainly not in the case of normal (for me) usage and set up. To be fair, I do have noiseless springs on several guitars but even before the discovery and adoption of said springs (I use 'em for their heavier gauge- less springs, same tension, claw arm isn't screwed right into the very front of the cavity) I never heard any noise outside of my own making...

[Jeff R]

Blocked trem example but same principle ... every now and then you get guitars that have some eerie odd isolated resonant frequency sonic vibration thingie going on due to whatever circumstance. Don't know why, just happens. This guitar had a strange underlying ring on the open "B" string and I traced it to the springs initially. A miniscule truss rod or string saddle adjustment, tightening or loosening the claw (the beauty of a blocked trem), anything physics related related really could or would have likely made it go away, but the overall setup and resonance was so good I didn't want to screw with it. Plus my shop bins include a metric shit ton of foam. I literally hoard it and amass it quicker than I use it, so into the cavity it went.

[tbonesullivan]

Nice! I thought about the foam inside the springs, but with a moving trem it kinda can get stuck in between the spring windings. With the tubing it really seems to just slide around inside.  But, to each their own.

[HamerDave]

7 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

 Like strap locks. Once I got a pair, then EVERY GUITAR had to have a pair.

Yaaaaaas! And the all have to be the same kind and color matched to the rest of the  hardware..

[Jakeboy]

Ever since I heard Jimmy Page’s Trem spring noise on the first part of his solo on In The Evening. I smile and get happy whenever my Strat Springs make noise. I have even been contemplating putting a mic back there during a wang bar solo so I can pick up said noise.

I dig it.

[tbonesullivan]

1 hour ago, HamerDave said:

Yaaaaaas! And the all have to be the same kind and color matched to the rest of the  hardware..

Yeah! And then you get a guitar with that weird kinda cosmic black color hardware, and there is no way to get anything that matches it. Damn you Ibanez.

[FGJ]

Doesn't EVH pluck the springs to make noise during one point in his solos? He definitely doesn't have his springs covered or muted with anything, and I don't hear anyone complaining about his tone.

[tbonesullivan]

It all depends on what what you want I guess. For people who want a really tight sound with a ton of gain, extraneous vibrations are not desired. I know I've seen people with bigsby vibratos with felt on the strings to prevent vibrations, and other types of things.