Scott Rosenberger Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 For GOD's Sake!!!! I can't stand it anymore!!! I MUST HAVE ONE!!!!!!! Link to comment
thrashncrust Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 i wish i could try one Link to comment
Bus Bob Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 One player that's not on the site, and probably won't be for a while because he's not really computer savvy, is a guy named Larry Rolando. You don't know it, but you've heard him. He's a massive Nashville studio musician who's played on countless records. He got his Tremol-No a few weeks ago, and after a little tweaking, he's re-loving his old custom Strat. If/when he gets online, I'll get some words from him and maybe a pic. Great player, who I hope I'm making a greater player. :-) Hi Kev. I don't get on the forum as often as I would like to. Nice to read about all the positives with the Tremol-No. Send Larry over and I'll do the photo and on-line stuff with him if he wants... and I'll try my best not to be too intimidated by his abilities. I can go to him too, if that is more convenient. Whatever. Link to comment
cerealk Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Nice to see my mate James with a Tremol-no Good luck with everything Kev! Link to comment
Kevan Posted November 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2004 So, updates....here we go: I went down to the Cincinnati show for Cradle Of Filth. Interesting bunch, to say the least. Once James' guitar was all setup with his new Tremol-No Classic, the other guitarist Paul Allender finally saw how easy it is to install, and realized the Tremol-No would benefit his playing, esp. live. Paul asked if he could try one out, and turn his *gorgeous* PRS into a full-time hardtail. (url=-http://www.cradleoffilth.com/cof/paul_prs.htm]CLICK HERE for a pic of Paul's PRS) I said, "Pfft...no problem", and built a Tremol-No Classic from parts right there in their dressing room. :-) His tech put it in the following day, and Paul's been diggin' it ever since. Well, the Cinci show didn't really go as planned- during one of the opening acts, Bleeding Through, some clown in the audience stabbed a guy 3 times, and deeply cut two other people. Not funny. I guess everyone is ok, except for the stabber; he's going to make some *new* friends. :-) Cradle Of Filth didn't get to play that night; the cops shut down the show, calling the venue a crime scene. As soon as I heard that, I got in my truck and headed home. James called me about 20 minutes later saying that they were trapped on the bus with 1500 fans surrounding them. Heh heh...the life of a rock star. (Refunds or rainchecks were issued by the venue). I got a call from James a couple of days ago, asking if I could send him out another unit for his backup guitar. Actually, his tech likes it more than anyone (makes re-stringing a breeze...heh heh). He also said that Paul would like one as well for his backup PRS. I was going to FedEx them a couple of units, but checked the tour schedule....Pittsburgh, 11.15.04. Hmmm...about a 3 hr. drive. Ok. I'll go to the show and drop them off in person, maybe get some photos/video. I arrived at the venue at about 4PM. Got hooked up with James and the guitar tech. Paul was there as well, and was very excited to soon have both guitars setup as true hardtails. The busses arrived a little late, so everyone was busting buns trying to get the show ready. The guitar tech was also up to his neck in necks. He asked if I could do the installs and save him a bunch of time. "No problem", I say and get crackin' on James' #2. This guitar has one of the new Ibanez Edge Pro trems on it. The shape of the block is a little funky, but the Classic mounted with a 3mm spacer. I'd like to change this one out to a Standard, but we'll see how it takes touring. Paul's install was easier, but I had to add a 1.5" extension to the ground wire (PRS didn't leave much to work with. LOL). After that little adjustment, it went right in. Note to PRS owners: If you can, I'd suggest finding longer trem claw screws, and maybe even a bit beefier. The ones that come with your guitars don't put me at ease regarding holding ability. The guitars were set, and about 20 min. later at soundcheck, they both sounded GREAT. These guys use LOTS of gain, so....the improvments in sustain and tone get a little lost, but when you physically hold it in your hands and strum the strings (with the Tremol-No locked), you can feel it. It's pretty cool. The band had just finished soundcheck, and they were up against doors, so things got even more hectic. I decided that with the 3 hr. drive back, I would head home early and catch the show in Cleveland for photos and some video. Plus, I'm still not over this damn cold. The guys thanked me as did the guitar tech (who I think wanted a hug, but...), and packed up my stuff and went back to my truck. As I left out the front door of the venue (The World) at 7:30P, there must have been 2000 people waiting in a line that went all the way down and around the block. Wow. These guys are a little more popular than I thought. :-) Birds vs. Bats I figure that Paul causes quite a quandry with PRS fans. While his music isn't everyone's cup of tea, his guitar is fantastic. It's one of two PRS's to ever leave the cutom shop with "bat" inlays (he had a red one that he didn't like and got rid of). If you get a chance to see the purple bat guitar in person, it really is gorgeous. Well, the guys now have 4 Tremol-No units covering their main and backup guitars while out on tour. If the units can survive this, I think they'll be ok on pretty much everyone else's rides (except maybe LGM....he's tough on trems...LOL). Certainly mine, and certainly Joe Bedroom Guitar Hero. I've made plans to meet up with the guys again on Dec. 11th at the Cleveland show. If anyone cares to hook up pre- or post-show, feel free to contact me. I wish I had more news about licensees, but....it's at the same place it was 2 weeks ago. Sorry. I'm movin' as fast as I can. Thanks for your support guys. Link to comment
Kevan Posted November 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2004 A couple more updates, and a bonus: Endorsees added to the Players page on the site: -Paul Allender from Cradle Of Filth. -Milan Polak from Falco and now a solo artist. Pictures and quotes from those guys ASAFP. The bonus: A great interview with Milan, and a site I think you guys might enjoy checking out: http://www.essentialguitarist.com/intervie..._interview.html The main site: http://www.essentialguitarist.com/ Enjoy! Link to comment
Kevan Posted November 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2004 Just a quick website update for you folks. I added some cool javascript to the front page: www.tremol-no.com Reload it a few times. I think you'll dig on that. :-) Link to comment
skibum5545 Posted November 18, 2004 Report Share Posted November 18, 2004 Ooooohhhh.... me likey! Link to comment
Kevan Posted December 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Ok....updates.... First the biggie: Tremol-No endorsee/player Mike Martin is now the new lead guitarist for Fozzy. For those that don't know of Fozzy, check out: http://www.fozzyrock.com Mike called me last week to let me in on the good news....and the other GREAT news: Monday, Dec. 6th, Mike and the rest of Fozzy will be on WWE's "Raw" performing live! Mike has the Tremol-No in his #2 guitar, so let's hope for a string break! LOL- just kidding. Check your local listings to see when it's on (I think it's the Spike Channel at 9PM). If anything, it's funny to watch the guys "wrestle". BTW- 5,000,000 people each week watch the WWE. Not bad exposure, eh? The other update is to the FAQ page. I got an email from Steve Blucher at DiMarzio about this, so my buddy Pete and I shot a quick video. http://www.tremol-no.com/faq.html (last question listed) Sorry that it's WMV, but the thousands that I blew on pro video editing software just doesn't seem to be able to compress files without them looking like a Rorschach test. No new licensing news. I'm waiting just like you folks. Enjoy the updates! Link to comment
BLS Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Fozzy is that band that Chris Jericho sing in right?? Congrats man Link to comment
Kevan Posted December 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Fozzy is that band that Chris Jericho sing in right?? Congrats man Yep. The other guitarist in the band is Rich Ward, from Stuck Mojo. So, expect some heavy, HEAVY riffs. Thanks. Let me know what you thought of Mike's performance. I'll pass it along to him. Link to comment
skibum5545 Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 I like the FAQ video! My question is, though, can it do so when it's in the guitar? Also, the first part of the video repeats twice in that sample. Link to comment
Kevan Posted December 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 I like the FAQ video! My question is, though, can it do so when it's in the guitar? Also, the first part of the video repeats twice in that sample. Actually, the first section of the clip is a flub by my buddy Pete. If you watch carefully, you'll see/hear him drop the Tremol-No on the floor and we begin to crack up. Then comes the real version. :-) I haven't tried it with it mounted in a guitar yet. I'll need to get better talent than "Butterfingers Pete" before I shoot it. Link to comment
Kevan Posted December 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2004 UPDATES! Well, I went to my *3RD* Cradle of Filth show in the last 4 weeks. I finally got to see them do a full show. - Cincinatti: some clown stabbed some people during Bleeding Through, the cops came in and shut the venue down. No COF show that night. - Pittsburgh: I was sick as hell, but James and Paul (the guitarists) asked me to come by and hook them up. So I went, but left at about 7PM. No show for Kev (way too sick, and I didn't want to get the band members sick). - Cleveland: (Sat. night). FINALLY got to see a whole COF show! It's a bigger production than I thought. Huge light show, video screens...they're not kidding around. So, on Weds. I get a call from James. He's asking me if we're coming up to the Cleveland show....asks me how many tix/passes I need. I didn't know my buddy Dennis was coming down from Detroit, so I only said "plus 1". No worries though; we got Dennis hooked up with a Photo Pass. :-) James also told me, "The guys from Floyd Rose caught our show in Seattle and saw the Tremol-No. They really like it and want to talk to you. 'The Big Scot' (their huge Scottish tour manager) has all the info." How ironic would it be to license something to Floyd Rose? Anyway, Rachel, Dennis and I drive up to Cleveland for the show. As we're parking, The Big Scot sees us and says to meet him back at this very spot in 5 minutes; he'll get us inside. Truck gets parked, we go back to the (frozen) meeting place and meet him. It's good to see Paul and James again. I think they're having a really good time on this tour. Paul says that he's trying out a couple of Redmond series guitars from FR and asked if he could get one hooked up with a Tremol-No. Sure, why not. I built one in a dressing room for him last time; why not this time as well? LOL 10 minutes later, his unit is ready to be installed, but since we got there late, there really isn't time to drop it into the FR. Their tech will install it the following day. Paul will continue to play the *super-badass* "Bats" PRS (you should see the inlay work...wow). He's just trying out the FR stuff. He hasn't jumped ship. Relax. So....The Big Scot gets me all the info that the FR guys gave him (we'll see what happens with that), and tells us that our tickets/passes are at the box office. We pick up the tickets, and head over to the restaurant part of HOB for some dinner. We get back to the venue in time to catch the last couple of songs of Bleeding Through (hottie on keys! Wow.) I grab my camera gear and head backstage by the guitars. I catch James and Paul about 5 min. before curtain, in full make up and wardrobe, and they were super-cool enough to let me take 2 dozen pics of them with their Tremol-No-equipped guitars. I'm not sure, but I don't think those are poses; I think they really do walk around like that. LOL I wish my $800 camera didn't take $0.08 pics. Most of them turned out alright, but some can only be called "artsy". The "Ten Commandments" pic of Paul is my favorite. That one came out quite nicely and I'm very happy with it. I thank the guys 400 times and then head out to the "photo lane" at the front of the stage. I take about 3 dozen pics and get the hell out of there- security guards pulling bodies over the barricade at a furious rate. 99% of the show pics turned out like crap (or "artsy"), but someone might be able to Photoshop them into something cool. I've sent them to the band; they're far more creative than I. LOL I head to the FOH board and watch the rest of the show. The band is TIGHT. Like Dream Theatre tight. It's definitely harder-edge music, but there's no mistaking these guys have all the nuances down pat. About halfway thru the set, we head upstairs to get a different perspective and enjoy the rest of the show. There was no encore, but the guys all came back out and thanked the concert goers (about 3000? of them). Very cool. The three of us head back stage. I promised a mutual friend of James and I that I would get some video for him. He and James have been budies for years, and the buddy emigrated to Australia, so....they don't get to see each other much. I shot a few minutes of video for him in Cinci, and shot another couple in Cleveland. It's not beers and jamming, but it's good for now. James and Paul are fresh out of the shower and I ask them if they've thought of what they want to say about the Tremol-No. "Oh yeah....get me some paper..." Paul is first up. James took a second, but wrote his down without any sort of second thought. I almost forgot- Paul needed a beer opened, so guess what I whipped out? LOL There were A LOT of people backstage- fans, groupies, etc. I didn't really want to suck up any more of their time, so we said our goodbyes, I thanked them both about 300 more times, and said "later!" to the tech and The Big Scot. I wished the rest of the band good luck on the remainder of the tour as we left to get my truck from the valet (who got busted by me for re-tuning my radio...to the rap station! Bastard! LOL). 2 hours later, we're home, very tired, but....Dennis and I haven't seen each other in 5 years, so what do we do? You got it- jam until 6AM. LOL After a couple of hours of sleep, I come up here and update the site. There are pics and quotes up for James McIlroy, Paul Allender of Cradle of Filth, and FINALLY a pic of my buddy Dennis with the Tremol-No in his '56 Strat. Sorry for the long post. I thought you guys might dig it (if not, take a number and hate me. LOL) Enjoy the pics folks! More updates the minute I get them. Link to comment
rob Posted December 13, 2004 Report Share Posted December 13, 2004 sounds like its quite fun doing all that, and getting your great product out to the players, can't wait to see it out and about to the more humble players Link to comment
Kevan Posted December 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 Another quick update: -Added a pic for Jon Finn. If you guys get the chance to see him, either with his band or Boston Pops, I *highly* recommend it. Not only is he a top-notch player, but he's one of the nicest players I've ever met. His band does the occassional gig in the Boston area. Definitely worth a cover charge. -Licensing: I've been doing rapid emails with the company in Japan the past few days. We're still working out some details. As soon as I know anything more, I'll let you guys know. Thanks everyone! Link to comment
Kevan Posted January 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 Well, NAMM is upon us..... The Tremol-No will be featured at the following booths on the main floor at NAMM: All Parts: Booth #5882 This booth will feature a body-only display that folks can check out how the Tremol-No installs and operates. This is the "Tyson Project" that I put up here on the Project Guitar forum. Graph Tech: Booth #5920 Not only do these folks have *the* saddles for most bridges, but they're also debuting LGM's new line of guitars, The Leviathan. There will be a Tremol-No-equipped Leviathan on display for all to come by and try out for themselves. Stop by and say hi to the Leviathan designer himself, and be sure to check out the rest of the stuff Graph Tech has! THD Electronics: Booth #4150 My buddy and reformed shred-aholic, Ed DeGenaro is going to release the fooking fyoory during his NAMM performances (he's also playing a Tone Merchants gig on Friday night). Ed will have his Tremol-No-equipped Suhr in the THD booth with him all 3 days. Check out what the Tremol-No can do for a REAL player (instead of a hack like me. LOL), thru some kickbutt amp-age. The front page of www.tremol-no.com has all the NAMM updates as well. Hopefully we'll get some pics too! There are a couple of other folks that I'm awaiting confirmation on, but "The Tremol-No Triangle" (if you look at a map of the main floor at NAMM, these three make an almost perfect triangle) is pretty damn cool. I'm extremely happy, and feel quite lucky that these amazing folks are so gracious to display and demo the Tremol-No. Thanks again for all your support, folks. It's greatly appreciated. Again, I'm goin' as fast as I can with getting these units out to you. Link to comment
bigdguitars Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 when its closer to chicago I will end up going. California is too far, nashville or anything within a days drive I will be there! Good luck hope you have a great show!!!!!! Link to comment
Kevan Posted February 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 Hey all...update time! Let's see what we have here: - NAMM was a huge success. Everyone that checked out the Tremol-No loved it, and a few factories have asked to build it. I'm working with them and their reps. They've got complete drawings, and should have some build samples back to me shortly. Let's hope they make good, tight tolerance stuff. - New pic and quote up for Big Nasty. He's been crazy busy with the band recording, playing, and a new baby on the way. Both his JEM and his Dime are Tremol-No equipped. He says they're working great and really, REALLY help with tracking in the studio. Keep an eye on his band, Tin Henry. If they get the right exposure, they could go places. - The US Copyright office was kind enough to send me my copyright certificate!!! "Tremol-No" is now officially a copyright owned by me. Pretty cool, eh? I picked up a nice frame for it today and put it on the 'file cabinet of fame', right next to all the other important paperwork. Well, actually the only other thing there is the article from Vintage Guitar, but...hey...it's a start. - I had a very nice conversation earlier this week with John Suhr. All you veterans surely know his name, and you new builders should learn it. John is ex-Pensa-Suhr (made guitars for guys like Mark Knopfler and Reb Beach), ex-Custom Audio Electronics (John was #2 at Mr. Bradshaw's magic-making shop), and then went on to run the Fender Custom Shop. The guy can build a guitar....and an amp. :-) Very nice guy, and would really like to offer the Tremol-No as an option on some of his models. For a guy like me that's admired John's work since the Pensa days, it was a major honor for me to talk to him. He's a very cool guy, very into building great guitars, and maybe we can work together in the future, making his fantastic guitars even more fantastic-er (if that's a word). Well, that's it for updates. We've got 4 different factories getting samples back to me and some potenial licensees, so we get to wait a little while longer. Sorry about that, but I'd rather wait a few more weeks and get you guys a quality product, than rush it and have you get a POS that breaks after 2 trem dives. It'll be worth the wait. I promise. More updates to come! Link to comment
Kevan Posted April 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 ...and you guys thought I forgot about you.... Sorry for the delay. This inventing stuff is hard work. I thought it'd be "patent it; sell it; collect checks". Ummm...not quite. There's a ton of work involved that I never even considered, and I'm doing my best to get it done. At the same time, I'm going as fast as I can to get the units into your guys' hands. I want that more than anything right now. I'll toss out some quick updates: - I had a very long business-chat with the folks at AllParts on Friday. If you think you're jonesin' for the Tremol-No, take a number. These guys are so into it, it's kinda scary. But they're super-cool and are all ready to go. Once production starts there shouldn't be any hold-ups at all. Smooth sailing. (Knock on 5A flame maple) I've got some "Low B" info for everyone... - Ken Burtch, a 6'9" monster player from WA who had a super debut album a couple of years back is testing out one of my personal units. He absolutely loves it. There's a quote and pic from Ken on the site (check the Players page and click on his name). Big words from a big player. - One of my good "online friends" Drew Peterson has been bugging me since day one about getting a Tremol-No. I finally had a couple of the NAMM units (that I'd sent out as loaners) come back from the show. I said "whatthehell" and sent one to Drew. He's ALL OVER online- 6-string forums, 7-string forums...he just loves playing and typing. :-) His review, which is very thorough, can be found here: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1254 And yes- he did set a record with that install time. Then again, he said he was lit up. Fair enough. We'll have him try it sober next time....see if he can trim that time down a little. LMAO That's about it for now. I'm here on the phone or emailing people trying to get the Tremol-No available to you guys. Every minute. Every day. Well, that's not entirely true; I did sleep a little on the 23rd. Oh, and congratulations (accompanied by an almighty middle finger) to FedEx!! They are the first to break a Tremol-No! Nice work guys! I shipped one overnight to AllParts to take to Musikmesse in Germany this weekend. FedEx managed to snap the back part of one of the Classic tailpieces in half. Impressive, considering this was one of the 7075 aluminum pieces I got as testers from the machine shop. And in case anyone is wondering, it was packed the same way I've packed up every other unit. This is the first broken one. Again, good job FedEx! Now, get my claim done, damnit. More updates as soon as I get them! Thanks for your patience. I'll do my best to make sure it's worth the wait. Link to comment
GregP Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Kevan, I love reading these updates and anecdotes. I'll be sad for this thread to end, but happy for the tremol-no to arrive. Greg Link to comment
Mickguard Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 (edited) I've just become interested in this since I picked up my first strat a couple of weeks ago. Sign me up as soon as they're available! I haven't read through the rest of the thread (been to the site though), but here's a question: I've seen the templates for cutting the back plate. But why not include a set of extra long thumb screws--that way all you need to do is make a couple of holes in the plate... Or do most strat players leave that back plate off anyway? Edited April 6, 2005 by idch Link to comment
Kevan Posted April 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 I've just become interested in this since I picked up my first strat a couple of weeks ago. Sign me up as soon as they're available! I haven't read through the rest of the thread (been to the site though), but here's a question: I've seen the templates for cutting the back plate. But why not include a set of extra long thumb screws--that way all you need to do is make a couple of holes in the plate... Or do most strat players leave that back plate off anyway? ← I'm not quite sure how to answer this...because you've already answered it, kinda. :-) The templates on Tremol-No.com are basic guidelines for those plates. Due to differences in setups, folks might need to slide that access hole backward or forward to meet their particular needs. The distance between the outside edge of the backplate, and the top of the thumbscrews is about 5mm (on average). If you can't reach 5mm inside that access hole, well...there's not much I can do for ya. In otherwords, thumbscrew length is not an issue. Trust me- you don't want a longer pair. Regarding leaving the backplate off, I'd say it's about 50/50 with guitarists. Link to comment
Mickguard Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Regarding leaving the backplate off, I'd say it's about 50/50 with guitarists. ← I've taken mine off...I break way too many strings to keep it...got my string savers on the way though. Looks funkier too. 'Course I'm not as ugly as some of your endorsers (though they probably play better than me, guess there's a tradeoff...) Link to comment
ToneMonkey Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 mmmm, might be worth having a look at modified backplates as a nice little side line to the tremol-no. Could be quite a good option and I'm sure that if someone buys the unit, for $10 or so they may well get a backplate too. Just a thought. Kaj Link to comment
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