DeArmond Trem-Trol tremolo 800, 600, 60A, 60B < NOT mercury!

danjf · June 25, 2006, 09:25:43 PM

Hi all

I'm new to this board. I have a collection of 1950's DeArmond Trem-Trol units, and have restored many of them (mainly for my personal use). I'm in the process of creating a website discussing the DeArmond units - the site is online, but still in progress.

However, I was just Google-ing the topic and found some recent posts on this board about using mercury to restore them. The DeArmond tremolos DID NOT USE MERCURY. I'm posting this message because mercury is dangerous, it's not correct to the original sound, it can ruin the unit, and ruin the person messing with mercury.

DeArmond's brochures called their liquid a "hydro-fluid" - which of course implies water. It is, in fact, a water-based electrolytic fluid (not saline). They used (no kidding) a fluid that is the chemical equivalent of Windex (glass cleaner). Windex conducts a guitar signal perfectly.

Here is my still-in-progress site discussing the DeArmond unit - please note this is a temporary address for the site, not final.

http://homepage.mac.com/danielformosa/dearmond.html

By the way, I became obsessed with these units many years ago by realizing that, if it was mercury in the cylinder, where did it go? Mercury is too thick to leak out, and it certainly wouldn't evaporate. So I was puzzled. The Windex info came to me after a very long search, eventually coming from a person who spoke with an ex-DeArmond/Rowe employee. Hope this helps. And, if anyone is interested, maybe I can figure out how to post a soundclip.

Dan

markm · June 25, 2006, 10:50:03 PM

Very, Very cool

I love older stuff like that.
Thanks for the post.
MarkM

R.G. · June 25, 2006, 11:04:19 PM

Yeah, I came to that conclusion long ago. I think I posted some explanations of it here and other places. I might even have had it in an earlier incarnation of GEO.

I pulled open a couple of units. The fluid chamber had whitish residue that was clearly not there from mercury, and the stuff was injected through a rubber membrane in one end - also clearly not mercury. I proposed some kind of water solution with an electrolyte. The ammonia in Windex might work fine, as would any number of other electrolytes in water.

Harry · June 25, 2006, 11:23:19 PM

Count me in as interested in a sound clip.

Will be reading your article now, looks interesting, thanks...

A.S.P. · June 26, 2006, 05:53:33 AM

great info, Dan!
Thanx, and welcome to the forum - very interesting first post.

birt · June 26, 2006, 06:25:25 AM

great work!

gez · June 26, 2006, 06:58:32 AM

A hardcore DIYer, welcome!

goodrevdoc · June 26, 2006, 07:27:47 AM

Wow very cool can't wait to see more
-justin

Harry · June 26, 2006, 11:22:31 AM

Oh, yeah and what happens when you kick or jostle the Trem-trol? Does it splash like a reverb unit?

danjf · June 26, 2006, 12:53:58 PM

Hey everyone - Thanks for the replies. I put the site online sooner then planned, based on some previous discussions and interest I saw on the board. I'll keep adding to the site, and also figure out its final address. (I want to take additional detailed photos, scan the old DeArmond brochures, add a circuit schematic and diagram I made, etc.)

Harry - it doesn't reverberate, although if you pick up the tremolo unit and shake it, it does the same thing as the motor - it will trem. That said, the tremolo does have a bit of a liquid, reverb-like quality to it. And if used in conjunction with a reverb, it gives you a definite urge to go surfing.

I'll try to post sound clips.

Dan

sta63bmx · June 26, 2006, 02:03:51 PM

Man, if you had a random shaker to agitate it, that might make some cool sounds! That's really neat. It's cool so see how people made things work in the days before silicon did everything. That is really interesting stuff.

g3rmanium · June 26, 2006, 06:35:35 PM

Quote from: danjf on June 25, 2006, 09:25:43 PM
I have a collection of 1950's DeArmond Trem-Trol units, and have restored many of them (mainly for my personal use).

Good to read you again, Dan. I wrote about my experiences with refilling my Tremolo Control in my blog.

I also have lots of photos of the Tremolo Control in this Flickr set.

danjf · June 26, 2006, 11:26:50 PM

Hi Johann

I just saw your blog - great. I'm glad you got the tremolo working.

Dan

Harry · July 03, 2006, 01:07:29 PM

Don't forget the sound clip!

Still looking forward to it!

g3rmanium · July 03, 2006, 04:46:23 PM

Quote from: Harry on July 03, 2006, 01:07:29 PM
Don't forget the sound clip!

At least I can't record anything at the moment. All of my recording equipment is still at my old place (450 km away).

danjf · July 03, 2006, 05:16:13 PM

I'll try to post some sound clips in the next few days. Stay tuned... - Dan

Harry · July 03, 2006, 05:56:23 PM

Nice! People are always praising analog, but electro-mechanical's even better!

frank_p · May 15, 2008, 08:43:55 PM

A jazz guitarist in my city asked me if I could build one for him. He gives jazz classes. The thing is that he say that he absolutely want a similar "thing". And I absolutely need jazz guitar classes (I am not very rich right now)...
So if someone wants to share a bit of knowledge, it would be really appreciated.
I would like to make the mechanism as accurate as possible (if possible).
I am pretty used to mechanical stuff.
Thanks.

frank_p · May 16, 2008, 10:45:57 AM

Second try.

danjf · May 16, 2008, 05:10:58 PM

Frank - where are you located? You can sometimes find the 60B units for somewhere between $75 and $150 in the US. The tremolo mechanism is identical to the others. To make one yourself, you'll need a good way to replicate the cylinder (maybe not too difficult) and a way to shake it, maybe adjusting speed (any ideas on how you would try?) - Dan

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DeArmond Trem-Trol tremolo 800, 600, 60A, 60B < NOT mercury!