The Hard Rocker tremolo is a guitar bridge developed and manufactured for Ibanez. It debuted in 1983.
The Hard Rocker is a non-locking synchronized tremolo. It is a dual point tremolo which pivots against a pair of studs mounted into the top of the guitar. Rather than employing a more typical knife-edge design, the pivot points are rounded. This design is meant to reduce friction wear and provide smoother rocking action.
The Hard Rocker bridge consist of a cast metal baseplate. Below the baseplate is screwed a cast metal block. A variable number of springs (typically 2 to 4) are attached to this block and then to a claw mounted in the rear of the guitar. The position of the claw is adjustable to allow the tension of the springs to balance the tension of the strings.
Resting on the baseplate are a set of six individual saddles. These are retained by means of a screw running through the back of the baseplate. This screw can be adjusted to set the intonation by moving the saddle fore and aft. The height of the entire tremolo can by set by raising or lowering the height of the studs; this allows the tremolo to sit on the guitar top or to "float" above it. Additionally the height of each string can be adjusted by raising or lowering a pair of grub screws located in the leading edge of each saddle.
The strings are retained by hooking the ball end in a slot in the leading edge of the bridge and then running the string through the saddle. The Hard Rocker employs a threaded arm.
The Hard Rocker Pro is an upgraded version of the Hard Rocker which adds string locking pads to increase tuning stability.
The Hard Rocker was discontinued in 1984 in favor of the Powerocker tremolo.
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