2 vs 6 point tremolo - which do you prefer?

[Peegoo]

Couldn’t you just remove the middle 4 completely?

One of my customers wanted a two-screw vibrato for smooth and quiet operation, but he also wanted his Strat to look like an old one. I used a hardened steel replacement bridge plate designed for six screws, and the screws I used were stainless steel. I installed the two outside screws, and then cut the heads off four of the screws, leaving a little 1/8" of screw shaft under the heads. These I mounted in the four middle positions in the bridge plate with CA. Looked completely original and worked perfectly. It's still working fine after more than 15 years.

This was on an older ash body. Some modern bodies are fairly soft wood, so if you want to try this, you have to evaluate the wood to determine if it's hard enough to do this mod. If it's a softer wood that's getting an opaque finish, you can install hardwood plugs where the two screws go.

 

[VintageSG]

6
That's what my one and only Strat has fitted. No other reason.
Should I ever buy another Strat, it'll be what's fitted to the model whose neck I prefer the feel of. I'm not much of a wobble-bar user, and the aesthetics of one over the other doesn't matter to me.

 

[GFrank]

I always appreciate a better mouse trap, and the two-point trem (with locking tuners) is such a superior mouse trap, that in my mind it is not even debatable.

 

[rangercaster]

Danny Gatton didn't need a whammy bar ...

 

[StoogeSurfer]

I've built several guitars only with 2-point trems, but I cannot say they perform any better or worse than my '61 Strat with 6 screws. However, if you're building a guitar, in my experience it's easier to screw up the 6-point version, resulting in bridge hang-up on one of the screws. You've also got to make sure you've got six quality hardened screws for this type of bridge, and they've got to be straight. Off the shelf at Lowes or HD won't cut it.

 

[Mr. Neutron]

In use, I don't really notice a nickel's worth of difference whether 6 or. or 2 pt., but I'm not a huge user of whammy bars.

That said, in this order, I prefer a hardtail toploader first, then the the 6 pt. for some weird reason. If forced at gunpoint to use a 2 pt., I'd probably go buy another G & L. I just like their 2 pt. application better than Fender's, for some other weird reason.

 

[scooteraz]

The poll did not have a spot for don’t care. I have both, and don’t pick which guitar to play based on the number of screws on the trem. The 6-screw is a bit tougher to set up, but, once there neither tends to come out of set up in my experience. So, among the minutiae that doesn’t matter to me, this is near the top.

Of course, I don’t do much in the way of dive-bombing. So, maybe if I did, I’d have a different attitude.

 

[Platefire]

My vote is for the classic 6. I have both the 2 & 6. I also do the modern setup for the 6 by loosening up the middle 4 and letting it pivot on the outer 2. I have all mine set up for floating trem and like the classic 6 best because when doing trem bends it just feels more natural and responds much smoother IMHO. Platefire

 

[awasson]

I couldn’t vote because I don’t have an actual preference. I bought 2 Strats with modern 2-point and I bought 2 Strats with vintage 6 screw. If they’re set up right, there’s very little difference at all.

I know that the design of the 2-point bridge is mechanically superior but in the context of playing the guitar, it makes no real difference to me. I have all of mine fully floating. The wiggle stick is one of the reasons I have a Strat.

 

[moosie]

Is this a trick question? Six, of course.

 

[EspyHop]

Two, but the ‘87-‘11 American Standard Strats were my favorites.