What's your trem setup?

[gitold]

3 springs floating on Strat types, Reverend soft springs on my Bigsby‘s and 3 guitars with Duesenburg Les Trem’s. I have the LesTrems on a Les Paul, Schecter E1 explorer styled guitar, and a Reverend Manta Ray which is a 335 style guitar. The Les Trems work really well for me!

 

[gitold]

A Bigsby nailed to my SG. I don’t actually use it. I just like the look, sound it adds and how it rebalances the weight. I get my trem from my Dano Fish&Chips.

View attachment 1077588

Sweeet SG’s!!

 

[4pickupguy]

No trem sounds better than a strats to me. I have mine floating to go a half step up. I’ve shortened the arm by 1.25”. When I bought the guitar in Japan the tremolo worked flawlessly and I haven’t touched. I have used graphite at the nut.
One of the best sounds in the world is gently shaking nice clean chords on a strat through a delay or verb. Beautiful.

 

[Blackmore Fan]

All of my Strats are decked. One in particular was set up by some out of town whiz who strung it with 11s and had all 5 springs in place. That thing plays easier than you would ever imagine, including easy bends.

 

[joebloggs13]

Raw Vintage, floating. Mine is rock solid tuning wise.

 

[ArtOfNoise]

Vintage 6 screws but 4 middle screws are loosen, so basically its makes it a 2 point.
Flushed to the body for down bends only and improving tuning stability.
3 springs ||| but Im on my way to 4th as the bridge still dives down a bit when I do high finger bends (making other strings go flat) despite the claw is screwed deeply and already touching the body.
I can do whatever trick with downward whammy bar that I can think of. Vibratos, tape modulation effects, single note ornaments (like finishing a sentence with a sigh) and of course dive bombs and crazy stuff we all know

It took me some time to discover that on my cheap strat the tremolo (which was going drastically out of tune with every slight touch to the whammy bar and never going back) can be properly adjusted

Of course proper set up of the guitar is important. Mine is:
-strings tied on tuner peg with no excess windings,
-nut with wide enough slots and graphite from pencil,
-string tree: my E1 turn out that it didn't have to be under the tree at all and B is ok under the
tree with a drop of lub,
-bit of lub on the saddles.

And the tuning technique using whammy bar is crucial too. Before reaching for the tuners I do I dry divebomb and THEN tune the guitar. Repeat until I does not go out of tune after dive bomb. Then if it goes out of tune by finger bends or whatever reason other than whammy bar abuse - just one dive bomb nad usually goes back in tune.

 

[dougbgt6]

I tried and tried but my Strat would NOT stay in tune, 3 springs, 5 springs, tight, slack, graphite. I came to the conclusion it was the devil's device, sent to confound us, did Robert Johnson have one? No! So 5 springs wound up as tight as they'd go, no movement on the arm, and, it stays in tune! If I want vibrato I use my fingers.

 

[ArtOfNoise]

I tried and tried but my Strat would NOT stay in tune, 3 springs, 5 springs, tight, slack, graphite. I came to the conclusion it was the devil's device, sent to confound us, did Robert Johnson have one? No! So 5 springs wound up as tight as they'd go, no movement on the arm, and, it stays in tune! If I want vibrato I use my fingers.

Dont give up dougbgt6!
I had a super lousy cheap tremolo bridge and I managed to make it work.
Maybe try to tie string with a knot on the tuning peg if not than maybe a locking tuners... maybe a string tree is the culprit...

But very possible that your tremolo system needs to settle down.
Do the set up (nut, string tree, tuners etc)
And then tune your guitar as follows:
one or two dive bombs and then tune each string. Repeat, dive and tune till no strings is going out of tune anymore. Sometimes it takes jus few repeats and sometomes it takes some days to adjust. Just tune, play dive, tune, play/dive and most likely after some time it will stay.

Important - when you go out of tune for any reason other than using whammy bar - always do the dive bomb before reaching for the tuners.

here is a video demonstrating this tuning technique:
youtube.com/watch?v=O0Oyc6slYRc

Good luck

 

[bblumentritt]

I like the traditional Strat "tremolo", set up exactly per the manual, in a balance. I like 4 springs, none in the middle. I've never had an issue, and I'm not a heavy vibrato user, more subtle.

 

[Devanatha]

Four springs, vintage style (Callaham, way better than Fender), floating. I use Pyramid roundcores, 11–50 with a wound third. A semitone upbend on the high E string, a full tone on the B and G strings. I make sure the nut is lubricated, I use a pencil for that. This setup is rock solid, never goes out of tune.

 

[uriah1]

Take them off.

 

[FenderLover]

A wiggle stick is the biggest reason to own a Strat IMO. Some people are a real fish out of water the first time they play a floating bridge.
"Well, I like to rest my palm on the bridge."
Dude, then don't do that.

A vibrato that only goes sharp has never sounded right to me. Float it. YMMV.
Strat: 3 spring 2-point floating
Bigsby: B5 Bigsby with Vibramate
Les Paul: B7 Bigsby with Vibramate
Gretsch 6119: Gretsch-style Bigsby

 

[Buzzgrowl]

Floating with 4 springs on both. Notched trem screws (like on a prs) on the 6 screw trem. Nuts are sanded a bit wide and polished, then lubed with pencil. Highwood sadles on both. Locking tuners on both. Everything works perfect.

 

[jeffchinn0321]

Strat: I deck my tremelo on the body for tuning stability. I'm a light user. 4 springs usually to ensure return to pitch with 10-46 strings, 3 springs are OK for smaller strings. Vintage 6, but a 2 point would be fine with me.

I have never been able to float a strat trem successfully without tuning issues. I have tried roller nuts etc. My opinion is special nuts and locking tuners do nothing to solve trem tuning issues. It's all about the bridge returning to an exact spot. I cold see a nut mattering for really deep dives though.

My main use is the ending note to a song or a phrase end, adding a bit of wobble. Occasionally a small dive on certain parts of songs like Sleep Walk.

 

[jeffchinn0321]

Floating with 4 springs on both. Notched trem screws (like on a prs) on the 6 screw trem. Nuts are sanded a bit wide and polished, then lubed with pencil. Highwood sadles on both. Locking tuners on both. Everything works perfect.

 

[jeffchinn0321]

I just bought this cozart very cheap 138 to my door I was going to put a Floyd rose but I like this tremelo I think I'm just going to throw some l9cking tuners on it. Anyways can anybody tell me what k8nd of bridge this is?

 

[teleplayr]

Decked, three springs and a Blade Runner trem.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Floating, three springs, tight. Bwayayayayang!

 

[CCK1]

On my silver sparkle Stratocaster, I have the two point tremolo with locking tuners, set to float just a little. Maybe 1/8” above the body. Using three springs, with well stretched strings, it returns to pitch very well. The other Stratocasters with 6 point bridges are either blocked or decked.

 

[kinkstah]

6 point bridge here, floating with 3 springs, setup so that pulling the trem to the max (bridge plate flush with the body) allows for reaching the minor 3rd on the G String, 1 step (M2) on the B string, and a half step (m2) on the high e.