Strat trem guys: full float or dive-only?

Full float or dive-only?

  • Full float

    Votes: 39 75.0%

  • Dive-only

    Votes: 13 25.0%
  • Total voters
    52
Piing said:
I don't know if I am lucky, but I just have to adjust one string. e.g.: 2 semitones at the second string, and I automatically get 2 semitones at the 1st string and 3 semitones at the 3rd string when fully pulling the bar up
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It's lucky . It happens because the action , string gauge and intonation you have set govern the distance from the fulcrum line and that just happens to produce those intervals with that particular amount of up pull. if your neck had a shim or you had a different action it would go out.
 
Question to Ping and Andy : I like my strat trem floating (trad 6 screws , wilkinson WV6-SB, which is surprisingly good considering the price); with a gotoh 510 2 points, can you have it floating to allow a little movement up (like one semitone) and keep a low action, without having to recess the trem ? Thanks
 
Holyoli said:
Question to Ping and Andy : I like my strat trem floating (trad 6 screws , wilkinson WV6-SB, which is surprisingly good considering the price); with a gotoh 510 2 points, can you have it floating to allow a little movement up (like one semitone) and keep a low action, without having to recess the trem ? Thanks
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Yes the 510 has the same overall hight profile as a six screw. and even if it didn't a neck shim could be used.
 
To answer the op : floating because I like to raise the pitch and vibrato sounds different (if the bridge sits on top your vibrato is only "under" the pitch of the note), but also because there is a kind of resonance with the springs and the trem floating which is different than when the bridge sits on the guitar top. Not better or worse, different and I prefer it this way. You can hear it acoustically, it's like a little natural reverb
 
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Mines dive only. I use it for drop D and sometimes 1/2 step down. Have a PRS that floats and it works well with staying in tune. The Strat not so much.
 
+1 for the two-point Strat trem floating. All my other trems are Ibanez Edge trems and they are all full-floating. The Strat trem set up with the post-it note trick does give me 1.5 steps up on the G, 1 on the B, and .5 on the high E.

Also, this is backwards to me. On the Edge trems I dump the bar out and let it back up to reset it. On the Strat I have to give it a quick jerk up. They both work. Science? Science.
 
Dr. Faustus said:
+1 for the two-point Strat trem floating. All my other trems are Ibanez Edge trems and they are all full-floating. The Strat trem set up with the post-it note trick does give me 1.5 steps up on the G, 1 on the B, and .5 on the high E.

Also, this is backwards to me. On the Edge trems I dump the bar out and let it back up to reset it. On the Strat I have to give it a quick jerk up. They both work. Science? Science.
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The best parts of science are when you can prove clearly and conclusively that you don't understand ;)
 
full float

A simple and quick adjustment of the tremolo or wammy

and very stable in pitch and tone
 
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I set my Strats up Jeff Beck style with the G string raising a minor third, the B string a whole tone, and the E string a semi-tone when the trem is pulled all the way back against the body. I find with a good setup, well cut nut, and locking tuners it's not so different from my FR equipped guitars.
 
I havent even checked the range on a pull-up, I naively assumed it was a whole tone across the board lol.
 
The different strings all detune differently with the same amount of travel . But the distance between the fulcrum plane and the witness point (saddle contact point) is governed by intonation and action on a strat trem so if you set one string to the appropriate pitch (with the the tension springs) the others will be what ever they end up as and there is no way to fine tune the differential intervals without defeating from the "correct" action/intonation you had set up. The ONLY trems that offer this adjustment are the Steinberger TT series. These intervals are close to correct on some guitars but strings, action, neck pitch all play a part in the lottery of how close you can get .
 
I keep mine floating, but don’t pay attention to how high I can pull up. While I use the whammy plenty, I only use it to the extent Gilmour does if I’m playing a Strat, just a light vibrato (except the dive bombs in “Sorrow”) I only need about a half-step of movement to do whatever I’m going to do on a Strat. If I’m doing intensive whammy shit, I’ll use my JEM.

The biggest thing to help with tuning issues is this graphite gel I put in the nut slots when I change strings. I don’t think it’s Nut Sauce, it might be, I’ll look when I get home. That stuff works GREAT. I put it under the string tree as well.
 
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