Your input: floating bridges on guitars

I really perfer my trem bridges to float. I'm not a crazy divebomber, but I like to give chords ( especially clean cords ) a little movement ....

The trade off is double stop bends will go flat, and sometimes very flat if you only use a couple of springs in your trem ....

I used a Tremolo-No on a couple of guitars and thought it performed its function very well. But like everyone else, you need to stock up on the Thumb screws, becasue they ALWAYS seem to work loose and fall out on the dark stages ....

Good Luck !
 
Some love'm and some hate'm. As for good bad or trouble. The quick and general comparison would go something like this:

Blocked off trem: Easy to string and tune. Can bend notes w/o others going flat. Guitar stays in tune if a string breaks. Setup usually cost less.

Non floating but functional trem: Same as the above but for non-locking trems may need additional setup to perform properly. Depending on setup other strings may go flat while bending a note.

Floating trem: Costs more to setup. Guitar goes out of tune when a string breaks. Other strings go flat when bending a note.

My personal preference are Floyd type trems setup to float. I love being able to do anything I want with it and know it's gonna stay in tune.
 
I generally hate them, especially floyds. I dig in too much when I palm mute (consequences of not having one for over a decade), so I pull stuff out of tune too much. The best one I've found is the bridge on the EBMM John Petruci model. It's really solid and stays in tune no matter what.

Also, they're a real pain to setup, but if you're using the same gauge strings every time, it's not that much harder after initial setup.
 
I have floating bridges on all of my strats, and fixed bridges on other guitars. Floating the bridge is really just a balancing act: getting the tension of the strings and the tension of the springs to counteract each other in such a way that the bridge can pivot on a fulcrum, and return to its balance point. I've never had to block a bridge on my strats. I use three springs and 10-46 strings. I don't have much issue with pitch during string bending; some players experience bent notes deflecting the bridge and causing other strings to go flat.

I like the feel of a floating bridge rather than one that is blocked. However, I'm not an aggressive rock player and I know many players prefer to have bridge blocked for down-only action. One caution about floating your trem bridge: a spare guitar is a gig-saver... if you break a string, the spring / string tension will be out of whack, and you won't be able to play in tune until you replace that string. On a blocked bridge you can just limp along with a missing string until you get a chance to deal with it.
 
Depends on your style. All of my guitars have had floating trems. If you don't have a lot of working knowledge of them, then yeah there are some quirky things that can happen. But, once you get the setup process nailed down they are very reliable. I have had mostly Ibanez and Music Man over the years with a few oddballs in between. All have been solid and reliable. Breaking strings is super rare. In fact, I think the last time I broke a string was something like 5 years ago, and I use the crap out of the trem.

The only axe I have that has minor trem issues is one of my Ibanez JEMs. Tuning slips a bit more than usual after a couple songs no matter what I try to do to prevent it. Not a big deal though once you get accustomed to tuning floating trems quickly.

Long story short, I don't foresee myself buying any more fixed bridges in the future.
 
I have my EBMM Luke's II & III set with the bridges floating with 1.5 steps upward pitch on the G string. I Don't go mad with them but I do a lot of Beck-isms, pre bends and the like. They stay in tune perfectly. As for the Floyd I have on my Luke 1, it's as mentioned above, if it's set up correctly it will work brilliantly. But getting it that way is a PITA.
 
I love to have a properly set up floating term guitar, though I'm not a crazy dive bomb guy. Floyds work really well once they're set up, but getting them there can be a pain and they're a bit over complex. I currently use a Hipshot trem on all of my tremolo guitars. With locking keys and a graphite nut it ends up working about 98% as solid as a Floyd (very similar to the EBMM trems) without all the extra screws. My only real advice is that if you chose to use a floating trem always bring a backup guitar.
 
I love my Floyd Rose Trems (must be original though, not a 1000 or licensed knock off). I properly maintain all 6 of my "gig guitars" so I have actually not broke a string on a gig in over 20 years. I am a Big Bends Nut Sauce user, as proper lubrication where your strings contact the trem is critical. Any lube will work, I just like that it's conveniently packaged in a syringe.

I have watched many guys over the years try all sorts of things to improve tone or sustain, but all I have found I needed to do is put a piece of plastic foam under the springs to prevent/dampen metallic "ringing."

Also, new springs .... I don't like stiff springs. A lot of guys don't consider this when trying out a FR guitar as the play is much more dynamic and flexible once the springs are broke in, and as such might have a negative experience and then not like floating trems. My son had this experience when he was shopping and bought his first FR guitar, a Jackson King V, then when he tried one of my guitars he couldn't believe the difference.

I also personally like to rebend the trem bar itself on all my guitars as I have big hands and like the bar to be a higher angle. Personal is Personal, and that's what it really comes down to IMO.
 
I have a Strat w/ a Wilkinson and 3 PRS's, all floating. I use them often and hard and have never had an issue- no locking nut needed.
 
I most always keep the trem floating on my guitars that have them.. strats and a PRS DGT. I like to add a bit of trem to chords and clean parts, etc. or do the occasional Jeff Beck maneuver.. nothing heavy handed though. I always have my guitars setup by a tech initially and getting the trem dialed in well is key for me..

I recently had soem raw vintage springs installed in my main guitar (LsL strat) and I'm really impressed with the improvement.. wasn't sure if I would even notice a difference but they're nice. My tech installed all five along with doing a little fret dress work and said they went on with little need for adjustment (was using 3 springs before). They feel perfectly broke-in right from the start.. well worth the $27 or whatever they cost me. Raw Vintage

I prefer to let any guitar with a trem float and then use teles or hard tails, Les Pauls, etc. as the alternative.. not block a trem down. Finding a killer hard tail strat is next on my list.. been looking for a few years now for a keeper.
 
All my strats have floating wilkinson bridges with locking tuners and stay in tune great. No super crazy dive bombing stuff here, but more like jeff beck would do (in my dreams).
The wilkinsons are great with a lubed nut and locking tuners.
 
For Strat-style guitars, I've been loving the Super-Vee and Bladerunner trems. Floating, you'd want the Super-Vee with the locking nut.

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The part that keeps the floater centered is the Mag-Lok. This little bit of genius allows little wiggles, but always returns to zero every time.

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WHERE

Super-Vee | BladeRunner | Maverick | Mag-Lok | Fender Stratocaster | Fender Telecaster | Tremolo | Vibrato
 
I am building my own strat with a super vee blade runner and mag lock.
Sounds very promising .
Blade runner is the non locking version .
 
OK... here's a superficial preference of mine, but I'll cop to it... I love the look of a stock strat. That said, most of my guitars are sneakily modded, but the bridge and tuners *look* pretty much stock. I like Wilkinson bridges and roller nuts, plus locking tuners. The overall result is a very stable guitar that holds up to fairly wild whammification, and maintains a classic vibe. With my locking tuners I probably have 1/2 of a wrap on the post when fully tuned, so I don't have excess string to bind or re-tension incorrectly.

I've had Floyd Rose bridges and locking nuts on my guitars in the past, and that system is incredibly stable, even under vigorous rock divebombing. I don't like the look of all that extra hardware on an otherwise classic strat-style guitar, but I think it looks really great on a more aggressively appointed rock guitar (e.g., Jackson, Charvel, etc). I had a terrific Jackson in the late 80s with a pointy headstock; that thing was a ferocious rock machine and it looked really good. It also had one of the best classic strat tones I've ever gotten. Oh, the irony...
 
I love my one guitar with a real Floyd Rose. I think it has been in tune for 10 years! Luckily I have never broken a string on a FR during a show, but I fear the day that happens...

On my actual Fender Strat (a Strat+ from 1989) I have the hipshot Tremsetter that was delicately tweaked by my tech. I also replaced the Wilkinson Roller Nut with the ball bearing version released in 1990 or so. The Strat+ stays in great tune as well.

My only other term guitar is a Suhr S-2. I don't know the specifics of the Trem magic, but it stays is remarkable tune as well.

All of my other guitars are hard tails (mainly PRSi and a Tele).
 
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