I firmly believe it is all personal taste.
All the above stated trems can be really great. It comes down to preference.
I have had many stock Fender trems that stayed in tune perfectly. Vintage and otherwise. I mean there was some adjusting to do depending on how feroiously I went at it and for how long I went at it. But with a minor tweak between songs, they can be made to perform extremely well. If anyone needs any proof of this, just watch and listen to Jeff Beck. He uses a stock Fender modern trem and has that bar in his hands ALL the time. He pulls up, slams it with his palm, presses it all the way down and generally mauls it all set long. He does not have a tuner in his pedal board and I see him change guitars once in a 2 hr. set. That is tuning stability. Listen to "Where Were You" from Guitar Shop
The PRS trem IMHO is just a step further down the road to non-locking perfection. They require less set-up tweaking and stay in tune a little better than the Fender product.
The Floyd can stay in tune perfectly. It does change the tone though. I only say this because I have had two installed on Strats that I had without Floyds and then had them put on. Hey as long as you've had a guitar from the beginning that has had one on you don't know what your guitar sounded like with out one. As long as I played with heavy distortion there was an imperceptible difference. But when clean or slightly overdriven. The sound was smaller, less twangy. I know John Suhr will recomends Floyds to his customers that have tuning issues. And he makes guitars that are twang kings. Look at the Pensa/ Suhr Strats he built for Mark Knopfler. Right on his site he says that The Floyd Rose is the closest you can get to tuning perfection. Also a big thing here is pitch travel. The Floyd can do monsterous changes in pitch with just a slight touch of the pinky. Other trems are not capable of such dramatic changes in pitch so effortlessly. You can tell on a recording immediately if it is a Floyd or a Fender or a Bigsby for that matter. All have their unique sound and touch.
Now the Bigsby is one that has not been touched on here. Also a worthy trem with it's own thing going on. Again, a tone changer if you've put one on a guitar that you are familiar with previously. (I put one on a Les Paul). Way less sustain and definitely messes with the action on the neck. But they have their sound and the lack of travel of the arm can get you stuff that none of the others can. I have a Gretsch Country Gent that I can really go nuts on and not have to retune it for the next song. I point to Brian Setzer for you doubting Thomas', listen to his version of "Sleepwalk". KILLER !!!
Again I say it all comes down to preference of the player. I do not think any of these are better than the other, just different.
All the above stated trems can be really great. It comes down to preference.
I have had many stock Fender trems that stayed in tune perfectly. Vintage and otherwise. I mean there was some adjusting to do depending on how feroiously I went at it and for how long I went at it. But with a minor tweak between songs, they can be made to perform extremely well. If anyone needs any proof of this, just watch and listen to Jeff Beck. He uses a stock Fender modern trem and has that bar in his hands ALL the time. He pulls up, slams it with his palm, presses it all the way down and generally mauls it all set long. He does not have a tuner in his pedal board and I see him change guitars once in a 2 hr. set. That is tuning stability. Listen to "Where Were You" from Guitar Shop
The PRS trem IMHO is just a step further down the road to non-locking perfection. They require less set-up tweaking and stay in tune a little better than the Fender product.
The Floyd can stay in tune perfectly. It does change the tone though. I only say this because I have had two installed on Strats that I had without Floyds and then had them put on. Hey as long as you've had a guitar from the beginning that has had one on you don't know what your guitar sounded like with out one. As long as I played with heavy distortion there was an imperceptible difference. But when clean or slightly overdriven. The sound was smaller, less twangy. I know John Suhr will recomends Floyds to his customers that have tuning issues. And he makes guitars that are twang kings. Look at the Pensa/ Suhr Strats he built for Mark Knopfler. Right on his site he says that The Floyd Rose is the closest you can get to tuning perfection. Also a big thing here is pitch travel. The Floyd can do monsterous changes in pitch with just a slight touch of the pinky. Other trems are not capable of such dramatic changes in pitch so effortlessly. You can tell on a recording immediately if it is a Floyd or a Fender or a Bigsby for that matter. All have their unique sound and touch.
Now the Bigsby is one that has not been touched on here. Also a worthy trem with it's own thing going on. Again, a tone changer if you've put one on a guitar that you are familiar with previously. (I put one on a Les Paul). Way less sustain and definitely messes with the action on the neck. But they have their sound and the lack of travel of the arm can get you stuff that none of the others can. I have a Gretsch Country Gent that I can really go nuts on and not have to retune it for the next song. I point to Brian Setzer for you doubting Thomas', listen to his version of "Sleepwalk". KILLER !!!
Again I say it all comes down to preference of the player. I do not think any of these are better than the other, just different.
