[Jim DaddyO]

I've always decked the trem on any strat I've owned. I have a habit of resting the heel of my hand on the bridge and it puts a floating trem out of tune. Decked trems can vary a lot depending on how many springs, what kind of springs, and how hard the claw is tightened up. Then there is string guage, so that is 4 variables right there. The strat I built I just made a hard tail...and it's semi-hollow....and there's no f hole...and it only has 1 volume and 1 tone...and it has a push pull pot so I can get 7 combinations of pick ups...and the faces of it came from an ash tree growing in my yard...and the finish is a french polish.

 

[AJ6stringsting]

Conjecture: Floating is easier to bend, but you have to bend further because the trem gives a bit.

I usually do a micro tonal bend when doing unison bends or add slight pressure on the bridge to compensate , especially when it's a Floyd Rose trem .

do it! for me it was an easy exercise, I just popped out one spring out of the claw and got perfect floating action of a bit less than 1/8" with 3 springs in. For more precise up-note trem action ala Carl Verheyen, you likely need to fiddle with the claw screws, but I'm good as is.

I met him in the late 1980's at Norm's Rare Guitars .
Great humble and nice guy.
He gave me advice on couple tremolo system problems that I had at the time .
He told me to shorten the angle on the light strings side of the bridge.... it worked !!!!

 

[Fuzzy dagger]

Seems the OP has fixed his problem. I had a hard tail strat for years; Antigua burst. I never really got along with it. Now I have a couple of trem strats which I like, and I have them floating. I don’t have many tremolo equipped guitars (3) so it’s a cool feature. It’s fussy-er than a stop tail, as mentioned, but cool.

 

[Latole]

Strats: Floating vs Decked bridges - is there a playability difference?

No, IF guitar receive a good set-up

 

[guitarman2]

^ this. also, when bending on a decked trem, the string bends on it's own. when bending on a floating trem, the moment you start to bend, the trem releases the tension on the rest of the strings, which in turn makes the bending go easier as the note goes higher in pitch. tuning a floating trem is a pita, but as milkman said, it does not feel like a strat unless the trem is floating. I am ashamed to admit that I had my strats decked for decades because I read somewhere that eric johnson and srv preferred it that way. Only recently I started floating my strat trems and it is love at second sight...

I guess if you're going by famous strat players, more float them than deck them. I deck them because I like it better that way. I buy guitars with specs that I like and set up they way I like, not some other guitarist, famous or not. My strat is decked and it sounds and plays like a strat. The trem is a very small part of what makes a strat a strat. I like everything else about it.

 

[Milkman]

I guess if you're going by famous strat players, more float them than deck them. I deck them because I like it better that way. I buy guitars with specs that I like and set up they way I like, not some other guitarist, famous or not. My strat is decked and it sounds and plays like a strat. The trem is a very small part of what makes a strat a strat. I like everything else about it.

"The trem is a very small part of what makes a strat a strat."


This may be true for you, but definitely not for me.

That trem is at the core of what makes a Strat feel and sound like a Strat for me.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that it's a fundamental part of the feel and sound.

YMMV of course.

 

[bluehugh2]

Strats: Floating vs Decked bridges - is there a playability difference?

No, IF guitar receive a good set-up

I believe there are lots of differences between floating and decked trems… both in tone and in feel.
A big one - and Carl V. Talks about this - is that for country players simulating pedal steel bends, a floating trem can play havoc with pitch as bending one note changes the pitch of other fretted notes!
The number of springs, the floating or decked preference, the string gauge… these all profoundly affect the tone and feel.
I really like the idea of notched bridge screws and a floating trem… the PRS style - parallel to the body - means there’s not as much pitch change when pulling on a string with a bend. With angled floating trems especially, it can be hard to get to pitch if you’re doing a multi fret bend!
I’ve had several Silver Sky guitars and I always set them up parallel and floating… stays in tune, smoother feel. I don’t care how John Mayer likes his Silver Skys set up ! 😁
The way I set up my trems really depends on how the guitar “speaks to me”. Some are best decked and some are best floating. I recently picked up a Landau “Coma” Strat from @Alex … and the damn thing won’t go out of tune while floating! Good work Fender! Traditional 6 screw trem.
Sometime we should talk about keeping a trem in tune… usually issues are at the nut… but not always… I recently had a PRS hanging at the bridge! A good way to check the nut is to take the offending string out of its nut slot and let it slide across the top of the nut… see if it stays in tune using the trem… but I digress…

 

[Milkman]

Yes, with floating trems, bending one note while holding another requires a mental adjustment. You do have to also bend the "held" note a little to get them both in tune.

But, while that requires a mental adjustment, doesn't bending ANY single note also require your ear to tell you when it's in tune? When you start bending notes, you're almost entering the realm of slide players or others for whom frets are not confining them. It takes ears to know when to stop bending.

Granted, if you're doing a lot of that, a hardtail may be better for you

 

[guitarman2]

A big one - and Carl V. Talks about this - is that for country players simulating pedal steel bends, a floating trem can play havoc with pitch as bending one note changes the pitch of other fretted notes!

This is a big one for me. Although I have 2 Tele's for country, steel licks. I've thought about having someone set up my strat floating but really I don't have a lot of use for using the trem and I certainly don't want to deal with any potential tuning issues.
If I were to make use of a trem bar I'd have someone build me a super strat with a nice Floy Rose on it. Although I've sworn, no more guitars I'm still thinking I might.

 

[allthumbs56]

The trem is decked in my strat. I like it and don't notice a difference. I recently installed a "tremolo-stopper" in my PRS CU22. This did seem to give the strings a bit more tension but the advantages of being able to drop-d and return without retuning all the strings outweighs the disadvantages. If I was just a basement player I'd probably float them both. Unfortunately I still gig and need to make quick changes on the fly. When I was in a country band I had a trem-setter in a strat which helped with double string bends - but (like Milk stated) mostly I used my ears.

 

[Jim DaddyO]

Another thread that shows the beauty of the instrument. In a single example of a guitar there are many ways to set it up and make it play to any individual's liking. There are so many variables within a single guitar that it is sometimes amazing. This is why it is important as a guitar tech, and even more important as a player, to keep the lines of communication open.