Tremolo: floating, sitting flat with spring tension, or just blocked?

[Jeff Scott]

I prefer no tremolo. the amount of times I use one vs bends doesn't justify tuning headaches
If I had to have one I'd use a bigsby style, as they strike me as more inherently stable

I too, have no need for a vibrato (the correct term, here; CLF screwed up). When desired, I am interested only in bending up, not down. When I had my only guitar with a vibrato I think I may have attached the arm once or twice to play with it then put the arm back in the case.

 

[thrashingbass]

My Performer Strat's trem bridge came from factory floating beautifully, so I did not change it. Works perfect for me, feels awesome, and stays in tune well. Hyper Slinky strings.

My 50s Classic Vibe "Mary Kaye" approximation came with the claw/springs fully tense, so the bridge acted as a hardtail. I immediately spent the labor of love setting it up as I preferred, and it now floats as it should (again, just my preference.)

I feel that, unless you have a very loose springs setup, there is no problem with a floating tremolo system. You adapt your playing to it, no need to have such a heavy right hand (IME). I do have two other guitars without tremolo, but I do find the oft-disliked invention quite musically useful, and you can make it so it stays in tune exceedingly well. No need to dread its use (yes, I know myriads of great players block it-I just enjoy it.)

 

[andare]

The only way to know if there's any sound difference is to make a recording and listen back to back.
Or ignore that and set up the vibrato the way you want and need. I play surf with my Strat so I keep it floating like Leo intended. Zero issues. But the offset vibrato in Jazzmatsers and Jaguars is superior IMO. Too bad I hate how those guitars sound out of the box.

Strat pickups don't have adjustable pole pieces. Don't try to push them up or down or you might break something. IME the only issue you might run into is pickups with the wrong stagger for your G string - modern pickups have a lower pole piece intended for plain Gs but if you have a reissue, the pole piece under the G string is taller like in the 60s and 50s for a wound G, so if you use a plain G it will be louder. Anyway yoou can't move the pole pieces so just set up the guitar how you like it and play.
I imagine another issue would be pickups with flat pole pieces but those are a bit more uncommon on Strats.

Funny how bass is my refuge from gear rabbit holes in guitar land and for you it's the opposite.

 

[Akami]

Strat pickups don't have adjustable pole pieces. Don't try to push them up or down or you might break something. IME the only issue you might run into is pickups with the wrong stagger for your G string - modern pickups have a lower pole piece intended for plain Gs but if you have a reissue, the pole piece under the G string is taller like in the 60s and 50s for a wound G, so if you use a plain G it will be louder. Anyway you can't move the pole pieces so just set up the guitar how you like it and play.

I did adjust the pickups on my Strat years ago and it's actually fairly easy, as the only thing holding them in place is wax and friction. Gave me a better balance, and then I swapped them all out a year or two later for stacks and hot rails.

Anyone wanting to rebalance their stock pickups just needs to use some care in making sure they're adequately supported and that they have controlled pressure in order to move them only as far as desired. Anyone good with a graver will already have the sensitivity and grip for it.

 

[andare]

I did adjust the pickups on my Strat years ago and it's actually fairly easy, as the only thing holding them in place is wax and friction. Gave me a better balance, and then I swapped them all out a year or two later for stacks and hot rails.

Anyone wanting to rebalance their stock pickups just needs to use some care in making sure they're adequately supported and that they have controlled pressure in order to move them only as far as desired. Anyone good with a graver will already have the sensitivity and grip for it.

I gave a general warning. If you know what you're doing then go ahead. I suppose this is only necessary if one replaces the pickups and the new ones have the wrong radius for the fretboard.

 

[Akami]

I suppose this is only necessary if one replaces the pickups and the new ones have the wrong radius for the fretboard.

Yeah that's a possibility too. Typically though it was something people did to address the differing output of wound or plain strings.