Fender Strats - Who Needs Tremelo???

[RP]

I'm just a dabbler on electrics so I opted to get a Robert Cray Strat, one of Fender's very few hardtails (no tremolo). You're unlikely to see one of these hanging on the wall of a store, and whenever I suggest that Fender should produce more hardtails, I tend to get shouted down with choruses of "They don't sell" and "People prefer Strats with tremolo." But guitar trends change, and I have to wonder how many buyers would purchase a hardtail Strat if they had a viable choice. For that matter, how many Strat owners actually use the trem bar vs playing Eric Clapton style???

My Strat is a hardtail, as is my Godin. I can get the effect I need with my hands. I do have one guitar, a Parker, that has a trem. I locked it down. Have no idea where the arm is. Around here somewhere.

[RP]

Originally Posted by A-Mac

My Strat is a hardtail, as is my Godin. I can get the effect I need with my hands. I do have one guitar, a Parker, that has a trem. I locked it down. Have no idea where the arm is. Around here somewhere.

My point exactly....

[Pnewsom]

I'd miss that trem playing songs like Wicked Game, but hard tails are nice too.

[J Patrick]

...its not just the trem...the tone from a traditional springed block is part of the equation as well....that said i've used the tremolo on my strats sparingly and have always wanted to give a hardtail a shot....the Robert Cray model has been on my radar for a long time...i played one of the MIM models once and loved the neck profile and pickups...

[Bob Womack]

I'll confess that the majority of the time I use a Strat it is for things that need to have a chord gently wobbled or a lead that had a figure that needs trem pre-bends or bend-offs (like "Wicked game"). As a result I've never bought a hard tail but I've always wanted one. I use hard-tail Gibsons and a Tele for most of my lead work. I like the Gibson scale because it allows so much easier left-hand pitch articulation and I like the fact that I'm not bending against a floated trem on a Tele.

Bob

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by J Patrick

...its not just the trem...the tone from a traditional springed block is part of the equation as well....that said i've used the tremolo on my strats sparingly and have always wanted to give a hardtail a shot....the Robert Cray model has been on my radar for a long time...i played one of the MIM models once and loved the neck profile and pickups...

I've heard that from a few players as well.

As for me, I don't need the trem even though I have two American Standards that have the trem. I can't recall if I blocked the trem on my Mexi strat - I'll have to check tonight.

Originally Posted by Pnewsom

I'd miss that trem playing songs like Wicked Game, but hard tails are nice too.

That's one song I do that I use my hands to get the effect of a trem. But I do use a looper for the repeating three chords, and a ton of reverb. Another non-use is getting a Rockabilly sound. I use a lot of pre-bends.

[blue]

A G&L Legacy with the hardtail, which is a rock solid connection unlike the fender hardtail which seems like an afterthought, is a crazy awesome guitar. But as you said, just try to find one used. And I don't buy new.

If I was going to buy any signature strat for its features and sound it would be the Jake E Lee Charvel. A hardtail. I played a custom shop one, and man. That was probably the best sounding HSS strat I ever touched.

[clintj]

Mine gets used, subtly. Except on Wicked Game, like some others here. There's good places to use one in Yellow Ledbetter, and some Pink Floyd songs as well.

I've blocked the trem with a wood block inside the cavity before, and it does sound slightly different. It's easiest to hear in a big clean amp, but the floating block almost sounds like it has a natural bit of reverb when you play. Just don't break a string if you have it set to float.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by clintj

...I've blocked the trem with a wood block inside the cavity before, and it does sound slightly different. It's easiest to hear in a big clean amp, but the floating block almost sounds like it has a natural bit of reverb when you play. Just don't break a string if you have it set to float...

The first thing I did when I bought my MIJ Squier/Fender back in '86 was to "unfloat" the trem, by adding the two additional springs that came on the earliest versions and tightening down the claw in the rear cavity until the bridge was resting flush with the top; FYI back in the '80s this used to be known as the "Van Halen mod," as Eddie would do this to his Frankenstrats in the days before Floyds. Definitely added a natural reverb to the tone - there was just that intangible "something" that my '52 Tele RI couldn't duplicate (BTW I'm a dedicated big-clean amp guy so I "get it")- as well as tuning stability on a par with the aforementioned (string-thru) Tele; FWIW I don't know if it's a chainwide thing, but all the "floor" Strats at my semi-local GC have had the VH mod for the last few years - good move IMO...

[posternutbag]

I've played Telecasters most of my life, so when I wanted a strat, I immediately went looking for a hardtail. There are not many of them. I eventually settled on an American Standard Stratocaster because my local guitar store was blowing them out since the Am. Standard has been discontinued.

Initially I planned to block the trem system, but I actually find that I use it. It wasn't something I particularly wanted or even needed, but I have found a use for it, specifically, putting a little extra feeling into a bend.

So, while it is something I could live without, it is a tool in the tool box. The only real problem is that you have to take the trem arm off when you close the case, and keeping track of the little black tension spring is a pain.

[s2y]

I'm in the process of ordering a Strat type in a few months or so, depending on funds. As little as I'll use the bar, I'll still probably go with a conventional trem since I consider it part of the Strat tone.

[JeffreyAK]

I bought my Strat new, deliberately without a tremolo, and I've never missed it. The hardtail sound is a little bit different, as I recall from playing friend's tremolo Strats years ago, but I don't recall it well enough to describe. It was a popular option in the 80's, when you'd see a lot of Strats like mine in metal bands - hardtail, hot humbucker in the bridge position, brass nut.

[redir]

Mine is a hard tail Strat clone. But you can do everything on a tremolo Strat that you can do on a hard tail Strat but you cannot do everything on a hard tail Strat that you can do on a tremolo one. So that's something to think about. IOW it's a tool in your tool box, you might not ever use it but should you decide to then it's there.

I have a guitar with a Bigsby and yes you can get trem like sounds by fret vibrato but it's not like using a real trem system. Dive bombs for one thing come to mind. But then I have a Digitec Whammy for that