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View Poll Results: Strats: Do you float your bridge or deck it?
floating 26 39.39%
Decked 23 34.85%
Not Sure 1 1.52%
It's blocked 16 24.24%
Voters: 66. You may not vote on this poll

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  #16  
Old 02-27-2018, 05:59 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pieterh View Post
I have mine floating, 3 springs, .010 strings. I like to be able to bend up as well as down when I use the vibrato. I had a setup once where the tech decked it but I hadn’t asked him to and got him to return it to how I wanted it.

As an aside, is it as easy to pull up with a traditional 6-screw bridge as it is with the two point floating? Never thought about it when I have actually tried vintage style Strats...
Hey Pieter, I don't think there's much difference pulling up with the 6-screw term. Usually the 6 screw trem has the two outer screw a tad lower than the 4 inner screws.


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Originally Posted by RP View Post
My feeling is that there are a lot of Strat players who never use their whammy bars. To me it begs the question why Fender doesn't offer more Strat models with a hardtail bridge. The Robert Cray is the only one that comes to mind, and its $924.99 price is not exactly bottom line.....
Count me on being one of those people who would like a hardtail strat. I never use the trems on my Strats. I've read that a hardtail does give a difference in tone over a trem, even if the trem is blocked (i.e. piece of wood in the cavity preventing it from moving). Perhaps it's tradition as to why there's always a trem.
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  #17  
Old 02-27-2018, 06:47 PM
Steel and wood Steel and wood is offline
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Floating bridge on my Stratocaster.

I haven't played it in a while (Telecaster gets the most love these days) but I only ever use the tremolo bar to basically give chords (particularly minor) some colour. (Pull up but mostly push down). Very rarely do I use for individual notes like for example Hank Marvin does.

The music store gave me something (small screw) so that the bar remains stiff (don't have to go looking for it) but I'm yet to give it a go.
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  #18  
Old 02-27-2018, 07:22 PM
rob2966 rob2966 is offline
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My Strat has the 2-pin floating bridge and it stays in tune very well. I figured I might eventually deck it if required but hasn't been necessary.

I also don't use the bar either (the silver sticker is still covering the hole where the arm threads in). However, I do use the palm of my hand to provide tremolo effect (which only works with the bridge floating).

Later
Rob
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  #19  
Old 02-27-2018, 08:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dru Edwards View Post
...Count me on being one of those people who would like a hardtail strat. I never use the trems on my Strats. I've read that a hardtail does give a difference in tone over a trem, even if the trem is blocked (i.e. piece of wood in the cavity preventing it from moving). Perhaps it's tradition as to why there's always a trem.
Seems like it would be cheaper to produce hardtail Strats, but the discussion usually follows the same course as when I posit that Taylor should produce more guitars without cutaway or electronics. It's a chicken and the egg sort of thing. Fender produces most Strats with tremolo because that's what customers want, but since it's highly unlikely that you'll find a Robert Cray Strat hanging on the wall of XYZ Guitars, sales of hardtail Strats are minimal....
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  #20  
Old 02-27-2018, 10:39 PM
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There's also the Jim Root artist model, but it appears that's it for new hardtail Fender strats - two of them. I think there are hardtails available from other manufacturers, though.

I bought my hardtail specifically as a hardtail, because at that time there were no locking tremolo systems available and the Fender tremolos were famous for putting the guitar out of tune, as I saw first-hand from friends guitars. I've never missed it, honestly, but if I really wanted one I'd get a locking system and avoid all tuning problems.
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  #21  
Old 02-27-2018, 11:38 PM
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Hi DE

My 1992 American Strat Plus is now blocked (I had a luthier block it properly…yet not permanently). I do a lot of dropped D playing and that is impossible on Strats without blocking the bridge (or retuning at least 3 other strings after you drop the 6th to D).

I don't use the tremolo so it was a personal choice based on my play.



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  #22  
Old 02-28-2018, 08:00 AM
redir redir is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tone Gopher View Post
I've been playing Strats since the early '70s, and this is the first time I've heard the term "decked" - and I used to set up Strats in a guitar repair shop!

Yes, I set mine up with the spring tension loading the bridge against the top. I prefer this to blocking the trem because it gets more resonance from the springs, imparts a lil' give when bending, and generally holds better tuning.

YMWV depending on string gauge and how heavy you set the spring tension.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Been building and working on guitars for 25 years now. Decked? WHat's that?

----

My personal 'Strat' has a bridge that is bolted right to the top with no trem at all, so that is another option

I use a Digitech Whammy if I want to get crazy
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  #23  
Old 02-28-2018, 08:07 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffreyAK View Post
There's also the Jim Root artist model, but it appears that's it for new hardtail Fender strats - two of them....
The Fender Jim Root Stratocaster electric guitar is as unique as Slipknot's guitar maestro himself. Featuring a black mahogany body and a 25-1/2" scale maple neck with a thin "C" shape and an oversized headstock fitted with Fender Deluxe cast/sealed locking tuning machines. A smooth ebony fretboard sports 22 jumbo frets and a 12" to 16" compound radius that promotes super fast shredding. The Fender Jim Root guitar has an EMG-60 active humbucker (neck) and EMG-81 active humbucker (bridge) that let your solos roar through the crowd. A 6-saddle strings-through-body hardtail bridge adds even more sustain to the Fender Stratocaster sound. Includes a hardshell guitar case.

With its humbucker pickups and no tone controls, I'd suggest that the Jim Root is a Strat in body only; and at a retail price of $1499.99, one would probably buy it as a homage to Jim Root and not just to acquire a Fender hardtail Strat. The MIM Strats that I've owned seemed like really nice guitars, and I truly believe that there's room for a hardtail at that price point...

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  #24  
Old 02-28-2018, 08:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RP View Post
I understand that you and probably many other Strat players enjoy that flexibility; but to me it still begs the question why Fender only makes a single Strat model without tremolo, an MIM Signature Artist model at that, out of the gazillion models of Strats they produce....
You're not wrong. It would be nice to see a few other models. I've contemplated building a Warmoth hardtail Strat a few times, but haven't follow through, yet.

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Originally Posted by redir View Post
I was thinking the exact same thing. Been building and working on guitars for 25 years now. Decked? WHat's that?
I'm sure you were being facetious and understand the concept , but it just means the bridge is locked down against the body, or "the deck". It's quite a common term in a Google search. I have mine all the way down and with five springs under a fair amount of tension, my bridge doesn't move. You can hear the difference in sound between that and having the bridge float.

Johan does a good video comparison here of a hardtail vs. a trem Strat.

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  #25  
Old 02-28-2018, 09:35 AM
AxeDude AxeDude is offline
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I have 4 Strats. All have floating terms. I've played thousands of gigs with them and I don't have tuning issues. They just need to be set up properly.
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  #26  
Old 02-28-2018, 12:02 PM
Otterhound Otterhound is offline
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I built a hardtail with my own wood/s . 1 piece cherry body with a Madagascar Rosewood fretboard over a quartersawn walnut neck .
What was the question ?
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  #27  
Old 02-28-2018, 12:07 PM
Otterhound Otterhound is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dru Edwards View Post
Hey Pieter, I don't think there's much difference pulling up with the 6-screw term. Usually the 6 screw trem has the two outer screw a tad lower than the 4 inner screws.



Count me on being one of those people who would like a hardtail strat. I never use the trems on my Strats. I've read that a hardtail does give a difference in tone over a trem, even if the trem is blocked (i.e. piece of wood in the cavity preventing it from moving). Perhaps it's tradition as to why there's always a trem.
Irony alert !
As I understand it , the prototype Strat was a hardtail . Of course , the Strat was conceived to become the platform for the tremolo bridge , which did take place .
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  #28  
Old 02-28-2018, 12:40 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ljguitar View Post
Hi DE

My 1992 American Strat Plus is now blocked (I had a luthier block it properly…yet not permanently). I do a lot of dropped D playing and that is impossible on Strats without blocking the bridge (or retuning at least 3 other strings after you drop the 6th to D).

I don't use the tremolo so it was a personal choice based on my play.
Hi Larry - it's been a while. I blocked the trem on one of my non-Strat guitars much like your Strat is setup, with a block in the cavity. Very easy to undo.
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  #29  
Old 03-04-2018, 04:08 PM
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I have my Strat bridge decked and don't put the bar in very often.

On my Probett, the Mannmade bridge is floating and I use the bar a lot. It stays in tune much better than the Fender bridge.
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  #30  
Old 03-04-2018, 06:15 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Parlorman View Post
I have my Strat bridge decked and don't put the bar in very often.

On my Probett, the Mannmade bridge is floating and I use the bar a lot. It stays in tune much better than the Fender bridge.
Hi Bill - I've never heard of Probett before. Is it a custom builder?
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