Anyone here prefer a fixed bridge?

[philnz]

Can't stant Floyds, too much hassle

String thru body or wrap around anyday

 

[IntenseJim]

90% of the time I prefer a fixed bridge/hard tail

I hate Floyds becaus they are a pita for string changes/breaks. I'll take a vintage 6 point or modern 2 point tremelo any day over a Floyd.

 

[Ventura]

As far as trems go, I think FR's have the rest beat with their design and crazy-ass ability to stay in tune. Honestly though? I need a trem about 5% of the time. I play better, more aggressively, more consistently, more accurately with a fixed bridge ax or a string-thru-body design. Case in point - albeit my ESP FR-II is a wickedly awesome guitar for speed and tricks and my attempts at whatever Vai'ism I can conjure, my NT-II is an ax I feel way more confident playing - any time.

Then, my Lesters are all, obviously, non-trem guitars. My Suhr? I removed the bar and the bridge itself is flush enough that my palm doesn't effect its float. So I guess what I'm saying is, I like having one or two loaded with an FR, but they're not my first choice.

V.

 

[Stu Carter]

Nope. Floyds, the Gotoh 510 or Ron Thorns proprietary trem for me. If this counts......I do have the trem locked down pretty tightly on my Strat.

 

[jlbaxe]

My favorite trem guitar is my Cantrell signature G&L Rampage. The Kahler trem is the best, stays in tune and isn't a bastard to tune. And, the fine tuners have a lot of travel in them so it can take a lot of stretch and still fine tune. I can easily play with the hand resting on it and even give it a wiggle sometime for some trem effect.

Steve

I like the Kahler better myself. I have a few that are 20 years old that are not on a guitar right now.

I have a Model 4 Charvel/Jackson and 2 years ago put a new Kahler Hybrid to replace the worn out one that was on it. It has an allen head screw that locks it to a fixed bridge. I like it fixed and better than the floyds but play my goldtop lp and strats more.

I would luv an Ibanez with a Fender Strat trem on it like Andy Timmons.

 

[Bishop5150]

I have 3 guitars with fixed bridges and my other six have Floyd's. 3 of those guitars I have the bridge blocked to where it will just dive only. I almost never use the bar. I liked fixed bridge cause you can tune down to drop D.

 

[lolzgreg]

i have such an insane vibrato being left handed on a right hand guitar that i knock stop tail guitars out of tune.

Sounds like a poorly cut nut on the guitar to me.

I have a Dean with locking tuners that very rarely goes out of tune.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

I keep just a couple Floyd guitars. Hate tuning them, hate messing with them. I tend to play with my palm resting on them and end up over the course of a few minutes of playing making some unintentional minor adjustments.

My favorite trem guitar is my Cantrell signature G&L Rampage. The Kahler trem is the best, stays in tune and isn't a bastard to tune. And, the fine tuners have a lot of travel in them so it can take a lot of stretch and still fine tune. I can easily play with the hand resting on it and even give it a wiggle sometime for some trem effect.

If I bought another tremelo tailpiece guitar, especially a big Floyd, it would certainly have to be a recessed design. Surface mount gets too much in the way with that monster.

Steve

This. My Kahler guitars all stay in tune just fine.

 

['63-Strat]

Floyds stay in tune really well which is a plus for sure, but I agree that if I had to make a generalization about them, it'd be that they don't sound as good as fixed bridge or vintage strat trem type guitars do. I like having one guitar with a floyd around but there is not much chance my SL2H will ever be my main gigging guitar.

 

[glpg80]

i have such an insane vibrato being left handed on a right hand guitar that i knock stop tail guitars out of tune.

Sounds like a poorly cut nut on the guitar to me.

I have a Dean with locking tuners that very rarely goes out of tune.

never thought of it - could be true. i dont check the necks on every stoptail guitar i pick up to see if they are where they need to be. - some fender's i cant even play for the same exact reason with their tremelo setup.

if i did ever own a stop tail, it would have to have either floyd locking nut, or locking tuners. and even then, i would still find myself grabbing for a floyd rose bar for accenting notes - so i just stick with what i know at this point.

 

[Shark Diver]

Never understand why anyone has trouble changing strings on a floyd? Maybe I've bee doing it long enough it is simply second nature. Digging my ToM bridge on the Les Paul, so I will have a hard tail in the arsenal from now on, but how do you play this without a good Floyd type trem? Not over the top, but great accents - at least to me:

 

[kaseri]

Never liked guitars with trems. I only play stop bridge or string through.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Never understand why anyone has trouble changing strings on a floyd? Maybe I've bee doing it long enough it is simply second nature. Digging my ToM bridge on the Les Paul, so I will have a hard tail in the arsenal from now on, but how do you play this without a good Floyd type trem? Not over the top, but great accents - at least to me:

I agree, my Jackson with Locking bridge is exponentially easier to *string* than my Fender Strat with Vintage Tuners. The Vintage Tuners have a slot in the top and if the string doesn't kink in the right spot it slowly slips out as you try to tune up and then there goes the string, oops. Much harder than my Jackson where you just string it backwards and lock the string down and tune up. Intonation is a different story and the Fender wins that battle.

 

[Motorpud]

I prefer Floyds. I just can't rest my hand right on a fixed bridge and I can never seem to get the action set where I want on one (user error). I have an LP that plays great but there's always something missing for me playability wise. I might be in the low percentile but I've never had a problem staying in tune with my Floyds and I've never had any problems with string breakage. I think they're pretty simple to change too, I don't see how it should take any more than 1 extra minute just to release the old string and tighten it back down. Probably because I've already done it so much that it's second nature

 

[glassjaw7]

I prefer Floyds. I just can't rest my hand right on a fixed bridge and I can never seem to get the action set where I want on one (user error). I have an LP that plays great but there's always something missing for me playability wise. I might be in the low percentile but I've never had a problem staying in tune with my Floyds and I've never had any problems with string breakage. I think they're pretty simple to change too, I don't see how it should take any more than 1 extra minute just to release the old string and tighten it back down. Probably because I've already done it so much that it's second nature

Nate, I have the same issue with Floyds. The spot I rest my hand on is too far from the neck and always moves the trem a little sharp so I can never get comfortable with one. I should spend some quality time with my Washburn Dime 333 and get a feel for it. There are some tunes that I'd love to be able to play that require a Floyd. One of them is "For the Love of God". Always wanted to learn that tune.