Tremolo on Classic Player 50's Strat

[Medic162]

Hey...
I just got one of these and have a quick ??? of the techno wizards here. As a "newbie" to Strats, there is something with the tremelo that I want to get answered before I dink something up...
This guitar shipped with 3 tremolo springs in place in the back, and two spares. I read somewhere that many prefer all five in there. My question of course isn't about "feel" as I know that's personal preference. Here is the question:
With all five springs loaded in the rear, the baseplate of the trem assembly (on the front) sits all the way down against the body of the instrument. Is this bad??? Every other strat I own/play/or see appears that the plate stays in a floating position, even with 5 springs loaded. Can anyone shed light? Should I go back to 3 springs to keep the assembly off the front of the guitar? Thanks VERY much! Brian

[walterw]

i've never once seen a strat with all 5 springs that wasn't flat against the body, unless some maniac had 14-62 guage strings on it!

now the black springs in american series strats are weaker than the chrome vintage springs, so maybe 5 could be installed with heavy strings and still float.

i think you're looking at this backwards. the question is, do you want the bridge to float or not? then, you can add or remove springs to get the result you want. the guitar will be fine either way.

[Medic162]

Walter, Thanks very much for the reply. I (being new to Strats) wanted to make sure that having the tremolo plate lying flat on the body wouldn't damage or otherwise blemish the finish on the front of the guitar. I like the feel better with the 5 strings in place, but don't truly use the whammy very often. Thanks again!

[Mike9]

The vintage type of tremolos are supposed to sit flat on the body. The two point fulcrum trems float some.

[Eagle1]

The vintage type of tremolos are supposed to sit flat on the body. The two point fulcrum trems float some.

Not quite, It was in fact designed to float but people have been setting them up flat for years because they like to rest there hand hard on the bridge or don't use it much. The first manual said a 1/4 " under the back.

[Mike9]

Not quite, It was in fact designed to float but people have been setting them up flat for years because they like to rest there hand hard on the bridge or don't use it much. The first manual said a 1/4 " under the back.

I tried that & didn't like it so I (like thousands of others) keep mine flat to the body. I also regrind my mounting holes to a knife edge like the Wilkinson, Callaham and Mann trems. I adust my spring tension so open strings don't go too flat when bending another (think "Lemon Song").

[HandOfTheHost]

This is one of those instances in guitar playing that truly is going to come down to your personal preference. I started out by cranking down my strat bridge with five springs for several years. It was simply the simplest way to go about it because I didn't want to mess with a floating trem. Lately though (last couple years,) I've come around to 'letting a strat be a strat,' and set them up to float. I think it's part of a strat's sound (ironically my latest guitar build is a hardtail strat:D.) You've gotta try it both ways.