Dudes! Everyone take a deep breath & put down their guitars!

Seriously, though, Fender is a business & businesses are in business to make money through development/improvement of their products, yes? So, it follows that Fender would try to keep up with the times when they put the 2 screw trem on most of their popular models in the late 80's...

For those of you who weren't there, everyone wanted Charvels, Kramers, Jacksons, Ibanezes, etc. most of which were equipped with some sort of Floyd Rose type bridge. Fender took the positive attributes from these new trems & incorporated them into their vintage bridges.

My Strat from 89 has a 2 screw pivot bridge with metal rollers at the nut & screws on each tuner that require you to pull the string taut (no windings) then clamp it w/ the screw. All in all, my guitar (& others I've played from this time period) has stayed in tune pretty well considering all the abuse it's suffered...

I don't believe design variations are any great plot to rob us of $, but are rather this company--that we are all devoted to--trying to maintain its distinguised spot in the marketplace.

enjoy!

Well said and a brilliant act of diplomacy!

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2005 American Deluxe Strat
1999 Les Paul Standard
Boogie Recto Solo 50
Boogie Recto 2x12 cab

I generally play old school blues and do all my vibrato with my fretting (left in my case) hand, with also some simple guitar movement, which I think is working the trem. For my style of playing, the tremolo could be blocked and it wouldn't effect me. So far, my new Highway One's played great all week. It has a vintage 6-screw and I much prefer the look to the 2-point. Never goes out of tune. Even my old Squire Strat stayed in tune, because I'm getting vibrato on the fretboard.

Never say 'never'.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Vintage 6 screw for me, anything else on a Strat looks wrong and makes me cough just looking at it.

I prefer the modern 2 point trem simply because it's newer. That old 6 screw stuff is just old technology. My 2006 Strat has the 2 point, my 1974 Strat has the 6 screw.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

I said it in the original post. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I started off with the 6 screw trem and learned to set that up after over 35 years playing Strats so that's the one I feel most comfortable with and the one that works best for me.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

New to the forum . . .

Anything's an improvement over my 1985 MIJ Contemporary Strat with the System II Tremolo - you have to bend the strings in a couple of strategic places, then weave them through a maze before they cross the saddle.

I have a vintage 6 point and it goes out of tune the second you touch it - so I don't.

I have a 2009 AM Standard HSS with the two point and it seems to sway a little to the treble side of the strings on deep dives - maybe a screw adjustment? I put the recommended fender strings (Fender 10's) on it when I first restrung it and the trem wouldn't return to the correct position - it was tilted foreward way too much. Maybe it was really set up for 9's.

Both have added springs to keep them tight against the body and useless.

I have a Floyd on a 1980's Charvel superstrat and it's blocked.

Most trems are a pain in the *** (and yes, my nuts are lubed

There is one exception: The best tremolo in the world is the one on My EBMM Petrucci. You can whomp on that thing for days and days and it stays in tune.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Strats, Fender makes my favorite guitars, but I've not found a trem that works for me on a strat.

Ever try tuning a Strat with a floating bridge to an open E or something else besides standard? you'll be turning tuning keys for 5 minutes as the tension changes.
Man,my American Standards with the 2 point bridge go crazy...if you try to tune back and forth between the open tuning and standard to play slide on different songs...it's either set up a Strat for slide or forget it,or play slide in standard A440.
With my Strats with the 6 point trem it was better but I never use the trem so I finally set all mine flush...to be done with it....then it's easier to tune to different tunings.

I've owned three or four Strats with the two point bridges. I usually set them flush, but I do float them sometimes. I have noticed with all of the two points that if I get one side flush, the other side would not be perfectly flush. It's like they are slightly twisted or something.

I just recently got an American Special with the six point trem, and I can set it perfectly flush on both sides very easily. I have not floated it yet but I do plan to float it today so I can see how well it works floating.

I think the six point one gives the guitar a more traditional look.

I think Jeff Beck is the only *name* player using the 2-point?

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I prefer the vintage synchronised trem. I find it to be much more stable than the 2 point system. I also find it more durable. You simply don't have to worry about knife edges or the groove of the pivot posts wearing down. I don't subscribe to the loosen the 4 inside trem screws either. I never get tuning stability issues from em. I put that down to the fact that you can't wear out the fulcrum section of the vintage sync trem the way you can a modern 2 point. Van Halen reckons he'd get through a Floyd Rose in a couple of weeks. Well the 2 point operates on exactly the same basis at the bridge. One plate with sharpened knife points mating into two posts with grooves cut in them. All that pressure from the springs focused on those two points, rather than being dispersed over six smaller areas.

The smoother operation of the two point system is entirely due to the lower tension springs, making trem movement easier, in my experience. I'm currently using black low tension springs in my hotrod. The 2 point trem does have greater scope for travel than the vintage system though. Also the Deluxe's snap in arm is a wonderfull design. I just wish it had a white tip.

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No no and no

I get my 2-points perfectly flush. You will have to vary the height of one or both of the two grooved pivot post though.

The same thing applies with a six-point too, you have to raise the six screws to enable the bridge-plate to lie flat to the body, owing to the chamfer on the underside of the leading-edge of the bridge-pate.

Once you've raised the 2 or 6 srews (depending on what type of strat you've got); tighten the springs in the cavity by screwing the two claw-spring screws in the trem cavity; when the back of the bridgeplate is flat to the body, carefully lower the bridge-post screws untill the leading edge of the plate is also flat to the body.

Nothing is twisted! You just need to vary the pivot-post height as well as tightning the springs!