Hey fellow stratoholics, (<-- cheesy opening line, it seems they're necessary)

I am in the middle of a build, ( getting closer! ordered my pups yesturday)
and i realized this is my first build with a two point trem. I began to wonder to myself, what is the difference between a two point and standard six screw trem? I mean, besides the obvious "one has two posts and the other has six screws".

Is there a tonal difference?
better tuning stability?
more sustain?
etc.

any opinions/knowledge you can lay on me?


thanks,
~Jag

I experimented with this years ago. I tried it on a couple strats and replaced the vintage style trems with 2 point. The first time i drilled out holes for the 2 bushings for the machine screws the american standard trem uses. after i realized i didn't like it I removed the busings and doweled and redrilled the outer 2 holes and re-installed the vintage trem. I felt the vintage had a wider fuller range while the 2 point sounded more compressed and thinner. I also tried some other 2 point trems in another strat using wood screws instead of the machine screws and bushings. Tried 2 point gotoh ans a 2 point wilkenson. Each time i went back to the vintage and it just sounded fuller every time. I recently tried it again only this time with a ESP 2 point and wood screws and this time it sounded good. But theres a reason. this was a strat that has a rather cloudy tone that wasn't very articulate. Like the proverbial blanket over the speaker. So knowing 2 point bridges tend to be thinner sounding and more compressed in range, i thought it would give it better definition and it did. But on a strat with a alder body and rosewood neck i pretty much always feel the vintage trem is best. The 2 pointer seems to work better for maple necks and even basswood bodies. I think because maple tends to attenuate the frequencies in the hi mid/low treble area right in the middle of a strats range, and the 2 point trem seems to focus on that area.

Mind you, this is just observations that are not gospel at all and YMMV. But if i had to pick one thing i said that i really believe is almost not subjective, (remember, i said ALMOST ! It of course is) it's that a alder body rosewood neck strat sounds best with a vintage trem. I just find that wood combo really needs the fuller range the 6 point provides. By the way, i'm not alone at all in the belief that a vintage style trem is fuller sounding. It's a pretty widely held belief from the years i've spent online reading forums topics on the subject.

thank you for your info!


I dont know if those combos are a good or bad thing for me.
im goin for a rich bluesy tone, and its (i think)basswood, and a maple neck two point.