I set the bridge on My American Standard Strat flush when I first got it because I don't use the tremolo bar.

I spent the last week trying different strings from 9's to 12's and several brands (Elixer, D'Addario, Earnie Ball, DR, Fender). I have Elixer 11's on it right now and so far I think these are the best for me.

Anyway, I got curious and decided to float the bridge because I read posts about the tone being better with the bridge floating, so I figured I'd give it a shot just to see if there was a difference. I was not expecting a big difference, and was quite surprised to hear that there is a huge difference, not only in the tone, but in the way the guitar plays. I don't know quite how to explain the sound, I guess jangle'y would be my way of describing it, and even though I have 11's on it, it feels like 10's. It sounds so much better and plays even easier than it did with the bridge flush.

Do any of you keep your bridge floating and NOT use the tremolo for these reasons?

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna keep it like this as long as I don't start having problems with tuning. I did put a Graph Tech nut on it when I first got it, and so far it seems to be staying in tune fairly well.

I keep my bridge floating and am an occasional user. No dive bombs, no pull backs, just for for subtle effects every so often. If for nothing else, it is there so why not make it usable and take advantage of it?

I thoroughly agree with you that there is a difference. As unscientific and/or illogical as this sounds, I believe that with the bridge floating, the tremolo springs somehow give a very subtle reverb effect which gives the tonality of the guitar an extra dimension not there when the tremolo is immobilized. Along with this, a very slight volume increase and acoustic presence is added too. Of course also, with the bridge floating, the tension on the strings feels a lot less because the bridge actually lifts slightly with any string bend.

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You dig?

+1.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I agree with Martian but I do not float any of my trems as I am heavy handed on the bridge and the pressure causes the strings to go flat.

Ooops...

I just realized that when I floated my bridge, it moves the saddles up quite a bit. This changed the distance between the pickups and the strings, thus changing the tone.

I just set it back flush and moved the pickups down a little and it gets that same gangly tone as it did floating. In addition to that... it gets a little more sustain as well as more of the body sound which makes it even a little better than floating.

Now I have it flush with 5 springs and the claw screws cranked all the way in. I put a set of 12's on it (D'Addario Chromes ECG25 Flat Wound), because I'm still experimenting with strings.

This is the 3rd time I have gone back to the flat wounds (ECG25), and the 4th or 5th time I have gone back to 12's, so I think I may settle on this configuration for a while.

Thanks for all your comments. I have learned a lot about Strats from all this, and I am becoming an expert at complete setups too...