Hi, I opened up my Strat and discovered that there were five springs, accounting for the stiffness of the tremolo. I took out the middle one, but it that the right one to take out? does it matter how i arrange the springs. alslo, when i tried it, it was knocked out of tune. how do i make it keep in tune?

does a floating or flush bridge make a difference in tone or tuning? what are the advantages of eacch?

I have just 3 springs and the trem plate in back is screwed all the way into the cavity.... dont know if 5 would be better cause I never use trem... might try it, any suggestions? If I do should I unscrew the plate screws a little so not to have too much tension?

These are, as always, just my own personal opinions here.

When it comes to trem springs, the "theory" is that the more springs you have on the trem, the more you transfer the vibration from the trem to the body (as with the number of mounting screws on the trem itself) and the more of the "wood" that you actually hear. The same is basically true of having the trem pulled all the way back too...more contact between the bridge and the body so you get more resonance and better sustain. Practically speaking however, the number of trem springs you use and how you have your trem setup is really a personal choice more than anything else.

Personally I have 4 springs on all of my Strats with the bridges floating because that's how I like the feel. For me 5 springs is too "stiff" and 3 springs feels a little sloppy to me. For the, that's really the sole consideration here...how it feels. It's very easy to obsess over something like sustain...a lot of folks really drive themselves nuts trying to squeeze every last millisecond of sustain that they can out of a Strat. The simple truth however is that a Strat (unless it's a hardtail of course) is never going to have the same amount of sustain that a Les Paul or a PRS is going to have...it's just the nature of the beast. That said, personally I feel that something such as a good quality trem and trem block is doing to do far more for your sustain than the number of springs you use every will. For example on my '96 MIM, I replaced the stock half-sized zinc alloy trem block with a steel Callaham block and -that- made a HUGE difference in regards to the sustain (and even the over-all tone) so again, for me at least it comes back to "feel" more than anything else.

Now I will say that I do agree with Nevin in that if you change the number of springs, you should certainly have the setup adjusted, particularly if you like the bridge to "float". With a floating Strat bridge, everything effects everything else...adjust the springs and it changes the tension on everything else. Think of it this way, the foot bone is connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone is connected to the shin bone, the shin bone is connected to the knee bone... Same thing with a Strat (Come on! Sing it with me!)...the claw bone is connected to the spring bone, the spring bone is connected to the bridge bone, the bridge bone is connected to the string bone, the string bone is connected to the neck bone....

Or if your more scientifically minded, think of it like algebra...what you do to one side, you need to do to the other! LOL!!! If you add more tension to the trem by adding an extra spring (or removing one as this case may be), then you need to adjust the tension at the neck accordingly. In this case where one spring was removed, there could be too much tension on the truss rod in the neck now causing it to pull back on the neck more than it needs to...and this could lead to fret buzz and such with the neck being "too flat" (you always want a little bow in the neck).

I also agree with Nevin that a floating bridge is harder to setup (try setting of a Floyd someday! OYE! It's like balancing a quarter on the edge of a knife)...but...personally I think it's worth it. To me part of the reason for having a Strat (or any guitar with a trem really) is for the amount of personal expression that the trem gives you while you're playing. Some guys just go crazy doing dive bombs and such and there's nothing really wrong with that but a trem can give you so much more...subtle little nuances in your playing and such (much like doing string bends or even string vibrato) and can really add to your style. If you have the trem pulled all of the way back, that limits this expression to only half of what your trem can actually do. Again though, it's a personal choice...if you don't really use the trem at all, just crank that sucker down and don't sweat it.

My suggestion is to play around with it a little bit and find what works best for you. This is one of the reasons why whenever I get (or build) a new Strat, I always allow a couple of weeks to "tinker" with it...I'll play it for a while and discover, "oh...the strings are a tich too low (or high)" or " oh...too much tension on the trem", etc.. By taking my time, I get it tweaked out to -exactly- where I like it set.

Just my $.02 worth as always,
Jim

very useful. thanks. I took out one spring, and my bridge seems to have stayed flush with the body. in this case, is any adjusting needed?

i'm not sure, their about 1 cm and a half out. is that loose or tight?

Hello!

If you have problems getting it set up how you like, you could follow the fender set up guide:

http://www.fender.com/support/stratocas ... _guide.php

or take it to your local tech.

Hope this helps

Andy

_________________
Pending Greatness

For my set up I used:

-this forum ( lots of helpful advise, thanks).
-the fender setup guide on this site and the owners manual (above link).
-ehow.com

http://video.google.ca/videosearch?rls= ... A0QqwQwAA#

put all together to get my guitar set how I like it.....

I figured if I messup I can pay a pro to fine tune , if it worked one victory for me.....(it worked)