I am reasonably new to guitars-4 months and am buying a basket case Fender Strat for cheap. But it has no bridge on it at current.

I want to use the guitar for playing rock and folk rock. So do I patch the oversized routed out area and put a hardtail on it? Or do I patch up the oversized routed area and put a standard tremelo system on it?

I know that if I go with the tremelo system I should also get locking tuners and a different type of nut. Neither of which I have to change with just going with the "hard tail". But will a hardtail do what I envision? And no I do not envision using a tremelo system a lot, but it MIGHT be nice to experiment with every now and again.

Input?????

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So heres to your survival, swimming up the stream, crossing over one dam after another till we get to Rock and Roll Heavens Gate!

I'd get the trem, since you can always block it like Clapton, or just add springs to the back, and it will be pretty much like a hardtail. And you don't NEED to change the tuners or nut or anything necessarily with a trem. If your guitar stays in tune, then you're still fine.

The advantage as I see it, is as you mentioned. You might want to experiment. Personally, I use the trem only some, and almost never with the whammy bar, but I do like that I can use it when it's called for. It's a handy tool to have available in my playing.

On the flipside, I hear that hardtails have better sustain. Could be. And it might be worth it. And the likelihood of you having tuning stability problems is possibly lower with the hardtail. Though I have never had any problems with my American Standard staying in tune with the trem.

But it's of course up to you. Either way, keep playing and enjoy your guitar!

Was the guitar built for a trem or a hardtail?

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Chet Feathers

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

A trem-equipped Strat will never sustain as well as a string-through-body hardtail nor will it ever have the tuning stability.

That said, filling a large rout in a Strat body may be more of a chore than you think, at least from a standpoint of putting a decent finish back on the body. If your body is routed for a trem then you should put a trem bridge back on it. If OTOH it's been diddled with to accommodate a Kahler, Floyd, or System II bridge it might be better to hook-shot that body into a dumpster and pick up a new one from USACG, Warmoth, or Allparts. Basket case bodies are usually more trouble than they're worth IMO.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I like the idea of a "Convertable"

Start with a Hardtail or Trem body

Drill some holes for Bigsby and use high polished stainless threaded inserts
for bolting the Bigsby onto the body.
When the Bigsby is not to be used, a tastefully designed high polished
stainless plug would suffice as a "Bigsby Delete". I should point out that the plugs can be painted body color or hardware finish such as black, chrome, goldplate, for a more subtle delete plug.

This way, you can have at least all three types.
Something I would recommend to Fender for a special body.
I'd call it the Fender Stratocaster Convertable substitutng "Convertable"
for "Syncronized Tremolo"

Another feature I would recommend would be a universal routing that would allow for Fender, Gibson (thinkin' P90s, PAF) and or most standard third party pickup combinations. Control routing would include modifying the cavity so a 4th knob could be installed rather than the traditional three (ie Volume Tone Tone) and you would now have option of using the electrical guts of an Les Paul Goldtop w/P90s (for example) in a strat body.
I think I played a MIM Tele that had 4 knobs on it and it did have a distinctive LP tone to it.

Anyway, except for the Bigsby mounting holes, the rest of the guitar could fool anyone that it was standard Strat design when using the now traditional pickguard S-S-S, Vol-Tone-Tone, 3 or 5 way set up.

What I just described is probably one of the last strats I would own.
I mean that in a good way - one body for numerous applications.
The ultimate "Production Line Frankenstein"

Eric Clapton blocks the tremolo with a piece of wood wedged deep in the bridge cavity. The blocked tremolo bridge acts pretty much like a non-tremolo hard-tail unit. Thus said, Eric never uses the whammy, but likes very much this type of bridge.



A very few Stratocasters are available with a hard-tail bridge, such as the Robert Cray signature series guitars. Fender has made a bunch of hard-tailed American Strats with three single-coils or two humbuckers in the past. These guitars are no longer available.

Robert Cray, a strong persuader since 1977, is perhaps the man whose the name was associated with the hard-tail Stratocaster for many long years.

I went for a hardtail as I never use the whammy bar.



Hardtail bridge with bent-steel saddles:



That said...in your case go with a tremolo as the routing is already there.

The previous owner told me that the body had been routed for a Kahler probably something from the mid 80's. The bridge was removed and sold off long ago, so I can not be sure. What ever it was, it sure was cavernous!

Now back to my question-for playing rock and or folk rock do I need a tremelo? I may want to experiment at times.

One of my guitar heros-Bonnie Raitt uses a hard body Strat. But yet another one of my heros-Amy Ray uses a Gibby LP 1950 something or other with a Bigsby system on hers for some of her work and a Strat with Tremelo for some of her other work.

Is the difference in sustain that much less with a trem system? Can it be made up for by Compressing the signal with a some sort of pedal box?

_________________
So heres to your survival, swimming up the stream, crossing over one dam after another till we get to Rock and Roll Heavens Gate!

The previous owner told me that the body had been routed for a Kahler probably something from the mid 80's. The bridge was removed and sold off long ago, so I can not be sure. What ever it was, it sure was cavernous!

Now back to my question-for playing rock and or folk rock do I need a tremelo? I may want to experiment at times.

One of my guitar heros-Bonnie Raitt uses a hard body Strat. But yet another one of my heros-Amy Ray uses a Gibby LP 1950 something or other with a Bigsby system on hers for some of her work and a Strat with Tremelo for some of her other work.

Is the difference in sustain that much less with a trem system? Can it be made up for by Compressing the signal with a some sort of pedal box?

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So heres to your survival, swimming up the stream, crossing over one dam after another till we get to Rock and Roll Heavens Gate!

Go with the tremlos i reckon.

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riley

I am kind of thinking, why have a Strat if you don't have a tremolo? I guess if I did I would use the block system and want the springs inside the body as they help give a Strat some of those unique tones. With 3 pickups and the tremolo, one has a host of tones and sounds to choose from.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

X, i agree but Strats are more an individualized kind if beast. Personally i think the tremolo cavity adds a different kind of tone/sound, depending on how many springs used, back cover on or off. etc. i do have to say my 89 AmStd modded with a floyd had a killer tone and it was improved by adding a FloydUpgrades.com big block. Not to endorse said product but just a personal opinion.

It is looking like I will probably go with a trem system. What do you folks think of the single lock? As I understand it, with the older dual lock you needed to basically cut the ball end off the string then "lock it into the bridge unit. With the newer system you meerly slide the string throught

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So heres to your survival, swimming up the stream, crossing over one dam after another till we get to Rock and Roll Heavens Gate!

ive said hardtail because at first you are going to rest hard on the bridge with your palm.
after a while you will lighten up your picking and then you can move onto using a trem.

though now I think of it i have a trem thats blocked off to give me the option...

Get a tremolo on seconds thoughts and block it off at first!

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A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski~

go with the tremolo, single locks are cool fender trems are better than they used to be, i would suggest something that doesn't radically alter the stock appearance and the less drilling and cutting the better. That said I love my Floyd.