Hiya JazzGuy

I see no real downside to it. I've always thought that a bit of room to allow the trem to pull up from it's zeropoint helps the trem return to pitch correctly when dipping the bar.

The only downside I can see is that you can't pull up on the bar to any real musical degree, but you dont do that anyway.

Give it a try before you judge it.

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No no and no

I see no real benefit to having a minimal float as opposed to 1/8th. That 1/8th is not a rule anyway, just a recommendation. I set mine to pitch up 3 frets on the open G and forget about how high it physicaly sits. I read somewhere that Jeff Beck sets his for 5 frets on the G. So it pulls up to C.
If you don't pull up the bar, but do dip, then I see no impediment occuring from having a slither of pull up space, providing the trem is set up properly and returns to pitch correctly.

Any feeling of the strings feeling stiffer because of trem float or lack of it is all imagined mate. You tune XXX gauge string to YYY pounds of pressure to acheive a certain frequency across whatever scale length. Thats all there is to it, anything else is mythology. Strings won't gain or lose tension unless you drop the pitch its tuned to, change the scale length of the guitar or change the thickness of the string.
I mainly use 3 guitars these days. One is a blocked strat, one is a tele, one is a trem floated strat with low tension springs on the trem. I have to physicaly push strings further on that strat to obtain a certain amount of bend than I do with the fixed bridge guitars. The tension does not increase beyond what it normaly would to get the same bend. Simply a lot of the tension/pressure put on the string by pushing it up the fretboard is dissipated into the trem springs, so you get further travel but the same tension.

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No no and no

(niki is awesome)

Since Niki explained it succinctly-the very technical short answer: Set it up for your own comfort and style.
Then enjoy.

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rob Schwarz
Director,Fender Customer Service
Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

Wow, thank you Rob.

no no no!! Thank you!! (seriously)

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rob Schwarz
Director,Fender Customer Service
Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

Can only add to niki's comments.

Somewhere between 1/16" and 1/8" is certainly just the ticket for me. At about 1/16" you'll get a little upward pitch bend but not too much. That setting is perfect for a nice wide vibrato, moving up and below the pitch note sweetly. It's also just enough to pull the strings back to pitch after some serious trem pitch dropping. A modern strat bridge with well set and lubed nut will allow some pretty wild trem wrangling - just that little upward tug at the end to release any friction and bring the guitar back on song.

It's a lovely setup that really exploits the original Fender trem design and demonstrates how well it stands up even 50+ years later.

But really you can't lose. Try it as it has been set, or learn the simple tricks to adjust it yourself. Have fun and make some great music along the way..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!