Much has already been written and the pros and cons of floating, decking, or blocking a Fender Stratocaster trem. Here’s my take.
Fender Stratocaster trem setup: floating trem
The back of the bridge floats about an 1/8″ above the body. This is achieved by either loosening the two trem spring claw screws or removing trem springs until the tension of the strings pulls the bridge into a floating position.
Pros of a floating trem
- Feel. A floating trem gives the least tension out of all three setups. Some describe this as ‘slinky’ in that a floating trem setup feels effortless to play. I would agree, with big, wide vibrato bends, in particular, having much less resistance than the other two setups. A floating trem allows you to more expressive. Maybe that’s because of the way the saddles rise as you bend up, creating a sort of auto-adjusting action?
- Design. Leo Fender designed the Stratocaster to have a floating bridge setup, and who are we mere mortals to argue with that? For me, messing about with the other bridge setups felt wrong and introduced problems that weren’t there before (e.g. re-adjusting the bridge saddles proved problematic with short height adjustment screws). Want to know how to set up your guitar and trem by Fender themselves? Click here.
- Tremolo arm use. Even though I’m not a big trem user, with a floating setup, at least the option is there to be explored.
- Tuning stability. Perhaps a difficult one to argue, but as the Strat is designed to have the bridge floating, all of the other elements (including tuning stability) seem to fall into place with a floating setup. I’ve certainly never had an issue with it.
Cons of a floating trem
- Tuning flexibility. By this I mean you can’t quickly go to drop D or open tuning with a floating trem, as the bridge will alter position according to the sum tension of all strings, or in other words, if one string alters tuning, they all do! No such problem on either a decked or blocked trem.
- Tuning of other strings. The nature of the beast, but again as a result of the moving bridge, things like double bends are hard to keep in tune as the bent string will knock the un-bent string out (slightly). Also, on single bends, if you don’t mute the other strings properly, you’ll hear all the others go out, which needs work.
- String changes. Can’t argue with this. String changes with a floating trem takes longer and are more hassle as, as each string is tuning, all the other go out. With decked and blocked you can tune one at a time, quicker.
- String breakage. Break a string in the middle of the set with a floating trem and you’re screwed. With decked and blocked, you can make it through.
Fender Stratocaster trem setup: Decked trem (pictured)
The bridge sits flush with the body. This is achieved by either tightening the two trem spring claw screws or adding more trem springs until the bridge is pulled against the guitar body, with the guitar tuned to pitch. Some players like the bridge to stay put under bending (adding further tension to the trem springs), some don’t. More on that later.
Pros of a decked trem
- Tuning flexibility. Switch to drop D or any alternative tuning whenever you like, and everything will remain in tune.
- String changes. No floating trem issues here.
- String breakages. Or here. If you break a string, you can carry on fixed bridge style.
- Simplicity. Deck and forget. You may never be happier not having to deal with the intricacies of balancing a floating setup.
Cons of a decked trem
- No tremolo up-bends. A decked trem only allows for down bends, which could be fine for you, but even the natural warble of a subtle up/down trem vibrato is out. This feels kind of limiting. If you didn’t want full use of a trem, why go for a Strat in the first place?
- Feel. There’s definitely a stiffer feel with a decked trem. It’s all a little more hard work, especially on bends. Personally, it doesn’t feel ‘right’ and I’m always hankering for the expressive, loose, floppiness of a floating setup rather than being in a fight. There’s a caveat to this in that a decked trem can be setup to rise slightly under string bending, which does loosen the tension slightly, but at the expense of introducing the floating trem issue of tuning whilst bending. Worth experimentation.
- String life. Personal experience has taught me more tension means a shorter string life, particularly if you bend them a lot, which I do. High tension on the tightly-angled Strat bridge can even lead to strings unraveling at the ball-end. I really don’t want to have to ‘tin’ (solder) my strings every time.
- Design. It’s not what Leo wanted, and it’s not how he designed it, so decking the trem feels like squaring a round hole, of solving perceived issues with the floating system by creating some different issues.
Fender Stratocaster trem setup: Blocked trem.
A wooden block is wedged in the tremolo cavity in the space behind the trem block and the guitar body.
Pros of a blocked trem.
Simplicity. If a decked trem is set and forget, a blocked trem is even simpler in that it doesn’t even need setting up in the first place. Less is more?
Maintenance. As the trem cavity, claw, springs and screws are taken out of the equation, no need to worry about them anymore.
+All the benefits of a decked setup. ‘Nuff said.
It’s what Eric Clapton uses. Mr Fender Stratocaster can’t be wrong can he? I’ve intentionally omitted tone from all of my pros/cons because there are so many contrasting opinions on it. Here’s one (not mine):
In order of sustain, a blocked produced the most, followed by decked, then floating.
Cons of a blocked trem.
No tremolo. At all this time.
+All the cons of a decked setup.
… And well, it looks a bit cheap, doesn’t it?
Which Fender Stratocaster trem setup do I prefer?
Floating all the way!
For all the reasons described above It feels the best, both under the fingers (especially on bends), and also physiologically in that, I’m using the guitar how it was designed and intended. I’m not fighting against it to solve issues that aren’t massive.
There are indeed negatives to the floating trem, and indeed, if I were gigging, string breakage would worry me. But I’m not so it’s not an issue, and neither is drop tuning which I can live with and don’t partake in that often anyway, same goes for string changes, once they’re ‘in’ they’re in.
The unison bending thing? You can kind of work with it and isn’t noticeable most of the time anyway.
I think most of all the floating setup feels like you’re actually playing a Strat, the Ferrari of guitars, and not trying to turn it into something that it isn’t. If I wanted a fixed bridge guitar, I would have bought a Les Paul.
No, the Strat needs care and maintenance, just like a Ferrari or a Formula One car, to give you the ultimate performance it was born with. My recommendation would be to not deny yourself that for anything, even if it does need a little love sometimes.
… Or you could take the easy route, and stay in the slow lane.
What’s your preferred Fender Stratocaster trem setup? Drop me a comment below.