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Trem users - you actually use that thing?

tfarny said:
So, to summarize:

1. Jeff Beck can play guitar really well!

2. A large hunk of nonfunctional, heavy gear in the middle of your guitar crucially improves the tone. (?)

3. Line6man is the only person on the forum who has ever actually used his trem.

Nice!
Click to expand...

:laughing11:
 
line6man said:
Another reason to have a trem, but not use it is so that you CAN use it when you need to, even if you usually don't.
Which is another reason why I don't get you hardtail players. Why not block the trem and silence the springs instead, that way you can have the tremolo if you need it, but don't have to have it all the time.
You're only a setup away from having, or not having a trem on the guitar.
Click to expand...

Well in that case, you should add concentric volume/tone knobs for each pickup on your strat. And you should add a series/parallel switch, and a phase switch, and a 9 db booster switch for overdrive. Add a piezo pickup and a stereo output jack, as well as a detuner on your low E. Oh, and every guitar should have 24 frets, because you never know when you might need that super high E.

well that was obviously over the top. but my point is: if you're not gonna use it, you don't want it on your guitar any more than I want a trem on mine.
 
tfarny said:
On Monday, I went to an open jam and there were like 5 strats there, including my Warmoth hardtail. All of the other strats had trem setups but not even one guy had the trem arm attached - add to that all the great players who don't even put the arm in on a strat - seriously what is the point of tremolos if no one ever wanks on the thing?
Click to expand...

If you never wank on the thing, then you're right; it's pointless, outside of some questionable tone benefits. In any event, my feeling is that it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. You're only talking about a 5% adder in many cases. If you're ready to spend $1,300 on a fiddle, is $1,400 gonna be a deal-breaker? Especially if it adds some utility you might need someday, or that a subsequent potential owner might seriously want? Not having a trem is a deal-breaker for a lot of people.
 
CrackedPepper said:
tfarny said:
So, to summarize:

1. Jeff Beck can play guitar really well!

2. A large hunk of nonfunctional, heavy gear in the middle of your guitar crucially improves the tone. (?)

3. Line6man is the only person on the forum who has ever actually used his trem.

Nice!
Click to expand...


No Marko does too
Click to expand...

And I just said I did too...
 
Cagey said:
Especially if it adds some utility you might need someday, or that a subsequent potential owner might seriously want? Not having a trem is a deal-breaker for a lot of people.
Click to expand...

While I agree for the most part, I would argue that (in the wide world beyond this forum) having a trem is just as often a deal breaker as not having a trem. There are plenty of people who just plain don't like them, for whatever reason, be it good or bad. If I saw a body in the showcase that was awesome in every way except it had a trem route, I wouldn't buy it. Right now I'm just not interested in having it or dealing with it or looking at it or knowing that it's there. *shrug*
 
Having a trem is like having a car that can go 200 MPH. You may not go that fast all the time, but it's nice to know that you have the option.

 
Hell yes, I use it. On the VW pictured in my avatar (since changed to a Hipshot, which RULES), and a non-W that has a Floyd. I came of age playing-wise in the early-mid 80's, and the vibrato bar was definitely a must. Why forget what I learned just because some young snot nosed kids think it's passe?  :icon_biggrin:
 
I've got one on my beloved half-moth strat, and I'll use it maybe four times a year. Mostly I just think strats look incomplete without a tremolo bridge. I know that isn't a very good reason, but it is true!

That said, I don't think I will ever own another guitar with a tremolo.
 
When I built my Mary Kaye strat, I just made it a hardtail.  I don't ever use the trem so it just made sense to build the guitar as a hardtail.  Less to worry about for whatever reason.  My feeling is if you don't use it, you don't notice that it isn't around.  I have some guitars with trems, the trems just do not get any use.  I don't mind trems, but it is not something I really seem to require.  So I built the Strat without one.  Haven't noticed anything missing from the build.  It sounds and plays like a strat.
Patrick

 
I like the trem on my strat a lot. I like to be able to do up and down vibrato on notes. If I'm playing my strat I will use the bar - and the bar never comes out (unless the guitar is in its case).
 
I don't use my trem often, but I had a penchant for playing Van Halen, while I don't dive bomb quite like a Floyd would, it works great in moderation.
plus I'll slap it on if I break a string to coax the others into giving up the ghost (then I'll try the heavy divebombs and pretend I'm in the middle of Live Without A Net)
 
I have floyd's on all of my guitars. I don't use them constantly, but they do get used. I play mostly hard rock/heavy metal (Iron Maiden, Priest,
Van Halen, Dokken, Metallica, Pink Floyd) every one of the guitarists in those bands (and thus the songs) make judicious use of trems. So, for me
desiring and using a trem depends completely on the music you like to play. If you think Willie Nelson is the bee's knee's, yeah - you probably won't
have use for a trem. /shrug
 
I also think a Strat just doesn't look quite right without the bar, and I don't like the idea of having a trem and never using it, so I'm with GoDrex: the bar stays on, unless the guitar is in its case. And this thread has made me realize that I use the trem more often than I originally thought. It's just more subtle than crazy dives and squeals...
 
I like to have one, even though I don't use it that much.

That way when Jeff Beck comes over my house to jam, I don't have to listen to his constant bitching and whining about not having one!
 
Cause you can't flutter without one?  I've been playing a hardtail Zion Strat the last twenty years. I love it dearly, but I do find myself wanting a trem after a couple decades without.
 
I love Jeff Beck ,EVH,Hendrix  Allan Holdsworth and Scott Henderson so yeah using the wang bar is a pretty natural thing to do.
I actually broke my tremolo arm a couple of days ago but that´s OK i had a spare one just in case  :dontknow: 
 
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