this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2023
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Tremolo or hardtail? (self.guitars)
submitted 2 years ago by Crisps to c/guitars
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I’m considering a second guitar and thinking of going for a hardtail. I have a squire with a tremolo currently, but never use it because it goes out of tune, and honestly in a few years of playing haven’t come across anything I’ve tried to play that requires it. I haven’t seen one used in a single tutorial video.

If you aren’t playing Van Halen, do they ever really get much use?

I would buy a decent Floyd Rose, but don’t know if the tuning would be a hassle. Or if I went hardtail would I regret it later?

Other than some rock, where are these really used?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I have a Floyd and absolutely love it, but it has pros and cons.

Cons:

Massive hassle to change setup; tuning changes or string guage changes are non-trivial. Once you get familiar with how it works it's not too hard, but there's a learning curve and it's time consuming.

Changing strings is a hassle. You need wire cutters and Allen wrenches. If you stick with the same string guage it's not too bad, but it's definitely more work than a standard guitar.

Bridge itself is sensitive to touch. If you rest your hand on the bridge, it'll throw the guitar out of tune.

Pros:

Dive bombs. Warbly weirdness. Wiggle sticks are great.

Insane tuning stability. This one reason is why I love the Floyd so much... it front loads all the hassle of tuning to the setup. When I pick up the guitar, it's at most a pip or so off perfect, a quick tweak of the fine-tuners and I'm good to go for the night. I almost never have to re-tune while playing.

Floyds are pretty divisive, so weigh the benefits and drawbacks before you get one.