Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

[UCSDBoy]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

i have strats of both types, but never use the lever.
both have unique sounds. find out what suits your type of playing

From my experience, for most things the added sustain is more noticible than the missing spring cavity, springs, etc. I would say go hardtail, but that's just me. with all due respect to the others, there's still a whole lot of strat left to make it a strat. =) I think you'd do more to change the sound by going from a vintage to a modern neck than by making it a hardtail.

[petursig]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

Thank you so much for you input guys.....

Different opinions as expected and lots of good info.
I think Lew summed it up for me........."go try both types and see what you like better". The only problem is that hardtail strats are not easy to find here in Iceland. We have a Fender dealership but you could say that it's not exactly Guitar Center :

Thanks a lot for you help

Petur

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I have one of each. Each is alder-bodied with the pickups in my signature.

My Fender California Strat has the tremelo locked down and a maple/maple neck. As a rule it always sounds super thin and twangy. Even the super distortion with it's wall of lows and low-mids twangs out big-time when i play this thing. Not necessarily a bad thing because I like how obnoxious it can be with the single coils...twang-snap-twangedy snap snap

My Warmoth is hardtail with a rosewood/maple neck. This thing has a lot more low-end and mids than the Fender does naturally. It's also a lot louder acoustically and sustains far more. The tuning is rock-solid unless i hit something with the headstock (happens more often than you'd think haha) and it's definitely my dream guitar.

I think the "tone the springs add" is just more twang and thinness to an already twangy and thin-sounding guitar. More wood means more vibration means a bigger sound so...hopefully that helps.

-X

[skh515]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

Thank you so much for you input guys.....

The only problem is that hardtail strats are not easy to find here in Iceland.

Hardtail Strats are hard to find anywhere. I'd love to have a 60s RI hardtail, but Fender hasn't made one recently, if at all. I once saw some literature on a '50s RI Hardtail, but my local dealer sad he had never even heard of such a thing.

Having said that, I haven't noticed much difference. I have two hardtails and several (3, I think) soft-tails and they all sound like...well, Strats.

I never use the trem. I put five springs on there and tighten the claw so the bridge is sitting firmly against the top of the body. Maybe that's why I don't really see a difference. Maybe a blocked trem and a hardtail sound about the same when compared to a Strat with a floating trem.

[J Moose]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I put five springs on there and tighten the claw so the bridge is sitting firmly against the top of the body. Maybe that's why I don't really see a difference. Maybe a blocked trem and a hardtail sound about the same when compared to a Strat with a floating trem.

It's tough to know what the real difference would be since you'd have to have a hardtail and then route it to be a trem guitar...there's just too many variables to have a scientific comparison. But, most of the hardtails I've played resonate & feel a little more "solid" then trem guitars...even when the trem is locked down. It stands to reason, there's a little more wood there and the bridge is making full contact with the body. You can find a dog in either direction but the general vibe I get is that a hardtail Strat is a little closer to a Tele vibe, and the bridge pickup almost always seems more usable. YMMV.

FWIW I've been sticking foam under the trem springs for years...it's a MUST if you're in a high gain situation.

[Tiny Hill]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I have my first hard tail Strat and think it is great. Having those tremelo aprings in the body of a guitar adds a non-musical, out of tune resonance and I perceive no good use for that.

[ehdwuld]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

Hardtail doesn't pull notes out of tune when bending

You dont get that cool flutter when you shake the guitar

The bar isn't always in the way

[Clint 55]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

Hardtail is less jangley.

[JamesPaul]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I am not sure. I do not have a hardtail Strat, but in a recent comparison of my new hardtail Player Series Lead III, my hardtail '81 Lead II and my Kahler'd '62 RI Strat I think my Lead II is more jangley than my RI Strat. Before I choose sides I need to bust out my backup MIM Strat I am trying to sell and hear how the Fender trem compares.

[Mincer]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I use a trem a lot, so I've never directly compared them. However, half of my guitars don't have a trem, and they sound great. I don't know if you could compare it unless you did a before/after recording after installing a trem.

[GuitarStv]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I like the noise that you get from trem springs.

[dr.barlo]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I agree with what was said before.

BUT remember that Clapton's Brownie was a hardtail strat. That guitar, I think, is one of the best sounding strats I have ever heard. The first song on the derek and the dominoes called I looked away is one of my all time favorites.

B

Damn!



This is wrong. Yeah, he had a hardtail that he was using for slide, but not brownie...

What was I thinking!

B

[The_Junior]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

I have one of each. Each is alder-bodied with the pickups in my signature.

My Fender California Strat has the tremelo locked down and a maple/maple neck. As a rule it always sounds super thin and twangy. Even the super distortion with it's wall of lows and low-mids twangs out big-time when i play this thing. Not necessarily a bad thing because I like how obnoxious it can be with the single coils...twang-snap-twangedy snap snap

My Warmoth is hardtail with a rosewood/maple neck. This thing has a lot more low-end and mids than the Fender does naturally. It's also a lot louder acoustically and sustains far more. The tuning is rock-solid unless i hit something with the headstock (happens more often than you'd think haha) and it's definitely my dream guitar.

I think the "tone the springs add" is just more twang and thinness to an already twangy and thin-sounding guitar. More wood means more vibration means a bigger sound so...hopefully that helps.

-X

And if the OP can't locate a hardtail guitar, maybe installing a block of wood inside the trem cavity might produce a similar effect since there would be more surface contact between the bridge/body than the studs and springs would provide.

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

Addendum to what I wrote 15 years ago. I still have the hard tail strat, but I used it to create a Alan Holdsworth replica Charvel as a tribute after he passed a couple years ago. This strat had a basswood body. So I routed it for a vintage style trem and installed a vintage six point trem with an aluminum block, and changed it to a single hum configuration, while installing a Charvel ebony fretboard neck. I think it sounds way better, but admit that more than one thing was changed at a time.

I have generally decided I prefer trem equipped strats even if I don't use the trem much on that particular guitar.

My PRS has a trem but I use it as a hard tail. I experimented with installing a wood block. It didn't add any more sustain but it did change the tone by adding mids. It was the JB, Vintage 30, range of mids though.

[Mincer]

Re: Hardtail Strat v.s. Tremolo Strat: Difference?

Addendum to what I wrote 15 years ago. I still have the hard tail strat, but I used it to create a Alan Holdsworth replica Charvel as a tribute after he passed a couple years ago. This strat had a basswood body. So I routed it for a vintage style trem and installed a vintage six point trem with an aluminum block, and changed it to a single hum configuration, while installing a Charvel ebony fretboard neck. I think it sounds way better, but admit that more than one thing was changed at a time.

I have generally decided I prefer trem equipped strats even if I don't use the trem much on that particular guitar.

My PRS has a trem but I use it as a hard tail. I experimented with installing a wood block. It didn't add any more sustain but it did change the tone by adding mids. It was the JB, Vintage 30, range of mids though.

What pickups were in your Holdsworth tribute?