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From DDL Wiki

The following is a user survey that we used to identify problems with guitars as seen by the musicians who play them. We specifically requested input on the guitar bridge, but also left room for comments on any other aspect of guitar use.

Survey Questions

1. How long have you played the guitar?

2. Have you ever played a guitar with a tremolo bridge (aka vibrato/fender/Floyd Rose)?

3. What did you like about the bridge?

4. What didn't you like?

5. Comments?

Survey Responses

1. Played for 21 years

2. Have used a tremolo bridge (early Floyd Rose)

3. Didn't like it too much (It was on my first guitar LOL)

4. I found it made the guitar go out of tune fairly easily.

5. Don't know how much help this can be. I'm sure tremolo technology has improved greatly in the last 2 decades (I feel old). I guess you just have to consider how much you'll actually use it. What kind of music will you be playing?? If you do decide on a tremolo, make sure you have a locking nut on the top of the neck. It helps keep the strings in tune. Although my guitar had a locking nut, I know some guitars are sold with a tremolo but without a locking nut and those really suck to keep in tune.

1. 4 years

2. yes, I had an ibanez

3. I didn't need to retune before performances, diving made easier, cool sounds.

4. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't play in drop D or drop C without a long period of tuning. Especially when switching between songs.

1. 4 years

2. Yes

3. Nifty, changed tone

4. Harder to stay in tune

5. Friction between the thumb and neck is a problem (hand chalk is not a real option)

1. 6-7 months

2. No

3.

4. Hard to restring guitar

5. More digital and less analog would be nice/ computer enhanced sound

1. No clue… I guess I’ve played it somewhat seriously for ~2 years, where somewhat seriously means anything from a few hours a day of fooling around to once a month.

2. Yeah

3. No clue. But it made cool sounds

4. Didn’t know they have variations.. once again, no clue.

1. Maybe about 3-4 years

2. Oh the whammy bar? Yeah.

3. It creates a number of interesting sounds and textures that you wouldn’t normally be able to get, it allows for more versatile playing.

4. Makes the guitar go out of tune really quickly if used.

1. About 8 years

2. Yes, I have played several. A Fender Stratocaster with a Fender Tremolo, an Ibanez RG with a Floyd Rose, and a Les Paul with a Bigsby

3. The Fender – Stays in tune relatively well, compared to other bridges.

  The Floyd Rose – Allows me to get much more extreme sounds, doesn’t feel like it is going to break every time I use it.

  The Bigsby – Nice sound.

4. The Fender – Feels fragile, hard to push down. Doesn’t allow for extreme tone changes. Doesn’t stay in tune well.

  The Floyd Rose – String changes take forever. Hard to tune. Doesn’t stay in tune well.

  Bigsby – Doesn’t allow for large tune changes. Doesn’t stay in tune. In the way.

1. About 2 and a half years. Probably 3

2. Yes

3. I liked the ease and manipulation of the sound. Manual use made apt of creative opportunities

4. The handle got in the way of high fret play. Went out of tune comparatively quicker.

5. Strata sound higher and bluesier compared to others such as my SG

1. 20+ years

2. Yes. Kahler and Floyd Rose and variants.

3. The ability to "divebomb" to seriously low notes, and (with floating trems) to be able to pull upwards to higher notes.

4. Difficult with Floyd-types to be able to palm-mute the strings without effecting the pitch somewhat. With locking nut setups, having to stretch and stretch the strings to get the tuning stable, and then to have to fine-tune once the nut was locked. Also, if you break a string, you can't really get one on very quickly

1. Approximately 1 year.

2. Yes, the guitar I own is a Yamaha Pacifica (Stratocaster copy) with a Fender-style vibrato bridge.

3. Having the vibrato bridge is cool, even though I don't make much use of it.

4. It can make the guitar difficult to tune, and if the spring tension isn't set properly, it can make the guitar go out of tune while playing.

1. 3 years, 10 months.

2. Yes, a Squier Stratocaster imitation.

3. It offered a different sound.

4. It was too difficult to use while playing with a pick, it seemed unnecessary most of the time, I can get a similar effect with a wah pedal without changing the pitch.

5. I removed the tremolo bar from the Squier and eventually sold it. I no longer use guitars with bridge tremolos, but I've heard good things about Bigsby and their subtlety.

1. about 5 years

2. yessir

3. good if you like the whammy bar, when you get it set up it takes forever to get out of tune

4. takes forever to get setup, cant change tunings. on the guitar i had with it after a year or so you couldnt do bends while holding other notes; the non-bended notes go flat (the bridge would move with bends instead of staying still)

5. if i were made of money id probably get a high-end guitar with one, but its not worth it if youre only going for one or two guitars as you cant change tunings and chances are it would be like my guitar where bends move the bridge (im sure higher end guitars dont have this problem)

1. 3 yrs

2. yes

3. ability to tighten/release strings (general function of floyd rose)

4. hard to detune (locking nut) and harder to palm mute compared to tune-o-matic bridge