There are two distinct divisions of Stratocaster bridges: Hard-tail and soft-tail.
Concerning the hard-tail style, there are two different ways of achieving a hard-tail bridge. The first way is rarely seen on Stratocasters, with the only instance of it I know of is the Robert Cray Signature Strat, in which there is no tremolo unit at all. In this case, the bridge setup more closely resembles a Telecaster than a typical Strat, with no tremolo routing, and therefore no trem block, or trem cover. The only thing on the back of these Strats are 6 small holes for your string bullets.
More common is the Clapton-style hard tail bridge, which can be applied to any standard soft-tail Strat. Clapton’s Stratocasters have a standard tremolo unit installed, which is blocked off so that it doesn’t pivot or move at all. This style keeps the tremolo from functioning if you prefer not to use the whammy bar, while preserving the je ne sais quoi that the tremolo assembly adds to the Strat’s tone.
As for soft tail bridges, there are also two distinct types: locking and non-locking. Non-locking bridges are the standard for Stratocasters, although some are equipped with the Floyd Rose locking bridge. Locking bridges feature fine tuners on the bridge saddles, and commonly feature a locking nut at the headstock.
In order to check out the guts of your Stratocaster bridge assembly, you’ll need to remove the rear tremolo cover (that plastic plate which you feed your strings through when restringing your axe). Removing it is as simple as removing the six screws around the perimeter, although you will want to be careful when replacing it (if you replace it at all that is). Do not over tighten these screws when putting the cover back on, as you’ll chip the finish like the previous owner of my Mexican Strat did.
The whammy bar is what allows you to actually utilize the tremolo on your guitar. By screwing it into the hole on the bottom side of your bridge (top if it’s lefty-style), it provides the leverage needed to change the string tension, and therefore, pitch. Pressing the whammy bar toward the strings lowers the pitch, while pulling it away from the string raises the pitch.
Concerning Squier guitars, the bridge uses a different sized whammy bar, which is slightly larger than that for the Vintage style bridges found on Mexican and American Stratocasters. Therefore, your whammy bars will not be interchangeable, and I’d recommend moving up to a Vintage style bridge when doing your hot rodding on a Squier.
The ’saddles’ on your bridge set the string length and height. More on adjusting these later. Underneath the saddles are screws which connect the bridge to the tremolo block, the grey hunk of metal on the underside which you feed your strings through, and which your tremolo springs attach to.
Your bridge may be either a ‘2-point’ bridge or a ‘6-point’ bridge, the distinction being the number of screws which attach it to the body just in front of the saddles. While 6-point bridges have a screw under each string, the 2-point bridge has only one under each E string.
This whammy function of the tremolo is made possible by the springs in the rear tremolo cavity, balancing the tension supplied by the strings on the top side of the assembly.Most Stratocaster comes with 3 springs by default. These 3 springs can be arranged in either a trapeze pattern, or straight line pattern. I’ve found no functional differences between the two myself, though friends claim that the trapeze pattern provides more stability.
Using only 3 springs will free up your tremolo a bit, requiring less force to bend notes with the whammy bar. However, 3-sprint arrangements allow the bridge to move more freely when doing a traditional string bend, so that all non-bent notes will be slightly detuned by the action of the bend.
By using 5 springs, I reduce the detuning of my non-bent strings when I bend a note, with the trade off being a little more force required on the whammy bar.
When moving up to heavier strings (i.e. to achieve that SRV tone), you increase the tension on the top side of the tremolo setup. In order to balance this, you may need to either add more springs to the tremolo, or tighten the trem-claw screws.
The trem claw is the metal plate in the rear tremolo cavity which is attached to the top of the cavity by two screws, and holds all of the springs in your tremolo setup. Tightening these two top screws so that the claw is closer to the top of the body will place more tension on the bottom-side of your tremolo setup if you don’t want to add more springs (or are already using all 5).
The distribution of tension on tremolo setup determines if your bridge will ‘float’ or lay flush against the body. A floating bridge will give you the ability to bend notes up with the whammy bar, while keeping the bridge flush against the body will give you a greater downward range by sacrificing the ability to bend up.
This post is tagged bridge, Bridge Saddles, Electric Guitar Strings, Fender Stratocaster, Hard-tail, Setup, Soft-tail, spring tension, string tension, Tremolo, Tremolo Springs, Whammy bar
Great post!!
[...] Anatomy of the Stratocaster Bridge & Tremolo [...]
Super write-up, and thanks for the information! Is replacing a 6-point bridge with a 2-point bridge a fairly easy task, or do the holes from the 6 point interfere with the new configuration of the 2 point?
Thanks!
Sadly, the two holes from the 2-point bridge do not align with the outer two holes from the vintage style 6-point bridge, making the transition difficult if not damn near impossible.
Thanks for the info! What if 2 new holes were drilled into the body for the 2-point bridge? Would there be enough distance from the outer holes on the 6-point to work, or would the holes be too close together, cutting into each other, and create a problem for putting in the screws?
Thanks again!
I’m pretty sure the 2 new holes would overlap with the two outer holes of the vintage style, meaning that the only way a switch would work is if you filled the old holes some how.
hey, i appreciate this… does anyone know how hendrix had his tremolo set up?
5 springs for sure, and I believe it was set flush to the body.
Thanks for the Very Important Info!! …
maybe you can answer this question: there are two screws in the back pulling the springs, right?. waht is the ballance between those two? (should they be setup parallal? or the bass side has to have more tension than treble? or maybe somthing else?)
thanks!
Great question! As far as I know, yes, they should be balanced with equal tension on both sides. I think that any extra tension required on the bass side is supplied by the springs.
I just picked up a mexi strat for my first electric, and it has no whammy bar. The hole is there, so I would assume it is ready to recieve one. Are all strat whammy bars the same? If not, what would I be looking for to identify what kind of bar I am needing. As far as the camera goes, I just scored a 4 mega pixel off ebay for 11.00 after shipping. Try keeping your eye out there for a while.
Thanks! I just came home with some “Not Even Slinky” to find that they pulled the whammy bar as far forward as it would go!! A few turns on the two screws inside have straightened everything up again though (c:=
Hey I just got a strat, the bridge is set up to float and it has 3 springs, I like the floating setup except that when I bend strings the rest of them detune as you said, I put on five springs to try to stop this but that pulled the bridge flush to the body and I don’t want this, I take it I have to loosen the screws in the back but how much can you loosen them before they come out? Is it possible to achieve a slighty floating setup with five strings or do I just have to deal with the detuning?
I completely dismanteled a my Strat (mexican), since I’m lefty, I own many strat for many purpose.
The Purpose first was to understand the tremolo system.
So basicaly the all the 3 spring have equal tension, unless you change the original string.
I have a USA Strat that have only 2 Screw, so it is faster to adjust the tremolo with 2 srew tan six.
SRV used a six screws tremolo with only 2 screw on the Low and high E. It was done with heavy string gauge. And nothing broke with hard attach and big bend so two screw is enought.
And again faster to adjust.
But for the cosmetic, some peoples keep the remaining 4 screw but oversize the holes, this way the srew and the tremolo don’t interfere or touch each other, It’s just for the look.
On the Pivo (place were the trem touch the body (where it rock), you can had some vaseline to smooth the action, I found that lipstick or other wax tend to dry fast and be useless quickly.
Hope that it will help you.
Myu first language is french….
hi,
i want to trim out cut out some of the wood from where my unit floats so i can use heavier strings with my very sensitive float arrangement. you have probably heard of doing this?
i need instructions.
Hi, do you know what kind of metal is used for the trem block???….stainless steel or only painted….I want to replace and make my own trem….making the piece….
Thanks!
what are the pros and cons of the 2 point bridge vs. the six screw…thank you, and your web site is an unbelievable recourse. I am thrilled i found it..