MojoFilter

I'm building it. -american deluxe or Wilkinson pop in tremolo (what do you reckon, I can't decide) If you're building it, I'd take a serious look into a Trem-King tremolo. I've seen them in action...they work as advertised.

I'd have to go with the Swiss Army Knife: It's not my best guitar, nor my worst, but it's by far the most versatile. HSS Floyd Rose Strat with the following mods: Original Floyd Rose replaces the cheap Ping-licensed Floyd Rose Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the humbucker slot, two Bill Lawrence noiseless L-200's in the middle & neck Coil split switch for the humbucker Volume wired with Treble Bleed kit Wired for master Tone control with a No-Load Tone Pot Blender Pot (for pseudo-Tele sounds) Tremel-No to turn the Floyd Rose into a hard-tail. D-Tuna added If I didn't need versatility? My Telecaster, no question about it.

Compression is not a crutch, to answer the OP. It's a tool, just like any other effect. Can it be misused? I don't think you need an answer for that one...