About to give up on my strat.....a bit long, sorry...

[WRGKMC]

If you're talking about the screws that go into the block then yes those should be tight. Theres only three of those I believe though

 

If you're talking about the fulcrum screws where theres 6 going into the body, those should not be tightened down.

 

With a floating tailpiece they are supposed to be loose. They normally stick up about a milimeter or two.

 

You have to have the bridge flush with the body to adjust those fulcrum screws down to the metal and stop and back off a hair when they just start to get tight. You never tighten them completely down.

 

Loosen the strings so the bridge lays on the body, loosen all screws, then take them down til they just touch the metal and then back off 1/8 or a turn. Thats it, leave them alone from there on cause they have no sonic affect on the tone. If you want more sustain, wang the springs down so the bridge is against the body. Then redo the height and intonation. This will give you more sustain and less tuning issues. You will still be able to whammy down, just not up. You can usually do it with two springs and the claw maxed down, if not adding a third spring if it doesnt have one will do the trick. It all depends on the block length and position.

[Jarick]

I've always heard (and done) where you tighten down all six screws and then back out the middle four a bit, so it pivots on the outer two like a modern tremolo.

 

Also, do you have fresh strings on the guitar? That effects sustain. How's the nut? Have you removed the neck and checked the pocket to make sure it's clean and a good fit? Another trick is to loosen the neck bolts slightly, tune up, and then re-tightened, sometimes that can shift the alignment and get stuff going.

 

Personally I couldn't bond with my Strat but got a Musicman Sterling guitar (cheap import) which has a different bridge and it ROCKS. I don't know if it's the higher mass bridge (not the block, but the bridge has a lot of metal) or if it's modern (2-point), or what's going on but it has a lot of sustain and balls, like halfway between a Strat and a Les Paul.

 

Also how high up is the back of the bridge floating? Are the trem springs tightened a lot? How many are you running? If you hit an open string and then bend another string, can you hear the open string detune in pitch? Adding springs and tightening it down seems to help get a bit stronger sound too.

[smorgdonkey]

 

Swapping pickups sometimes you have poles that dont match the string spacing and that can suck the life out of string tone.

 

 

I have never found this to be true. The magnetic field is large enough that it is typically an issue so infrequently that most will say that it is never an issue.

[PrawnHeed]

New strings

[BIGD]

I do the neck bolt thing every string change.

 

The trem block has small stacks of pennies on both sides effectively blocking it. When I bend a string, others aren't effected.

 

I'm sure that got eyes rolling, but I've used all types of objects to block trems back to my teenage 80's floyd Rose days (I always made it so that the trem could only dive, not be bent up)..wood, metal, plastic..they all pretty much have the same result. I actually think the lightest smallest thing you can put down there..in other words that leaves the trem block to act as close to "floating" as you can...achieves the best tone..which is why I'm thinking of getting a trem stop because that leaves the trem block to vibrate freely.