I’m considering a second guitar and thinking of going for a hardtail. I have a squire with a tremolo currently, but never use it because it goes out of tune, and honestly in a few years of playing haven’t come across anything I’ve tried to play that requires it. I haven’t seen one used in a single tutorial video.
If you aren’t playing Van Halen, do they ever really get much use?
I would buy a decent Floyd Rose, but don’t know if the tuning would be a hassle. Or if I went hardtail would I regret it later?
Other than some rock, where are these really used?
I have a Floyd and absolutely love it, but it has pros and cons.
Cons:
Massive hassle to change setup; tuning changes or string guage changes are non-trivial. Once you get familiar with how it works it’s not too hard, but there’s a learning curve and it’s time consuming.
Changing strings is a hassle. You need wire cutters and Allen wrenches. If you stick with the same string guage it’s not too bad, but it’s definitely more work than a standard guitar.
Bridge itself is sensitive to touch. If you rest your hand on the bridge, it’ll throw the guitar out of tune.
Pros:
Dive bombs. Warbly weirdness. Wiggle sticks are great.
Insane tuning stability. This one reason is why I love the Floyd so much… it front loads all the hassle of tuning to the setup. When I pick up the guitar, it’s at most a pip or so off perfect, a quick tweak of the fine-tuners and I’m good to go for the night. I almost never have to re-tune while playing.
Floyds are pretty divisive, so weigh the benefits and drawbacks before you get one.