guitars

My trem equipped guitars get a lot more play than my LP or tele.

I would say you're not going to get close to Van Halen territory with a squire generally, especially one that hasn't had a ton of attention paid to the nut, but my S type with a Gotoh 510 and Jazzmaster with the stock Fender system and a Graphtech XL nut and a Mastery bridge both stay in tune no matter how much shoegazing I do. Not VH dive bombs sure, but I'm not precious about it by any means.

I think if you're looking for crazy dive bombs you're going to be disappointed by most non locking systems, but for real just try some subtle warbling now and then, it's fun.

I would go for a hard tail so you have both. The hardtail will give you options for changing tuning faster. If you regret it later you can install a Bigsby style. And if you love it you there are products to block the floating bridge later too.

A tremolo can give a lot of versatility. Or you might never use it. It depends on your play and what you like.

Both of my electrics have tremolo bridges. I’m definitely in the market for a stop tail, though. Just for different stuff.

I have both types. Tremolos are nice due to the added expression, but they're not worth the hassle to me. Granted I play 7 string so more strings means more time spent trying to tune. Also Floyd Rose bridges take more time than normal trems, at least in my experience

I have twontrem equipped guitars: a PRS SE Custom 24 and a Vintage V6. Both stay in tune when I use the trem, the Vintage especially so. Having well lubed nuts and bridges really helps.

Jeff Beck

Squire without a tremolo is like a tuxedo without pants. There is some really good information out there on how to keep your Strat in tune, even with heavy dive bombing on the tone arm. Such as: https://myguitarlair.com/stratocaster-tremolo-setup/

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