But of course, there's that little problem that plagues us all - other people! Particularly, gear snobs, and their strange ideas regarding gear that were based in a time of limited information, limited scientific focus on the how and the why regarding guitar, and rockstars lying about what they did to hide their *trade secrets*. Truth is, none of these units are bad, and they all have their ups and downs, but let's talk about ALL of these trem units in one big pot - because they all have the SAME distinct enemies: friction, and expansion/contraction of the metal strings.

Friction is kind of like Paper Wasps when it comes to trem systems, they tend to stay away on a system that's very active, but let it sit and kind of like staying in your house and never going out into the lawn once in awhile, all sorts of things are hanging off the eaves of your house to sting ya - including tuning instabilities due to friction - it's like a wasp infestation.

Friction is caused when two surfaces that are not completley smooth or are not properly milled to proper tolerances, or not designed to reduce friction at the onset, are doing some "heavy lifting". A Tremolo or "Whammy" or "Vibrato" unit has one of the hardest, most mechanically demanding jobs on a guitar - taking six metal strings tuned most likely to A440 concert pitch, with a force equaling 75-250LBS to hold all six of em' at pitch - and attaches one end of them to this metal doohickey that has to counteract that tension with a spring or a few - and balances on some kind of knife edge, some huge metal thingamabobber that allows it to pivot, or six basic b**** wood screws.

But even without it - the guitar still has friction sources - the bridge saddles themselves can be (the whole point as to why all Fender Offset trem designs save for the bronco involved a bridge that moved with the strings),