The Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster  and the American Standard Stratocaster both feature a 2-point synchronized tremolo bridge. This is an upgrade from the 6-point vintage style tremolo bridge used on the Standard Stratocaster and the American Vintage Stratocaster. Fender has been using the 2-point synchronized tremolo since 1986. It is similar in design to the Floyd Rose 2-point locking tremolo although it doesn’t lock the strings like the Floyd Rose. There are some big advantages in using the deluxe 2-point synchronized tremolo over the vintage style tremolo or even the Floyd Rose locking tremolo.

The biggest advantage of the 2-point synchronized tremolo is tuning stability. It’s obvious that the fewer friction points you have on your floating bridge the better it will stay in tune. So removing 4 of the mounting points present in the vintage style tremolo reduces the number of friction points by that same amount. Floyd Rose developed the 2-point tremolo for the very simple reason of increasing tuning stability. Fender, taking a cue from the Floyd Rose,  uses a knife-edge design for the two pivot points that rock on the two studs mounted into the body. I always lube these two pivot points with a shot of Big Bends Nut Sauce to reduce the friction even farther and it makes the pivots silky smooth.

Another big advantage of the deluxe 2-point tremolo versus the vintage style tremolo is the solid steel string block saddles that the strings rest on. I much prefer them to the bent steel saddles present on the vintage tremolo unit. I like the solid block saddles because of their more massive feel which I believe gives the string better sustain.

Speaking of sustain, the deluxe 2-point tremolo also features a solid block of metal to increase the sustain of the strings. It also helps to counterbalance the pull of the strings against the pull of the tremolo springs.  The 2010 American Deluxe Stratocaster features a pop-in tremolo arm that mounts in this tremolo block. There are adjustment screws on the tremolo block that adjust how easy or hard to make the tremolo arm pop-in as well as how easy or hard it is to swing the tremolo arm out of the way.

As for the Fender Deluxe 2-point tremolo’s advantage over the Floyd Rose locking tremolo. I personally don’t like to have to clip my strings and bother with locking them in place every time I change the strings on my guitar which is what I have to do on my Floyd Rose equipped guitars. The Fender deluxe 2-point tremolo has a string-through design that lets you simply pull your string through the tremolo block and up over the bridge saddles when stringing the guitar. It makes the process a lot easier and a lot faster. Tuning stability isn’t quite as good as the Floyd Rose locking trem but it is plenty stable for every type of tremolo style except dive bombing.

As I mentioned before I use Big Bends Nut Sauce on the pivot points. I also use the lube on all the bridge saddles as well as the slots in the nut that the string slide through. Finally I put a little nut sauce on the string tree and my American Deluxe Stratocaster stays perfectly in tune even with the occasional dive-bomb on the tremolo. I’ve been very happy with Fender’s deluxe 2-point tremolo system over the years and I highly recommend it.