Hardtail vs. Trem tone differences?

[hbucker]

Never quite sure why "sustain" is such a Holy Grail....especially when all the current superguitarists appear to play 100 notes to the bar. How often does the length of time a note sustains for really make a big difference?
I concur with the bending thing, but then I guess people use the strengths & weaknesses of their guitar to their own advantage....Hank Marvin wouldn't be able to do half his stuff on a hard tail ....

I've thought this for a long time. Maybe a big part of what people say when they use the word "sustain" is partially "feel". I'm just guessing though. I don't see the point of saying, "this guitar is so much better than that one because it will sustain an open G for 50 seconds instead of 40." For me, that just never comes into play. And I don't even play 100 notes per bar... I hope you sustain guys don't think I'm slamming you. I'm just saying why it doesn't matter as much to me.

I honestly don't notice a difference tonally, or with sustain between my hardtail gutiars and my trem guitars. But to be fair, I hate floating trems and all of my trems are resting on the top of the guitar. So that might be the answer.

On paper, there seems like there would have to be a difference somehow. But in function, that difference starts to get diluted when it's filtered through: talent, cables, amps, effects, mics, and not to mention the sound guy's opinion of what a guitar should sound like.