planetarian

I bought the LTD MH-1007ET (which has an Evertune bridge) a couple months ago and I'm pretty fond of it. The bridge keeping strings in tune isn't really anything to write home about, as that's more an issue of convenience than anything, but it also has a few positive effects on the general playability of the instrument which may be of value. First off, when you pluck a string it helps tame the initial pitch jump (where the string briefly goes sharp before settling back down), since the saddle compensates for the string stretching (if you have it tuned at the very edge of the upper range of the 'active' zone, and unplug your guitar, you can actually hear the saddle 'buzzing' against the bend stop while it does this). This is most noticeable for those who tend to hit their strings pretty hard, and/or use very low tunings. It also helps keep the higher frets more in tune, preventing the sharpness and dissonance that comes from applying too much pressure or accidentally bending strings a bit. The fact that each string is handled independently from all the others is a nice bonus. If a string breaks, it doesn't affect the pitch of any of the others. You can also customize the zone setting for each string, so you can use the midrange of the active zone for low strings (giving them optimal pitch stability and completely eliminating bending, accidental or not), while setting the higher strings closer to the top edge of the active zone for bending. Supposedly the evertune's tension compensation has a slight reduction effect on the guitar's sustain, and if that ends up being a real issue it's always possible to tune individual saddles lower and bringing the strings above the zone to disable the evertune entirely for specific (e.g. high E) strings, while leaving it engaged for the others. I can't personally say I've noticed any lack of sustain on my MH-1007, but my playing style isn't one where I'd have much opportunity to, so take that with a grain of salt. Of course, some of the effects it addresses could also be handled by changing technique or instrument setup (e.g. putting more effort into precise fretting, strumming/picking lighter), but overall I'd say it offers a net positive effect. There are still reasons people might not want it, for example folks concerned about the routing that has to be done to install one, or folks who are super concerned about whatever effect it might be having on sustain or tone, or simply can't weigh the (subjectively) minor benefits against whatever added cost it might have on the guitar. I'd say for anyone interested but skeptical, try to find one to try out and see what you think, though they're rare enough that i also realize that would be rather...difficult for most.