Hey guys..new member and just had a questions. I've owned many strats in he past 2 years and have this disease where i continuously sift through them. Mainly on the fact that i can never get sustain out of them. Without sacrificing pick ups (cuz i love the strat pick ups) is there any modz out there that will improve sustain? Toss me some input!!! im in the market for another strat and i wanna have some fun with this one.

THanks for looking!

-Ty

-"describe the tone of a strat..."
-"Idk...its like...poimpt...its got a poimpty tone ya know?"
-"...yeah...poimpt...got it"

Callaham steel block and saddles

Clapton Strat will sustain for days with the ability to go right back to classic Strat tones in an instant.

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Custom Shop '59 Strat with John Cruz Master Design Pickups
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Fulltone Clyde>Deja-Vibe>TS-808>TS-9>Boss Tuner

Welcome to the Forum.

5 springs, set the trem down on the deck and put in a wood block is one way.

Moving the pickups away from the strings will also increase sustain, but you will lose output.

Adding a sustainer pedal to your pedal board is another way.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Once the amp is loud enough the feedback loop between the pickups and speaker will give you all the sustain you want. Thats where it really is on all the recordings you hear. Anything else is a bandaid to try and get it w/o that FL happening. the only way at volumes too low to make that happen is adding more gain. guitar alterations do little really. try and play as close to the speaker as possible and that will help unless you are playing at TV volume levels, in which case it's a lost cause.

I agree. I tried a sustainer pedal and other mods and the only way to get that long sustain was at higher sound levels with our without the pedal/mods.

Sustainiac. Sustain as long as you like, days or weeks on open notes. You will lose the neck pickup though.
http://www.sustainiac.com/

Personaly i just turn the amp up and very mildly vibrate the trem

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No no and no

I had an MIM that I felt the same way about. Put 5 springs in, lowered the trem flat, locking tuners, and Graphtech saddles and Voila... it sounds like a shallow acoustic and has great sustain.

+2 -- Yeah, me too. The only difference with me is I went with Fender Am Dlx saddles and four springs.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

I use a Boss Compression Sustainer and thats a help. But once you start adding pedals your going to need a Noise Supressor also.

Well if you have a MIM Strat just take the 5 oz. bridge block out and put a 10 oz, Callaham block in and you will notice a difference.

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Great tips. I just have a couple questions. What kind of Graphtech saddles did you put in? Where can you buy springs? and finally, how do locking tuners help sustain(just wondering)?

jeffo is right, for MIM you need the narrower set. Here's a linkhttp://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar_tremolo_parts/String_Saver_Strat_Style_Saddles.html

Thats what I got. They also make the FerraGlide saddles that keep the metal look and a bit more metal sounding. The String Saver style (what I have) is a tad bit mellower in sound, not quite as metallic, if that makes any sense.

You can get springs at any guitar store. Just ask for tremolo springs for a strat.

As for the locking tuners and sustain- My guess is they have more mass and metal to them than the standard (junk i.m.h.o.) tuners. Maybe that allows them to ring more. I predominantly did it to fix tuning issues with my stock tuners.

However it works, the combination seems to do the trick. I had to bump up my saddle hight after lowering the trem' so don't freak out if you get fret buzz, just raise the saddles a little. Here is another tip from experience. If you change the saddles out yourself- count the turns as you take off the old saddles and screw the new ones on the same amount of turns. This will let you reset intonation alot faster. Ofcourse, I thought of that AFTER I took off the old saddles.


Good Luck!

It is doubtful that changing tuners would make any noticable change with regards to sustain. Also -- in my opinion -- the MIM Std tuners are of very reasonable quality, and not at all junk.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...