Hey, I've owned my new Strat for a week now, and I've been playing around with a few things to make it sound even better. Initially I had issues keeping it in tune, but since I'm not into huge, sweeping trem blasts I threw 2 more springs on the trem and it added a little sustain, tone, and keeps it in tune a lot better.

I've been hearing a ton about Callahan trem blocks though. I have an 08 MIM Strat that I'm really pleased with, but I'm kind of intrigued by the Callahan piece. She already sounds fantastic, but I notice that sometimes the classic Strat highs and lows kind of die out quicker than I thought they would.

My question: does anyone have a Callahan trem block? How do they sound in an MIM? How do you like it? Do you think I should grab one?

I recently put 1 in my Highway 1 which has the Vintage trem. All I can say is wow. It definitly increased the sustain. Make sure you get the upgrade block with the new trem arm. Theres no more slop, the arm is nice and steady.

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2 Customized Strats w\DiMarzio's
07 SG
Modded DSL50 w\Mercury OT,PT & Choke
Carvin 2x12 V30's
Pitch Black Tuner-EH LPB-1,TS-808
Mxr 108 EQ-Modded Phase90
Carbon Copy
George L cables-Voodoo Power 2 Plus
Pedaltrain Board

a friend of mine blocked out the trem on a MIM then had a piece of wood made to fit the back cavity and had it glued in, the result is astounding, the guitar feels heavy because of the extra wood, use the neck pick up and you have a good les paul sound, but i think clapton has the right idea, i was reading my haynes manual on the stratocaster, that clapton reckons the guitar sounds better with the trem blocked with all the components like the springs and block left intact. i tend to agree because the MIM with the filled in rear cavity has lost a little of its edge, it sounds more like the robert cray signature MIM strat, more deep and gibson SG like. so beware, any mods that cant be reversed should be really thought about.

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12 guitars 2 hands not fair!

Hi bynapkinart: not at all against the idea of modding. But I'd want to play that guitar as it is for a goodly while first to see how I felt about its parts before considering switching anything.

Just give it a chance to speak to you before setting about changing its voice.

Lotta people like those Callaham blocks, though...

Good luck - C

I tried a callaham block on my MIM 60's but i eventually swapped the stock block back in because the callaham was too bright. I feel theres no magic in these blocks even tho a lot of what you read can lead you to believe that. just like pickups, no pickup is great, it's only great to those who like it. YMMV but if you do try one i suggest putting the old block back after a month or so because i thought it was better too at first. but things like this can be tricky, and often you find the real truth by going back to the old part. a good case in point would be the tung sol 12ax7 reissue tube i recently tried. I thought it sounded better. but after a few days i stuck the old tube back in a realized i was missing some important details.

I love the Callaham block, really improves the tone. Especially considering the MIM i put it on had a crap zinc block, which might as well be stone. If you havent gotten it setup yet, that would be the first move. Its been proven to me time and time again, a properly setup guitar, setup to the strings you're going to be using, really shouldnt need any special mods to keep it in tune. I can use the tremolo on mine for an hour with very little tuning problems.