Yes, all the screws are flush. Remember this was set up by an authorized Fender dealer. So, they know their stuff, so do I. I gave up trying to fix the problem, and had them set up it up. But, it's still has the same problem. I usually set up my own stuff, and never have any problems. But, this is baffling to me.

I had the bridge assembly apart right down to the screws, I checked the block, bridge plate, and saddles for burrs. I gave any suspecting burrs a light filing and sanding, anywhere a string touched metal a light filing with a fine jeweler's file.

Fred Garvin...male prostitute!

Unfortunately, the trusses are fine.

It's the guitar I have a problem with.

Man, this is getting tough, but did you lube the pivot points? Did you retighten the trem clam some more? Metal does fatigue and maybe it is not as tight as it once was?

_________________
Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

Yes, I've tightened down the claw. I've lubed the pivot points with 3 in 1 oil, I've also tried chapstick and parrafin wax to no avail.

Yes, it is a tough one. I never asked advice on such a thing because I've never had a problem ever! I love my Strats. But this one has got me stumped.

I'm going to look at the nut again tommorrow and reseat it. I think that's where the problem is. The original nut had a buzz on the open b string, it was rattling on the first fret, so, I replaced it. Obviously, there's a problem there methinks.

I forgot to mention that the other guitars I have have the bridges floating and they always come back to pitch after any extreme string bends.

How many winds are you putting on the tuner posts? A rule of thumb i use is to cut the string 3 finger spaces past the tuner its going to be wound onto. That gives a 1.5 winds on the low E and 4 winds on the high E. You need to keep the winds to a minimum.

I agree with firststrat its not the nut. Be carefull with those welding tip cleaners too, its quite easy to be too heavy handed with them and ruin the nut completely. Lubrication at the nut is the key at this stage not slot smoothing, that comes later when the problem is pinpointed. The best nut lube you will ever find is a sharp pencil tip rubbed around the slots. The grey colour isnt that appealing but it works.

Now onto the trem. In my experience a flat set trem never keeps pitch as well as a well balanced raised trem. The secret is to balance string tension and spring tension. Its worth searching google for the Carl Veheyen method of setting up a trem and giving that a shot if its not a wind onto tuners issue.

_________________
No no and no

Stop doing double string bends.

_________________
Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

I will continue to do double note bends and the like. I usually don't find that an issue.

Ok, I've checked out that cool video of Carl Verheyen's guitar 101. Which can be found at the bottom of the page at the following link.

http://www.gitaarnet.nl/magazine/worksh ... heyen.php3

After watching the video, it gave me a bunch of ideas. I'm also going to try graphite grease, and I'm going to float the bridge. I also put on some Ernie Ball strings which are made of good steel. Apparently, this makes a big difference, the quality of the strings. I also brought the guitar back to where I had it set up. They checked the nut and it's fine. He stated that the guitar was very new and needed to be broken in. This could also be the part of the problem, fatigue of the steel and such.

I want to thank everybody that have replied to the post.

I'm getting back to the guitar now to try some things and I'll keep everybody posted.

Thanks to all.

I've found some glaring problems with the 3 bolt assembly. Firstly, the plates used in the the neck and body were not flat. I noticed that when I put them on a flat surface they had a concave shape to them. I thought they were supposed to be flat? So, I flattened them with a 5 pound sledge to take the wobble out of them. Secondly, I noticed that one of the screw holes that held the plate in the body was stripped, so I had to fill it in and fix that too. I'm waiting for the hole to dry and I'll mount the assembly tommorrow. The neck pocket is tight, thankfully. I also ordered a steel block for the tremolo, as methinks the zinc one in there isn't the greatest.

Has anyone else had such a problem with a three bolt system?

Also, if this is to be the newly improved version, where are the improvements in the design? It looks like most 70's 3-bolt assemblies from the past?

First of all I'm not insinuating that YOUR guitar is cheap so PLEASE don't take it that way

It has been my experience though that some cheaper tremolo equipped guitars just do that with the bridge plate flush to the body without blocking it. If your intonation is correct, all of your saddle screws are balanced on both sides and your bridge isn't mounted in some God awful angle then raising the bridge up to float 1/8" has been the only way I've successfully dealt with guitars with this personality problem. I know that's not what you want but it seems to me you've tried everything short of routing out your guitar and installing a Floyd Rose. So maybe floating might fix it. Worth a try if you haven't already. Lot's of luck!

_________________
"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll meet you on the next one and don't be late... don't be late." -Jimi Hendrix

Well, you've had alot of suggestions and tried alot of things to no avail. If the problem gets too much to handle send the Strat to me... I'll take it.