If I put 12's on my American Standard Stratocaster, will it hurt the guitar?

No, it won't hurt it. Just be sure to do a complete setup on it.

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

12's will hurt your hands before they hurt your Strat

Seriously though, a Strat can handle 12's but you will definately need to setup the guitar for them and tweek the truss rod, adjust the trem spring claw and/or add more springs, and reset intonation.

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You may have to widen the slots in your nut as well.

Hi Bob,

I have 12's on my Am Dlx and love it. Great sound! As previously mentioned, you need to do a set up.. thats a lot of pull on your neck and trem. Your fingers will toughen up after time.

Enjoy!

-Will

I used .12's for a while on my Squier Strat. I was also worried about the guitar, but nothing bad happened. It had to have a completely set up, and a new nut for it to work though. I also tuned to Eb Standard so that my fingers could handle it. The problem was that I tune to Eb a lot less often than I originally thought, and the guitar ended up sitting around the house most of the time since I couldn't play it with my band. So I returned to .11's. I didn't really have any major adjustments for that, the intonation was still prefect and even though the action lowered a bit with the lighter strings, it was still playable and it still felt really good.

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Thank you everyone for your comments.

I put a set of 12's on and did a setup. I installed a Graph Tech nut when I first got the guitar so the nut was not an issue. I did have to add the other 2 springs to keep the bridge flush though, so now I have all 5 springs on the guitar.

I am going to give it some time for me to get use to it now, and determine if I like it or not.

Thanks again.
Bob

SRV played with something like 13's! lenny and Number one lived to tell the tale though

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SRV also played the Bass at first so his fingers were use to that size string. I would think they`d feel like bridge cables at first and would take some getting use to.

I have a question...

If I decide to switch back to 10's can I keep all 5 tension springs in the bridge?

I keep the bridge flush and don't use the tremolo bar at all, so I figure having all 5 springs in would insure that the bridge always stays flush.

Would it hurt anything or effect the tone any?

Nah your ok to keep all 5 springs on and it doesnt affect tone one iota whether your bridge is floating, flat or blocked. You were wise not to mess with the nut. Nearly all modern electric guitars come with the nut cut for .012's. The idea that you need the nut re-cut for them is a fallacy started by techs who wanted to generate more work and consequently more pay for themselves.

How many times do you hear of anybody saying I'm dropping .012's and going back to .010's so I need my nut slots filling in a bit?

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No no and no

Actually at one time SRV played 15's!

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Chet Feathers

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

It may not hurt, but the tension on the truss rod will be a lot higher. Also, the nut slots might be too narrow and cause the strings to bind when tuning....

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Where did you hear that SRV played bass first? I have never heard that.

I know when he was young he used to go in and "use" Jimmie's guitar when he was gone. And Jimmie taught him how to play in the beginning.

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Chet Feathers

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

I think he wanted to play sax but gave up on it. Lucky for us