I have a MIM Strat that, overall, I like and use as my main guitar. I have two areas where I am looking for upgrade recommendations. First, the tuners seem to be subpar and the guitar goes out of tune a little too often for my taste. I am not sure that the tuners are causing the tuning issue, but maybe others have had a similar experience. What would be good replacement tuners?

Second, when I lower the volume on the guitar I lose all treble and the tone is basically unusable. I love to ride the volume control, but can't do it with this current setup. Is there a mod to fix this problem. I have noiseless pickups and like the sound, so I am not looking to swap them out.

Thanks.

Do you have the Vintage Fender/Ping tuning machines (slot across the top and hole down through the middle)? Mine seem to stay in tune fairly well using the D'Addario 9's that I have on right now. A change in temperature bothers the most... more than playing. Once I tune it to play I rarely have to touch it unless I've been standing on the whammy bar or strumming vigorously.

_________________
You're only as strong as
the drinks you pour,
the tables you dance on,
and the friends you roll with.

Hi ndem welcome to Fenderdom,I have 2 MIM Strats and have none of the problems you have ,one has the regular tuners and the other has the old split post Kluson style.Do you stretch your strings as you put them on and tune for the 1st time?That's the secret to prevent tuning problems also the strings could be binding in the nut string tees or bridge which could cause tuning problems that could be solved by using graphite or string lube at these contact points.Maybe you could change your pots for CTS or some other brand with the same value pot.I don't have the pot problems either. I hope these suggestions help.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I'd recommend getting locking tuners! As for the tone control mod, I think if you just explain to your local luthier, he/she could install a better potentiometer...which is not too expensive.
Good Luck!

Thanks to all for the replies.

Treble bleed?

I have heard the term "treble bleed", and I assume that is what I am experiencing. Not really sure what it means though.

http://www.bestguitarparts.com/guitar-p ... acitor.htm


I believe this goes on the volume pot along with the other cap.... not 100% sure

Don't blame the tuners so fast.

You need to do a bunch of research and learn how to set up and use the tremolo, lube the nut, ect.,.

Welcome to the Stat world !

Give it a chance and be patient, it will work out great for you !

95% of all tuning issues is the result of a poorly cut nut. As was mentioned before, strings, especially the wound ones will bind in a nut slot that is cut too narrow and also in the wrong angle. MIM are notorius for that because for their price point you're not getting a custom shop luthier who is sweating over that. Those nuts are pre cut. If you change string gauge then that also effects the nut because the nut comes from the factory with most likely 9's. Take the guitar to a good luthier who can properly cut that nut for probably 25 bucks or less depending on where you live.

I agree that the tuners are most not likely to be the blame here. You can upgrade and buy better tuners or even locking tuners which will make changing strings easier and maybe give you some peace of mind with the strings locked down. Fender MIM sealed tuners are decent quality and will hold the tune properly once everything else is set up correctly. Just don't expect that your guitar's wood won't move somewhat and thus take you slightly out of tune. Your environment will dictate how much your wood will "move".

Also, and I don't want to hijack this post to start another discussion about string, "stretching", but the act of pulling on the strings, does NOT stretch the wire itself. What it does is help seat the windings around the post. The small amount of pressure that your flesh and bone will exert on a steel wire is nothing compared to the amount of pressure already put on those strings by being tightened around the tuning posts. Locking tuners eliminates that play in wrapping the strings properly around the post in order to get a solid wrap. (BB King, uses every bit of each string and doesn't !@$ any of it off, in order to keep that winding as tight as possible)

MIM electronics are not of the same quality as the USA Strats. That said, it doesn't mean they sound bad. Some of my MIM Strats are my favorites. But its clear that you have something going on there and pots can go bad or they can get dirty. Because they are cheap, I'd replace them. But if you don't know your way around a soldering iron that may be challenging for you. A decent shop shouldn't rip you because it's really not that time consuming. But if money is a bigger concern (as it is for most of us) then you can get some contact cleaner and try to clean the pot to see if there is some dust in there. (I'm guessing from what you said, that's not the problem) A replacement pot is about 6 bucks. If you have a three single Strat you buy a 250K pot.

You can purchase a new wiring assembly with quality pots, cloth covered wires, orange drop cap and a volume mod for about 65 bucks. Check out mojo guitar works for nicely made assemblies. If you like the tone, re use the pups. I will tell you that you're sound will improve with a change over to those higher quality electronics. Plus you can add the Blender Assembly that will allow you to blend your bridge and neck pick or have all three pups on at the same time. Good times !

MIM's have CTS pots.............


..............cheap ??

They are fine.

If your'e having trouble with your tone when you turn your
volume down you need a treble bleed capicitor installed on the volume pot.
I had tuning issues too - solved with locking tuners. These are also great
if you use the trem arm alot.

I had a tech fix the volume control problem. I have no technical knowledge on these issues, but I think he was surprised to find a (1 meg pot?) and he installed a 250k pot, which he said was standard for single coils. We were considering a 500k pot, but the 250k sounds fine. He also installed the treble bleed circuit you were referring to. It made a huge difference. It almost seems like a new guitar. A little brighter than I am used to, but I can compensate with the tone knobs. Before I kept all the controls on 10. Now I can get a lot more variation by adjusting all the controls. I am very happy with it now.

If you like the way it plays now, good...not really a problem but I wanted to point out that the Vintage Noiseless pickups do come with 1 meg pots...noiseless pickups are -not- ordinary single coils and 250k pots are -NOT- the "standard" for them. If your tech was "surprised" they were in there, you tech has apparently never worked with noiseless pickups before...I'd find a different tech because this shows a rather fair degree of inexperience on his/her part. Find someone who actually knows what the devil they are doing.

As far as the tuners/tuning issues go, I'd have to reiterate what others have said here...those MIM standard tuners are very decent...nothing sub-par about them. I have 2 MIM's, a '96 and an '03. I've never had a problem with the '96 but yes, the '03 has -1- bad tuner...you can feel the "slop" as you turn it. With these types of tuners if you have a bad one you won't have to guess...you'll know. That said, to have 6 bad tuners is really unlikely.

As others have already said, most tuning issues with a Strat are usually due to the setup. I've played guitars in my time that were "professionally setup" that were simply unplayable because the so-called professional at the guitar store was really just some yabbawatz kid who really didn't know crap. If you've changed string gauges (say went from .009's to .010's or larger) having the nut properly filed will certainly make a difference and a poorly setup bridge will certainly affect the tuning as well (particularly in regards to intonation). That said, the truth is a great many people simply don't know how to properly change their own strings. The way you wind the strings on the tuners can make a HUGE difference in regards to tuning stability. As Chicagoblue stated, making sure the strings are properly seated also makes a big difference. I could certainly be wrong here but I'd venture to guess that one of the big reasons some people swear by locking tuners is simply because they didn't know how to wind their strings to begin with...and the locking tuners eliminates that issue. They use the locking tuners and the problem "goes away" so it must have been the tuners and not them, right? Right..........

The truth of the matter is that I've owned and played some really inexpensive guitars such as Squier Bullets (not to mention a couple of Lotus and Memphis copies) with -really- cheap chrome covered tuners and with a proper setup, they can hold their tuning very well. I've also played some otherwise very nice instruments that were very badly setup that just were not even playable...including a used American Standard back around the holidays...gads that thing was awful! Bad setup, mis-wired pickups...played and sounded like a complete piece of trash.

Seriously, if you don't know how to do your own setups, find a good tech that actually -knows- what he(she) is doing...a proper setup on a Strat makes all the difference in the world.

Just my $.02 worth,
Jim

Thank you for your comprehensive reply. The person who worked on the volume pot problem was a Fender authorized representative, so I assume he has some idea of what he is doing. I did not tell him that the guitar had noiseless pickups. I bought the guitar second hand and I recall the seller told me he installed noiseless pickups.

I don't understand these noiseless pickups. Are these not single coils? I wonder why the 1 meg pot sounded so bad when I turned the volume down. Maybe it was just a bad 1 meg pot that should have been replaced. Like I said, it sounds good now, so I will just leave it.

The tuning issue is not that big of problem. Its not a problem on all tuners, but it seems like a recurring issue on the high b and e strings. I have had the guitar set up professionally (not by the same guy that worked on the volume pot). However, I am not sure that the tuners are causing the tuning problem.