ok, could use some advice here... a little background first, for the past 10 years or so I've been playing my favorite guitar, an '89 blonde 335. I believe the 80s 335s have the slim 60s neck, the best neck I've played on any guitar, very low action, effortless bends, it practically plays by itself let's not even get into the tone this thing produces..

It seems I'm having a hard time adapting back to playing a Strat, specially when it comes to bending, and I do a lot of it! 1 step, 1.5 step and sometimes even 2 full steps. The new Strat I'm having issues with is a 2010 Deluxe with the compound radius neck, which I thought would be better than the regular necks. The neck feels wonderful until I get into it and start bending the strings, around the 12th fret or higher. It just feels weird, bigger, uncomfortable, bends need a lot more effort and I can't seem to hit the notes I'm reaching for sometimes. Now let me also mention that my first Strat is a hardtail '79, neck feels smaller and bends are not as good as the 335 but much better than the Deluxe.

Is this a problem with the neck on the Deluxe or the tremolo itself? I have it set flush with the body but with only 3 springs that came with the guitar. I'm not much of tremolo player but I do use it lately when playing something like Lenny for example.

What do you suggest? I'd also like to get another Strat, maybe custom shop, and I'm trying to decide what neck size and radius to go with to get closer to the 335, if that's even possible. Maybe I'm just not much of a Strat player anymore

Lower the action as much as you can and 1/2 step down in tuning. Those two things helped me get passed the same problem you have...