Hi All,

So it is time for a string change and I plan to deck the bridge of my standar strat. I am doing this becasue I don't use the whammy for my style of playing and because it is my understanding that string bending will be a little more precise without the movement of the bridge. I do have a couple of questions though and after searching the forum I could not find a concise answer. I use light (9-42) Bullets on my guitar. My question is what is the best way to go about decking the bridge. I have been told a couple of ways to do it.

1. Screw the spring claw all the way in flush, put on 5 springs and Bob's your uncle your done.

2. Since I am using 9s, use only 3 springs and screw the claw in until the bridge is decked and just starts to rise while bending the low E half-way across the neck.

Any feedback on what would be considered "the proper" way to do this would be appreciated. Also, any feedback regarding just decking the bridge versus blocking it would also be good.

I play mainly blues but also a good amount of classic rock and country too and really like clean to slightly overdriven tone on my guitar.

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2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

I haven't found a concise answer either because both ways work. Option 2 is the easiest because you don't have to buy two extra springs, all you need is a screwdriver.

I don't like the feel of 5 springs since there is too much resistance for me when I push down on the trem arm. If you never use the trem arm, then what does it matter? Go for 5 springs if you want. You don't have to screw the claw all the way in. Just screw it in until the bridge is flush with the body. Sometimes you don't even need to screw the trem claw in if you add extra springs.

Blocking the trem is more intensive and involves shaping a piece of wood to fit between the trem block and wall of the trem cavity. This is the most stable way to keep the trem form moving. The Eric Clapton sig Strats come this way from the factory. This is the way I did it when I decked one of my Strats temporarily.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

Here's a helpfull tip... if you do decide to put on more springs put the hook end into the trem, get a small screwdriver and thread it through the eye at the other end of the spring. The put the tip of the screwdriver against the spring latch (?) on the claw. Lever the screw driver towards the neck until the spring is in place.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Yeah, defintely do that. When I got my strat I tried to "pull" the spring with the screwdriver. The spring slipped off and I got a nice deep scratch on the back of my guitar.

I used to deck my trem on all my Strats.

Loosen the strings. Turn the screws on the claw 3 full turns. Retune, see if the back of the bridge raises, if it does repeat until the back of the bridge does not move.
Tune the guitar.
Check the neck relief
Adjust the action (string height)
Intonate.
Re-adjust pickup height.

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Chet Feathers

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

I added two springs and that seemed sufficient, as the bridge was perfectly flush to the body after that. It seemed I didn't really need to adjust the claw, but I gave the screws a couple of turns anyway, just to be sure. But I certainly didn't need to screw the claw all the way down. It seems to be fine, I have no tuning or string bending issues at all.

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'08 Fender Am. Std. Jazz bass, maple fretboard, charcoal frost metallic finish
'10 Squier VM Jazz bass, maple fretboard, natural finish
Ampeg BA115
'09 MIM standard Strat, maple fretboard, sunburst finish
Fender Super Champ XD

I play the same style of music as you, and I deck my bridge, use my fingers for vibrato and use 9-46 strings (Ernie Ball Hybrid) and I have not screwed the claw all the way in, I run three springs and screwed the claw in far enough to deck the bridge. I can bend the B+E strings 1&1/2 steps up all day without the bridge lifting and the guitar stays in tune. I have no use for the whammy bar at all with the light gauge strings. and I can mute the bridge with the side of my hand, ( I picked up that habit on my first guitar, a Memphis Les Paul ) and I like to leave it there to mute when i need to as I do playing mostly Blues and Classic Rock. No Problems.

What Chet said.

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'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.

There's as many ways to do this as there are posters on the forum!

What I do is part of a total setup including lowering the bridge height screws so that the entire surface of the baseplate contacts the face of the body. Next, with the springs loosened, I add the extra springs (easy to do by hand when the claw is backed out some). After that, I will tighten the claw so that it sits about 1/2" from the front of the trem rout; no need to go further with 5 springs installed, that trem ain't going anywhere.

Finally, I adjust the neck angle and string height, pickup height and lastly I re-intonate the string saddles. In this manner, I have effectively neutralized the tremolo and this allows quick alternate tunings and softer bends without having to fight spring tension when bending notes.

There are pros and cons for decking vs. floating and this leads to a great excuse to have more than one strat! So, for the nth installment of how to deck your trem, this is Joel signing off.

Cheers!

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

If I may ask you all here....

It seems many here have deactivated there tremolos from working, even Eric Clapton does this (His is blocked) my question then is, why didn't you all just buy the hardtail version?

sure would be less to deal with and maintenance, and the string through the body sure would help sustain.

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Marriage is like playing cards...

At first all you want are Hearts and Diamonds.

But in the end, all you really want is a Club and a Spade.

Not much choice in hard tails these days. Robert Cray model, if they still offer it. A Tele seems like the only other choice, besides maybe a Custom Shop model ($$$). There is some sonic addition to the sound from the springs also. I think that Clapton said the same thing, he liked the sound of the trem version, with the trem locked down on the body, better than a hard tail. If he didn't say that, well......I just did.

+1
Pretty much that, hard-tail Strats are hard to come by, and a lot of folk say the tremelo assembly, whether or not you use it, is a major component to the tone that is associated with the Stratocaster.

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'08 Fender Am. Std. Jazz bass, maple fretboard, charcoal frost metallic finish
'10 Squier VM Jazz bass, maple fretboard, natural finish
Ampeg BA115
'09 MIM standard Strat, maple fretboard, sunburst finish
Fender Super Champ XD

On the decked vs hardtail thing I have my SRV strat decked and a '78 hardtail and I don't notice a difference between the two.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Well I did it. All I did was add two springs. I was suprised that the intonation was not affected, at least right after string stretching and playing for about an hour. I am going to check that again tonight becasue I expected the intonation to be slightly flat when I was done....

So far I really like the results. String bending seemed easier, not from a force standpoint, but from a consistancy standpoint. Sustain seems improved also. My friend was over after it finished and he said the sound was "fuller" than before. I definately noticed I can feel the notes better from where I am holding the guitar. The body has more vibration in it.

I will play some more and report.

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http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

I use the 1st method. I rarely have to adjust tuning on my guitar and I bend the hell out of the strings. I don't have locking tuners or a locking nut either. If you want the bridge to float, buy a hipshot trem setter and you won't have to worry about the springs wearing out.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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