I've been playing guitar for maybe 2 years, and i finally decided to get a fender. Ive been playing a schecter for a while, and while it plays great with distortion/high gain, ive never liked the sound of humbuckers on clean channels. I bought an off-white american special strat from guitar center yesterday, and i had the tech there set it up with 11's instead of 9's. the setup was great, but when i started playing it last night i noticed that whenever i bent any notes up the bridge would be pulled out and therefore make everything sound a little flat. it only has 3 springs in the back. if having a floating bridge means not being able to bend successfully, then count me out.

What should i do? add another spring in the back? tighten the 2 screws on the spring plate in the back? block the bridge altogether? put the bridge parallel (flush?) with the body? i kind of want the availability of a whammy bar, but ive heard that blocking it and putting extra springs in would increase sustain, which would be my choice and more important than doing dive-bombs. and while im at it, what are all your favorite strings to use on strats, and your ideal setup of the bridge?

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I play Fenders because not only do they feel better than most other guitars I've played, but they also don't double my body-weight when I hold them *cough* Gibson *cough*

You should start by reading and understanding this:

http://www.fender.com/support/stratocas ... _guide.php

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Bill

I have been using five springs and tightening the two trem claw screws to keep the bridge flush with the body, even while bending. After I got a Tele, I put all my Strats bridges flush and tight to the body. For me, a Strat needs at least locking tuners if you want to whammy AND stay in tune. I do notice better sustain and more vibration through the body and it just stays in tune quite well with the bridge flush. I have only one Strat with 11s, I seem to like 10s on everything else.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

If you want the bridge fully floating and use the whammy your options are to put more springs in or stiffer springs or use a product like a tremsetter.
Check the bridge is about 1/8" off the body at the rear of the bridge as in the top part of this picture.



You can set the bridge flat to the body by using more springs or a tighter claw so when bends are done it will not move. You will only be able to do dives however.
In my opinion its almost unusable in this position as there is lots of force to overcome the initial spring pressure and it tends to clunk back against the body when you release the bar.

You can fully disable the trem in the cavity (with a wooden block) so that it never moves.
You have the option to front block (spring pressure holds it) or rear block it (string pressure holds it in place).
Another method is to use a bracket and fasten the bridge to the body.

Locking tuners aren't essential. Decent tuners, winding on the strings in the best way that suits your tuners along with a properly made nut and good string trees will go further.

A roller nut as good or better a locking nut better still. Tuning stability with a whammy is just about reducing places where the string can bind.

I just got an american standard strat and learned something that is probably what you experiencing. I immediately added a fourth spring and noticed that the notes would not sound like they should or basically what you are asking about. I put a kapo on the first fret and fingered the last fret (22nd) and this is what fender recommends doing.

The problem is that when you place another spring it lowers the bridge which in turn lowers the strings and places them closer to the frets. What you need to probably do is exactly what I did. You need to make the fretboard lower in the center until you can get the proper sound. You do this by placing the tool that comes with your guitar in the nut at the top of the fretboard and push counterclockwise.

Doesn't this loosen the fretboard?

Shane

Nooo! Do not adjust the truss rod for changing string height! The truss rod adjusts the relief (curvature) in the neck in very small increments. Raise or lower the string saddles at the bridge to raise or lower string height. Cranking away at the truss rod can do some major damage to the neck if you adjust it far enough to affect string height. Check out Fender's setup guide: http://www.fender.com/support/stratocas ... _guide.php

You might have some serious up-bow in your neck now if you loosened the truss rod enough to raise the action (string height). Fender suggests relief of .010" (0.25 mm).

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

Metropolis 74,
The way I adjusted the fretboard is exactly the way Fender advises you too do if there is not enough of a gap between the 8th fret on the 6th string when you place a capo on the 1st fret and finger the last fret.

What did I miss when I was following these directions from Fender?

Shane

I float my bridge. I run 10 through 46 strings, with 3 springs. My bridge is adjusted so that if I pull the trem bar all the way up, it changes the guitar's pitch by a half step.

Using locking tuners.

My Strat stays in tune better than any guitar I've owned (since 1964).

I made sure the nut was a good fit for the strings I'm using (NO binding), and I put a tiny bit of teflon tape under each of the strings at the nut.

I can bend strings and dive the trem, or pull up on the trem and stay in tune. I can play a song full of bends (I mean, I bend all the time, lots of whole steps), and use trem, and finish in tune. After maybe 3 songs, played hard, I'll have to fix my tuning a little. Or not.

I find I have no more tuning issues than I have with a non-trem guitar.

I use the trem on pretty much every song. Typically I don't dive more than a half step. I like it floated, as it has the lightest touch that way. Using a Wilkinson VS401 trem unit...one of the reasons is because there is NO wiggle/play in the arm. Very accurate feeling.

I've adjusted my trem flush to the body in the past, to gain tuning stability and perhaps to gain more sustain. I notice little difference in the sustain, and basically have all the sustain I need, floated. Since I started using the teflon tape, I really don't have tuning issues, so I figure I might as well float.

What you missed is that you did it for entirely the wrong reason. Adjusting the truss rod is NOT done to adjust string action. It is done to adjust neck relief so that the neck has the proper curve when the strings are tuned and the action adjusted properly. The gap between the eighth fret and the bottom of the string should only be 0.01". You clearly do not understand the Fender setup procedure and should not be giving advice to others on how to set up their guitars.

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Bill

Bill,
I did read and understood what Fender want's you to accomplish when your following their advice. I did not have the exact measuring tool they recommended but I did have a white pick and I did know what 0.01" looked like but most important I knew what sound I wanted and I adjusted the truss rod, which was not much, to get the string to get the approiate sound.

I apologize if I offended anyone that was not what I attended to do.

Shane

HendrixWorshipper, it sounds to me not like an issue of neck relief but an issue of playing with floating trem.

If you want to do divebombs (as you say you do) and thats important, then you're gonna have to have a floating bridge (because once you've bombed, you need to pull the wang stick all the way back past the normal resting point to get it to sing right ).

So, your initial problem is that



Yep: thats a floating bridge. Now there's two ways to deal with this.

1) if you're doing double stop bends, or pedalsteel type bends involving fretting one string and bending another but playing them both at the same time, learn to bend both. So one string is fully bent, and the other is slightly bent to compensate for the slacking of strings due to the bridge being raised mid bend. It can be done, it takes a little practice but you're hands soon start to get the feel for the floating bridge and start doing it automatically (took me a couple of weeks to "get used to it").

2) Right hand stability: Divebombs generally = metal. Metal generally = good palm muting technique. good palm muting technique generally = you can pick quite well when your hand is resting on the bridge. If you're hand is on the bridge, hold it down whilst you do your double bends. You'll have to get used to resting your right palm correctly on a floating bridge to palm mute so the strings don't go sharp. So if you can do that, you can do the opposite, you're right hand will know where the bridges steady state is already, it just has to keep it there.

Two ways to combat other strings going flat whilst you bend notes on a guitar equipped with a floating bridge.

Dan

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My Rig: Guitar into Pedals then into Amps and out into Speakers.

I think I understand why you did what you did.

From the Stratocaster Setup Guide on this website:

"Adjustment at headstock (allen wrench): Sight down the edge of the fingerboard from behind the headstock, looking toward the body of the instrument. If the neck is too concave (action too high), turn the truss rod nut clockwise to remove excess relief. If the neck is too convex (strings too close to the fingerboard), turn the truss rod nut counter-clockwise to allow the string tension to pull more relief into the neck. Check your tuning, then re-check the gap with the feeler gauge and re-adjust as needed."

Do not interpret this as meaning that the truss rod adjustment is used for setting the action (string height). Adjusting the bridge saddle height is used for setting the string action. The bridge is adjusted so that the strings are approximately 4/64" from the fret board as measured from the top of the 18th fret to the bottom of the string. The truss rod adjustment is primarily to ensure general flatness of the neck beween the first and 18th fret. While the truss rod does have an effect on string height, it is not typically used to adjust the overall string height. If it is being used for that purpose, there is a serious problem with the neck.

Bridge height (whether floating or not), string length (saddle) adjustment, and truss rod adjustment all interact with each other to set the action and intonation. It is a delicate balancing act that must be done properly.

I am still puzzled as to what the "appropriate sound" of the string is that you felt you achieved by adjusting the truss rod.

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Bill

Simple method:

Add springs and claw tension to get the bridge at the ballpark height.
Set the neck flat by adjusting the truss rod. Raise or lower the saddle height to set how low or high you want your action (play down each and every string).

If your happy set the intonation and kiss your Allen key and put it away.

If your not then you can set a slight bit of relief in the neck to get over fret buzz in the lower register (towards the headstock). Otherwise its raise the saddles.

Easy huh?