Aside from strong pickup magnetic pull which could be fixed by polepiece and pickup height adjustment, what may be other causes and fixes for Stratitis?

Discuss...

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Stratitis...umm. I couldn't find that word in my medical dictionary.

But one thing that makes a strat sound weak (IMO): using extra light string gauges--(.009s)

Symptoms: dead notes, notes that warble, unusual intonation pattern to the saddles, overall out of tune, lousy tone.

Other causes...?

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Silly low action, especialy on the bass side.

Down tuning to a severe degree. Take all the tension out the string and it's more prone to pull.

Operator error; unsynchronized magnetic flux.

Synchronize the pickups' magnetic flux.

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You dig?

Yep, that'll surely do it!

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You dig?

A jam buddy came to me complaining of an amp problem,
I'm convinced it's not the amp, but (da da) 'Stratitis'.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Change your strings with a fresh set, regardless of how new the current strings are, then check and adjust the proper relief in the neck, set the string height to somewhere near factory specs, THEN adjust your intonation again. If the guitar is old or has been very heavily played, the frets may have large divots worn in them, or the rounded crown of the fret is worn too low and flat, thus throwing off your intonation as you go up the neck. It can be worked out....don't give up.

None of my Strats have ever been infected with that.

This topic was meant to help some of the younger, new Strat players. It's all
about what is referred to as 'stratitis' in some circles.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I though a stratitis is a "condition" foremost of the bad setup (pickups too close, incorrect neck bow and incorrect saddle height and position).

Younger players usually want their action so low (2mm) and strat with its curved board is not the best for that. I played a guitar from one young guy and he had buzzing from the 11th fret to 14th or 15th and everything dead after that (can you just imagine how low was his action). After they drop the strings down they forget to adjust the pickups and pickups are too close to the strings.

Lower them pickups, young men.

Old(er) men too!

And once you've lowered them a bit, lower them a bit more ... thank me later.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

But don't lower them too extreme, you'll get more noise and less tone.

Experienced older man!

Ok, so what cases that funny warbling sound so many strats have of the top fret of the third string: nothing to do with PUs too high, & also nothing to do with with 'flux' problems caused by not touching all 6 strings simultaneously to all three Pus after restringing??????

That one's always confused me!

Answers on a post card please to PO Box... (sorry 'Britishism' - it is Christmas eve!!!)

Contrary to what many people believe extra light even super light strings don't equate to weak sound.I've used 8-38s since about 1970 and I can get a monster tone from my spindley little strings.Jimi Hendrix used extra light gauge strings as did John Lennon. Billy Gibbons and Tony Iommi even use 7-38s and there's nothing weak or thin about their tone.Most of my Stratitus has been traceable to the pickups.I used to have a real hard time with a black ash bodied '78 L/H Strat that I strung right,the inttonation would never be right on the low E until I lowered the pickups quite a bit on the bass side.Since then I haven't been plagued by Stratitus at all except for the compulsion to keep buying them.

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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.