Well guys i've been a gibson man for years and i finally got a 2010 American standard today for christmas. I've been reallly excited about it and i do like it, but i've just been a little dissappointed in some areas. I play through a blues deluxe reisue with a keeley modded TS9, an Xotic effects AC booster, a stock blues driver, and a voodoo lab superfuzz, and i have just not been able to get that good strat tone i was hoping for even after a good bit of tweaking of amps and pedals. I really don't like the thin strings that fender put on it so i'll replace them by monday and i'm hoping that will help a little, but should i start looking at some new pickups? Thanks for the help!

Hi livestrong61,

My 08 Am Std came with 9s which I also thought were too small and a little weak sounding, I changed to 10s and that helped the tone a little. Also, have you tried adjusting each pickup height? Raise the bass side of the pickups for more low end, raise the treble side for more highs. If the pickups are adjusted too high, sustain suffers, too low and output is weak. I also thought that the new "Copper Infused" Bridge block (it's a cast block) made the sound to thin/bright, so I changed it to a Callaham steel block, and that also improved the tone. With the 10s, pickups adjusted, and the new block, the tone was much improved over the stock setup.

Here's how my pickups are adjusted.

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Hi and congrats on your new lovely Fender. A pic or two would be nice

I suggest you leave it stock. The american standard pickups are as stratty in tone as any other may come.

There are various types of Strat tone, but on a guess if you are referring to SRV strat tone, I have found that a Fender Legend Series 59 Bassman Pedal does it for me on the clean and just a light bit of it's gritty (Overdrive), even more so if you can't afford a 59 Bassman amp the pedal is just fine.

The one Strat I have not even touched with mods or pickup swappouts is my 2008 American Standard Strat. I think it is just perfect from the factory and I am sure my boys will enjoy cracking the neck on it for the first time after 40 years. The only thing I have done is gently lifted the pickguard and put under it a micro time capsule.

Good Luck and enjoy the world of Fender, Just like Gibson it is beautiful

I agree with Shimmilou, you should try and balance the instrument for what's on it by pickup adjustment. I think the block is fine. Just my 2cents worth.

try this set your amp volume around 4, fat, lower the treble to around 4, bass 4, mid 4, prescence 5. try only the blues driver, tone 10 oclock, gain 3oclock, and level 9 oclock.
control the volume with level, youll gt some nice creamy tones, use your tone knobs.
dont give up on it, compared to a gibson, the strat will sound thinner. also set the gibson down, the next time you fire up the amp, start with the strat..

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i have the same strat and adjusted the pickup height... it is very quacky now.... i set it up to fender's website spec

I agree with Shimmilou, pick-up hight is often over looked, and I found the 9's thin sounding as well, i jumped up to 11's to try em out, and can hear a a change for sure. but if 11's are to big for you defiantly go for 10's.

As far as bridge blocks, if you are going to be changing one research the brass one's I have "heard" that they give a great chime like quality that a lot of strat fan's love once they use one, but personally haven't tried one.

good luck

Hi There.

Sounds like you have a great selection of pedals to play with.
I didn't see what amp your playing it all into.
Thinker strings will help thicken the tone, Stevie Ray played 13-58 most times, and at one time he even had one of his strats strung with a 17-72 set, but even he could not bend them.
I don't know how strong your hands are, but if you can play 11's that would be what I would suggest.
With that said, I use the D'Addario xl 120 9.5's because I have played them for years and I am used to them.
But I am of late finding them a bit wanting in the tone department and I am going thicker with my next set.

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Thanks for the help guys! I've been tinkering with the pick up heights and that helped a little, and im going to get some thicker strings on there and i'm sure that will help even more. I'll try to post some pictures soon. Hope yal had a blessed and merry christmas!