When I hold a chord and even put slight pressure on the guitar body with my picking arm/hand it pulss the neck and puts the chord out of tune. The slightest pull near the nut and the neck will come back tightening the strings. Does the truss rod need to be tightened? The trem has been blocked, are the springs too tight causing the neck to be pulled and when I pull on the neck it just wants to go back to it's natural position? I have been trying to use a really light touch and it seems to be helping. Is just the way a strat neck is supposed to be?

Cheers and Happy New Year.

Kimmo

run it in to a guitar tech. ive never seen this type of problem before.

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Sounds like the neck screws are loose. I have to question why you ever need to put such pressure on the neck. The truss rod won't do anything to allieviate the problem. It resists the neck bowing and nothing more, it won't increase stability. That sounds like a stumac inspired bit of mythology to aid sales to me.

Don't overtighten the neck screws, it will just strip em and make the problem worse.

_________________
No no and no

Thats the thing. I am not putting that much pressure on it. If I am holding an Am chord at the 1st postion and I rest my fore arm on the body of my guitar, and even sqeeze slighty, it puts the chord out of pitch. I will try to tighten the neck screws.

is the nut lose or sliding in the slot up at the top?

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

First, don't overtighten the screws. Like said earlier, they are just wood screws going into a piece of maple and if you get too much of a gorilla grip on the screwdriver, bad things can happen.

Something you can try to troubleshoot.

Put a capo on the 3rd or 4th fret.
now, hold the Am chord up in the normal position between the nut and the capo. Thus taking string pressure out of the equation.

Does it still happen? If so, yes, something might be wrong with how the neck is attached (loose bolts, stripped screw hole, etc.)


If the problem is not there in the above mentioned test, it's probably not a loose neck but you're just death gripping the strings too much and pulling them sharp when you're holding the chords.

Jeff

There are probably no screws loose on your guitar! I have 14 strats, and some of mine have this issue. What you have is a "soft" piece of maple. Each and every piece of wood is of different density and some just suck.

surely this isnt the answer?

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Nope, nut is secure.

Do you have this problem with any other guitars?
If yes, can it be that when you press the body, your fingers press harder on the strings, so making them sharp.

Just a thought.

Premising your's is not a 'technique' issue, your problem is called, "Wow" and is quite common to vintage or vintage reissue SGs and other guitars where the neck is joined to the body at a very high fret.

In the case of Fenders, I've only seen this on one Tele and one Strat over the decades where both had the same problem: Their necks were so highly figured with birdseye that it wiped out any stability of the neck. In other words, there was no uniform, supporting grain or density in the wood to where it could settle down and around the truss rod. The wood just kept 'doing it's thing'. Both necks had to be replaced.

In your particular situation, I suspect that the neck isn't correctly seated nor immobilized in its body pocket and if this be the case, your going to begin stretching the neck screw holes and threads along with possibly bending the neck screws and stretching/warping the pocket too. You definitely don't want this to happen!

If my 'sight unseen' diagnosis is correct, the fix is simple enough and shouldn't be any great expense. I urgently recommend however that you stop playing that guitar in its current condition and get it to a COMPETENT tech at your next convenience.

_________________
You dig?

hum...... i cant get a grip on what your meaning here but i trust your word on this.

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

What I'm getting at is, I think his neck is not set properly in the body of his guitar. He has the typical wow manifestations but (and again, sight unseen) his guitar isn't a typical candidate for it.

_________________
You dig?

it would be nice to see a couple pics of the alignment.

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I think this is the problem. Neck screws are good. I even loosened off the strings and the same thing happens. If I put my guitar on a flat surface and hold the body still, I can press down on the nut very gently and the neck moves tightening the strings. I guess that means I need a new neck.