I never really noticed this until I played a friends Am Deluxe last week. He has exactly the same strings as I do (Rotosound 10-52's) and his seems far easier to bend than mine are? In fact now I've played a few other guitars I have noticed just how hard they really are to bend. There seems to be a lot more tension in them than other strats I've played. I have since changed the strings to GHS but the tension is still there. Could it be the fact that I have 5 springs? The bridge plate is also flat against the body. I have a callaham bridge/saddles/trem block setup. Any advice/help appreciated I'm also starting to suffer from arthritis in my first joints on the left hand and I reckon playing this guitar for the last 10 years like this might have have contributed

I'd suggest starting with a pro setup. It sounds like your truss rod might need tweaking.

Good luck!

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

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The tension in the strings will be affected by the guitar's effective scale length. You couldn't compare a strat and a les paul with the same strings for instance, as the strat fretboard is physically longer. To reach the same pitch, the strings on the longer neck will inevitably be tighter.

With regards to your situation, you need to think about lowering the gauge of your strings. Maybe try a hybrid set (Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkies which are 9 -46, or the equivalent D'Addario set). That will give you a more flexible set of treble strings and the basses will be easier too handle too. A 52 low E? thats a trawler cable isn't it?! If you want lower bass strings too, then go for the even lighter 9-42 set.

Now, some folks will probably rightly claim that lower gauges mean less tone/volume and there is some truth in that. But the difference is minimal, and you could probably EQ most of it out on your amp. But if you can't physically play the heavier strings, then you have no choice really do you?

Time for you to experiment a little I think - good luck with it..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

+1 on going lighter guage strings... ive tried super thick and super thin...

most of the difference in sound is purely mental, in the way the strings feel...

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blues - its a religion...

Let the bridge float and drop 2 springs out, strings will be a lot more easy to bend then.

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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Yes! If you 5 spings and bridge lays flat then you have more tension when bending. If you use the wam bar you will notice it is tighter too. When I was purchasing a new strat the American special had 3 strings and The American special HSS had five springs. The three spring guitar was easier to play and bend string. Try droping one spring at a time and test to your liking.
Hope this helps.

If your bridge is decked with five springs, Taking two out and letting the bridge float may seem to make it easier to bend. However, if the bridge is floating with 3 springs, and it gives when you bend, your gonna have to work harder to reach the bent note. The more the bridge gives when you bend, the farther you have to bend the strings. I can't see how taking out springs could make it easier to bend. It will make the whammy bar easier to move.

I have to respectfully dissagree on the spring thing with robinstrat and lildave. Will someone else please comment?

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

Thanks for the replies! I think I'm gonna try some thinner strings for sure. The reason I have 5 springs and the flat bridge is to try and prevent it for going out of tune so much especially after using the whammy bar. I totally get the reasoning behind the bridge floating and making the strings harder to bend. But it's gotta be worth a try. Maybe I'll do that first. I have also screwed the 6 bridge screws down tight and also screwed in the spring hook too so maybe I should loosen that lot off too. Wish I'd just left it alone all those years ago.

+1

Bingo!

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I don't get it. I understand less springs = less tension when bending, but don't see how it makes it easier. I don't like for my bridge to give when I bend. It seems I have to bend farther to reach the bent note.

Anyhow, I hope you figure out what works for you. Good luck with it.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

With a floating bridge setup the bridge will move as you bend the strings because by bending you create an imbalance in the two tensions of strings and springs.

Imagine a pulley (sheave) mounted up high in a very strong and sturdy location. There is a rope through the pulley and both ends of the rope go down to the ground. The rope ends stop before they actually touch the ground but there are two springs anchored to the ground and clamped onto the ends of the rope, one spring attached to one rope-end and the springs are under tension. They had to be stretched out some in order to reach the rope-ends. Left alone with no external forces acting on it the system will balance itself. The rope will slightly move through the pulley making one side slightly longer than the other (or not, if the springs are absolutely equal) until the tension is the same on both sides creating equilibrium. If you walk up to that apparatus and pull sideways on one of the ropes you upset the equilibrium by increasing tension on that side of the rope with your hand. The system responds by allowing the spring on the other side to elongate and the rope moves and rotates the sheave.

That's essentially what you have with a floating trem. Bend a string and the bridge moves like the sheave making it easier to bend the string but also making the string have to bend further to change pitch a given amount. So the string itself still has to come under the same amount of tension to achieve the given pitch but with the floating trem the other strings that you have to push through to get there become softer as the bridge moves and that's where you feel it easier to bend.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Thank you BMW-KTM for the explanation. I get it. To me though, I like for my bridge to stay put when I bend. It's easier to me to bend against a stiff bridge. Thanks for the explanation. I thought I was missing something.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

I'm sorry but all this talk of taking springs away from the trem to alleviate string tension when bending is just a bit silly. It won't cause the strings to require less effort to bend to a certain pitch. It may feel that way, but it's not the case. It just necessitates the string having to travel further to bend to the same pitch.
1 truss adjustment
2 nut adjustment, if your guitar is particularly stiff below the 7/8th fret area.
3 lighter gauge strings. BB King and Billy Gibbons both have wonderful sounds and use .008's or thereabouts.

In all honesty Brian, your probably just noticing that your friends guitar neck back shape suits you better than your own guitars neck shape.

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No no and no

Hi Brianuk,I have the bridges of all my Strats decked(flush to the body) and having it decked or floating or the number of springs hasn't a whole lot to do with it.What makes the biggest difference is scale length,string gauge and alloys used.Two sets of strings of the same gauge could have way different tensions as they could have different amalgams of metals and that would cause a noticable difference in tension.I have found that D'Addario 8-38 strings are about the most flexible I've ever tried in my 45+ years playing and they hold their brightness and tuning much longer than a lot of others.Don't believe that thin strings mean thin tone as Jimi Hendrix,John Lennon,George Harrison used super light gauge sets and Tony Iommi and Billy Gibbons use .007 high E strings and none of these guys had wimpy tones.Try a lighter gauge string and your tension problems should go away.

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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.

That's exactly what I was trying to say. The part about the springs and less effort to bend. Exactly right. I agree with the rest of it too.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"