Hello everyone,

I have a 2008 American standard Strat with a floating bridge. It still has the stock string on it and before I use it any more, I want to swap the stock 9s for a set of d'addario 9s.

I'm not a whammy user, but I guess I still want to keep it floating as sometimes I press down on it at times to give my sound a shaky effect.

I guess it may need some floating bridge adjustments, but will it also need neck bow adjusment or anything?

Advice would be appreciated

fenderman247

There is always a chance that your axe will need a tweak when changing string gauge OR brands. But here has been my experience......The American Standard guitars have a bi-flex truss rod, and I find that they are incredibly stable, requiring very few, if any, seasonal adjustments. That being said, I doubt the neck would need any adjustment by switching to another brand's ".09's". If anything, the bridge will rise or lower if the tension is only slightly different between the two sets, and the neck would really only give if it were a more considerable tension difference. Each and every piece of wood (and guitar) is different, so the only way to know how it will behave is to try and see !!!!!

In my humble experince i've never had to change anything. If you were going up to 11s you would need to tweak a few bits but if you're sticking with the same gauge I doubt you've got anything to worry about.

Cheers guys, I'll get the crap fender strings of tonight then. I just prefer d'addarios on all my axes.

You've been using those strings for 2-3 years now already?

I think ANY new set of that gauge will sound fine to you. If you like
D'Addarios (I do too, btw) go for them!

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I've hardly used it and I got it year and a half ago, and don't like stock fender strings at all. I thought I'd get decent strings on it before starting to use it as a full time axe!