I've been playing for about 12 years but I just got my first strat a couple weeks ago. It's brand new and the only setup I really did on it was some intonation adjustments. When I am bending notes on the higher frets, the note will just die as I bend up to a certain point. This is mainly happening on the high E string but also to an extent on other strings. It also happens with any pickup. This is really frustrating because it obviously affects my playing not being able to bend high up on the neck. Anyone heard/seen anything like this before? Any idea what needs to be adjusted? Also, let me know if I can provide any more info that would help diagnosing the problem.

I appreciate it, thanks in advance.

actually after looking at this again, it's only happening on the high E string

A lot of times, a new guitar needs to adapt to its new environment (like any fine instrument, I guess). You will probably have to give it a complete set up.

You might not be able to have the string heights as low as you would like it.

Is the high E too close to the edge of the neck?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

+1 on doing a complete setup. Sounds like your action is too low and/or you don't have enough relief in the neck. Read this and do things properly.

http://www.fender.com/support/articles/ ... etup-guide

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Bill

I just got the same guitar. It doesn't have this problem and I'm really liking it. Sorry you're not. My normal set up is to deck and adjust the trem so it works- had to go to the heavier springs, I lower the action a bit, and I flatten the neck with the truss rod. I'm wondering if you sight down the neck if you've got overbow to the extent that it's causing the strings to buzz out. Fender ships them with some underbow- concave neck surface as compared to the strings. I personally don't care for how that effects the action. Seems to make the action higher as you go up the neck- that's just me though. If it's overbowed- bending back away from where the neck joins the body maybe try loosening the truss rod till it's flat or underbowed like Fender does it. Does the note die out on every fret or just some?

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Please visit my youtube channel and check out my music at www.youtube.com/user/markr7922

Thanks for the all the responses guys, I'm going to look into all of these things you've said and play around with it a bit more, ill report back

What you are experiencing is called fretting out. As you bend the note the string gets closer and closer to the next fret as it follows the arc of the fretboard radius until it actually comes into contact with either the next fret up the neck or else one close to it, maybe the 2nd or 3rd one up depending on what is out of whack. As soon as it contacts another fret the note stops ringing.

As has been said, a complete setup is the natural first step in resolving it but if that doesn't completely fix it you can also take a look at the fretwork. The odd time a guitar slips past the QC folks with a fret or two not fully seated. Even a thousandth of an inch can have a noticable impact if you like setups with low action and very little relief. Especially if it's on a guitar with a 7.5" radius or a compound radius. A 6" steel rule can be helpful in determining if there are any high spots or low spots, taking relief into account of course. If you do find there is something amiss with the fretwork you are faced with a choice. You can have the frets dressed or you can raise your action. It the case of my Korean Koa Top Strat it was cured by a simple light tap with a soft face mallet on the 15th fret but I do not recommend you start beating on your guitar unless you are confident in what you are doing.

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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.

Thanks for the info BMW, I've never really done much setup work before but I am going to use the guide that bluesky posted and set the guitar up and hopefully that will fix the issue.

*It seems to be happening starting around the 11/12th fret for the previous poster who asked

I love my new American Standard. Just got last week. No problems with mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-qnjvs8o8E

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

If you are fretting out, here's what to check :
1. Your action is too low
2. You have too little relief in the neck ( or too much relief and low action to compensate)
3. Your string saddles have not been adjusted properly to allow the strings to follow the radius of the fretboard.
4. You have a "rising heel, or tongue" - The frets at the heel of the neck are too tall (from lack of use, or humidity expanding the wood)
5. You have an improper neck angle. You can set the pitch of the neck with the micro tilt adjustment, or with shims. (Don't monkey around with this unless your problem arose after you already did monkey around with it LOL )

That should guide you to big, clean bends

As you've read, there are many scenarios as to what MAY be causing your specific problem with many possible solutions. Without your guitar in front of us, any remedy right or wrong, is merely hypothesis.

If you are not familiar with guitar servicing, I would recommend that you do NOT start fiddling with your guitar merely by reading a generic, "one size fits most" setup guide, regardless of its source. Granted, you could get 100% lucky but by the same token, you could really knock your guitar out of whack, possibly doing sliding scale damage in the process. Your best bet is to take it to a COMPETENT tech for evaluation and correction.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

I started making a few adjustments last night, all I really did was raise the action as it was a bit low. This definitely made a difference but I wouldn't say I'm 100% fixed. I didn't have any rulers to do any measurements that setup required so I'm going to get some today and adjust the intonation and saddles a bit. I won't play around with anything I'm unsure of as I don't want to cause any damage. Basically I'll go through the setup guide doing what I am comfortable with, probably only regarding the action, intonation, and maybe truss rod adjustments.

I appreciate all the responses

did a basic setup, adjusted the saddles, the truss rod slightly, the string length(intonation), and got some fresh strings on it. Huge improvement, thanks for the input everyone