Hey all...I saw a video on youtube of a guy saying you can get better tone and sustain if you clean and sand neck pocket smooth, and also sand the part of the neck that fits in there down to the bare wood. Any validity to this? there is a paper checklist sticker on my neck, and some finish, and of course the scribblings of factory workers, I don't know if this is all worth removing or not...Just wondering.

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"Where would rock and roll be without feedback?"

I always do that to my Strats. Couldn't tell you if it changes the tone, but it can't hurt. I don't worry too much about getting all the finish off, but I sure as heck get rid of all the paper stuck in there. I figure if I WANTED to mess with the resonance of the guitar, I'd stick a lot of paper in there.

If you can't tell that the tone changed, then it obviously didn't.

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Bill

While I believe many things and almost everything can effect tone and sustain, I don't think there is any truth to it. And if there is, I doubt that our human ears are going to notice it.

Maybe that's why my two dogs have left the room after some of my amp and guitar mods.

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Bill

"If you can't tell that the tone changed, then it obviously didn't."

No, it's not obvious. I didn't listen critically before and after under the same conditions.

The OP asked for opinions, so I gave him my input. Why do you think it's useful for you to give your opinion on my opinion?

First of all, I don't have all the facts, so I'll make an open comment:
If you remove that information you may be obliterating your Strat's provenance. In other words those dates and initials could have an effect in proving it's history and in the end it could effect it's value. Whether removal of that material will improve the tone or not, I'll leave to the "Guru's" to answer.
Luck to you!

You said you did it to all your Strats which implies that you have done it more than once. However, you can't tell if it makes any difference or not. Pretty useless advice as far as I can tell.

As lmilam points out, removing that information may make identifying the provenance of an instrument more difficult in the future.

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Bill

Provenance on a parts-o-caster? Not an issue.

OK guys...play nice in the sandbox, I was just wondering if there was any merit to this video. I agree removing info on guitar neck or body isn't a great idea, I definately was not planning on it. I think a properly setup strat should sing just fine, but on a partscaster, maybe be worth a try. Anyway a lot of b.s. info out there, i figured this was the place to ask.

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"Where would rock and roll be without feedback?"

I personally think it can make a difference. But probably very subtle. It's like everything else, the sum of improvements still gives a better result.
I read in a magazine hi-fi than the human ear has no memory. It is necessary to compare two stereo system side by side to hear the subtle differences.

I think it's the same here, it should be identical with two guitars with identical, one modified and one original for comparison.

Like I discover after some reading , just a better nut shape change the tone of the string's response and easy to hear.
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-translation with the help of Google

Very good point that I don't think we've considered.

You will not hear a difference by doing this "mod". Not unless your neck pocket was chiseled out by the hand of an ape with a flat head screwdriver and a hammer! These days, the CNC machines do pretty good work. Unless your neck pocket is horribly rough, with deep gouges that prevent the neck from making good contact, I'd leave it alone.

+1

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!