Hi everyone,

I'm new in this Forum, I hope I can fin some help for question I have.

I have a Fender Standard Stratocaster Made in Mexico 2011 with Seymour Duncan Single coil pickups (SSL-1). One thing I've noticed in my Strat, is that the bridge itself is a little bit up, I mean it's not touching the guitar's body, but it is like 2mm above the surface (So it gives me the opportunity to rise up the tone when using the tremolo bar). In my Squier strat the bridge is touching directly the wood (I can only bring down the tone when using the bar). Do you thing that this bridge heigth can affect the sustain in general?.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Greetings

On some guitars it does affect sustain on some it doesn´t change anything.
I would say it does not affect sustain in general.

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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Your Fender Standard Stratocaster Made in Mexico 2011 was designed to have the floating bridge for up and down movement. If it is setup properly it will sustain almost as well as any Gibson.

Just play ........

Thank you for your answers.

Yeah I do know that the floating bridge is configured like that for giving the chance to pull it up and down, but because of the pickups I'm using now (Alnico V Seymour Duncan SSL-1's) I lost a little bit sustain specially in distortion setups, so I've noticed that my Squier Strat Bullet has a very good sustain (but a poor tone) and I know it's because it uses ceramic pickups (hotter and warmer than alnicos but with less treble, bell-tone and bright), and also I see that it has the bridge very close to the guitar's body (with the base of the bridge touching the wood surface). So:

Apart from the fact of the pickups' type used (that I already know influences a lot on sustain, tone and output level), ¿Do you think that the bridge height also could influence (as one factor) the guitar's sustain? ¿Have you ever experienced that on your guitars? I know that the output level I can deal with it by regulating the pickups' height, but what about sustain, SSL-1s are vintage pups so they give me a great tone (I'm happy with it) but I would like to get back a little bit more sustain I had with the standard ceramic pickups. ¿Any advice or suggestions?. Thanks you all.

Pickup height may be your problem. Try lowering them. Base side 3mm Treble side 2.5mm or 3/32nds works.

+1 on the pickup height. Could be the prob.

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OK, I'll hum a little bit, got it now?

pickup height and magnet strength has a big effect on sustain. the closer the magnet to the string the more pull it has. this pull slows down the string vibrations and slowly silences the string. and if they are to close it can even affect your intonation.
like the others said drop them a bit and see if it improves.

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Thank you all for your responses. And you were right, i went to the Music Store and I saw all Mexican made Strats had a little bit "up" the bridge, so i think it's a factory setup characteristic of these guitars.

A Fender Trem bridge is designed to be floating, not fixed. It is a variation on the fulcrum.
It is strictly a persons choice to have them floating or flush on the body.
As far as how guitars are set up at a store, since everyone is different they are really not set up except to allow the broadest range of hands on possibilities. The easiest is to have the trem flush which then eliminates having to readjust the neck angle, relief, saddle heights. The time needed to do all those adjustments is labor costs that a store is not going to be able to recoup when multiplied by 100 or more instruments...Then probably having to readjust the Strat back to a neutral setup for the customer which doesnt want the floating bridge.
So it is more cost effective to have the customer request the setup ( but most do not since they have no idea how the Stratocaster is intentionally designed.)
( Also guitars are shipped with the adjustments set up to ensure the least amount of stress in case of mishandling ( which will happen, Iv'e worked at Fed-Ex ground ).

As far as what you perceive as sustain....

(1st) Your Squier's body is thinner than your MIM, however the wood of your Bullet Strat could very well be a more efficient transmitter of vibrations than your MIM...Totally possible..
However there are other factors that you are not taking into account....

(2) Trem bridge block material will account for a difference in resonance, even if they are of the same metallurgy, the Squier's is of a lesser mass since the body is thinner and the cavity is smaller than the MIM.

(3) Saddles are pressed steel in the MIM but cast in the Squier.

(4) Neck to body cavity or more specifically neck pocket is usually a bit more snug with the MIM as well as the screws which bolt/screw the neck and body will be of a thicker diameter and better quality with the MIM. this will result in a reduced loss of vibration from bridge to Neck.

(5) Are you using the same string brand and gauge on both guitars...?

(6) Electronic components in the Squier are of a lesser quality than the MIM.

(7) Last but definitely not the least important, the other 50% of your musical instrument is the amp. Some guitars and their setup will sound great with one amp but not with another.

There are so many variables that unless the two guitars are almost identical which cannot be since a Squier Bullet Strat is very different from a MIM Strat, it is difficult to isolate what or which are the reasons...

I would strongly suggest that you buy Paul Balmer's book " The Fender Stratocaster Handbook " 2nd edition. There are quite a few comparisons of Squiers, MMIM's and MIA's as well as Custom Shop. But the DIY's for adjustment and set ups plus the clear and concise explanations will have you understand your guitars more thoroughly.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

53magnatone:

Thanks for your answer. Yes, as you said, there are a lot of factors that I'm not considering when I refer to the guitar's sustain. For example the strings, in my Squier Bullet I'm using a new D'ddario Super Light Gauge (.009) set, while in the MiM, factory default strings are installed (which I think are Fender .009) and they are not new obviously 'cause I've had this guitar for almost 5 months.

The other important point is the pickups, my Squier has standard ceramic pickups, which give me a very loud, thick, a little bit "over-feedbacked" output, while in my Fender Strat I replaced the standard ceramic mics with Seymour Duncan SSL-1's which are a lot more bright, clear and "bell-toned" than the previous I had. I really like my new pups' tone, it's so vintage specially with clean amp setups (I use a Fender FM212R amplifier), but the cost is that I've lost a little bit of sustain, output level, and feedback. I already knew that alnico mics had a less output level than the ceramic ones, but their tone is quite better for classic sounds.

Another point is that I use as MXR Smart Gate to clean a little bit the signal when using high distortions, it also reduces a little of sustain, so i'm trying to set it properly. About my question of the bridge heigth (the difference between a floating trem bridge and a bridge that is touching the guitar's surface) someone answered in this forum (in the Spanish section), that this heigth could influence on the sustain, but not in a decisive way, it could only sligthly add a extra "shape"/"touch"/"hint" of sustain.

Here is a little demo about my Alnico pickups in clean tone, they have such a great tone I'm happy with.

http://soundcloud.com/newjarek/demo-son ... our-duncan


Cheers!