I have tolerated long enough the insanely quick decay of notes on my guitar while bending and manipulating strings... I have tried different switch positions to see if it is just a certain position that does it, but Its all of them. I have already had a luthier do multiple tune ups and adjustment on my guitar and that didn't improve the sustain at all either. Originally I took the guitar to a luthier for buzzing issues that are since unresolved, but do not come through the amp strangely enough, but only sound on the guitar when fretting. Mostly from about 7th fret and up. (After putting on .11's it got slightly better) With getting such bad sustain of notes, would the more experienced players out there recommend getting some other pups, taking it to another luthier... other things?! Please help me! Sorry for the small novel as well

It *might* be helpful if you provided a description of your guitar, what pickups it's currently equipped with, the type of set-up it has, your signal chain with the type of effects devices you use, and your amp rig.

Gnome saing, mon?

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

That sounds like a bad guitar with a neck issue, not a bad setup.

If there's a neck shim closest to the bridge, remove it. If there isn't one, you could try putting a shim farthest away from the neck pickup to see if you can get rid of the higher fret buzzing issues. If you do this, you'll probably need to tighten the truss slightly and may need to re-adjust the spring claw, trem height and re-intonate...

how close are the pickups to your strings?

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This is what I was thinking also. Try lowering your pick ups.

Haha sorry I can't believe I forgot that. 2008 American Standard Strat with all stock setup minus the pickguard. I mostly play through my line 6 combo amp since I'm in an apartment so nothing special. But the buzzing doesn't sound through the amp when I play, just on the guitar itself.

The pickups are I believe to be in standard Fender recommendation height... They are in descending height from bridge to neck and since I unfortunately don't have a precision ruler in my possession to get acurate numbers...

I would still try and lower them. Its easy enough. If it doesn,t do anything you can put them back. I put mine barely above the pick guard.

Answers above mentioned pickup height; the Fender recommendation is 5/64" low-E and 4/64" high-E; but you might try lower. Experiment.

Anyway, also check that every screw on the guitar is tight, especially neck joint & tuners.
Experiment on a blocked tremolo (google 'clapton tremolo block'), or at least try decking the trem plate.
And, I prefer a bone or tusq nut on my guitars (although some claim that only affects sound and sustain on open strings).



This one suggests that your strings either are too low, or the neck doesn't have enough relief. See Stratocaster® Setup Guide for instructions.
This could also affect the sustain; the sound dies when the fret buzzes.
In setup, check also for high/low/flat frets, may be one reason for buzzing.
And yes, try a different luthier

+1

Pickup height Base side - use two nickles stacked to fix the height. High side - use a nickle and a dime stacked. The stacked coin edges should just touch the top of the pole piece and the bottom of the string. This is a distance that will insure the magnets will not interfere with the strings vibrations.

Is he a real Luthier or just a guitar tech. I have my doubts about him being a real Luthier. Also it may be your playing style - low action - not enough neck relief combination for your style.

Fret buzzing not heard through the amp is normal.

You live in a appartment so are likley playing at low volume. You might be expecting more
sustain then is realy possible in this setting if using a clean sound.

Buy yourself a 6" steel ruler graduated in 64ths and check the setup yourself, much cheaper then going to a tech and very easy to do if you follow a setup guide.

Fender use to suggest a setting of 5/64 on treble side and 6/64 on bass side of the strings, this is the best setting to eliminate fret buzz. They changed that sometime in the last couple of years to 4/64 on all strings, which in my experience will produce light fret buzzing but you do not hear this throught the amp.

American Standard pickup setting, Fender use to suggest 4/64 on the treble side and 5/64 on the bass side, this has also dissapeared from the setup guide. This was wrong anyway it should have read 4/64 on treble side and 6/64 on bass side.

To get more sustain you need to increase the gain on your amp or use a pedal that will provide it in a appartment on a low volume setting.

I've also heard the "two nickels bass side, one nickel treble side" version of SNick's thumb rule...
But actually, I don't think there is any "just one exactly right" general measure for pickup height.

An interesting view to some top guitarist's setups can be found here:
StewMac - some famous setups

Basically it turns out to 2 nickles = 4mm, 1 nickle = 2mm, Nickel + Dime = 3mm
Not exact but close enough so that the Magnets cause minimal interference with the strings.
I add the dime to balance the strings better on the high side.

Fender specs on pickup height work good for me ...