My Strat Is Killing Me!

[daveq]

OK, I bought a new Strat a couple of weeks ago (50th anniversary with Trem, ...). I have changed out the pickups for EMG's (with the EXG and SPC) and I now LOVE the sound of it. It's no good for metal but I can get amazingly close to Pink Floyd and others - I really love it.

Here's the part that I don't love - if I even look at that thing wrong, PING! - out of tune it goes and in a fairly big way. It's usually the higher 3 strings that get all whacked out. Now, I have heard a lot of knocks against Floyd users for this type of thing but I can tell you for sure that my Floyds are nearly perfect in comparison to this Strat. I can go nuts on the Floyds and only have to make very slight adjustments afterwards - not true with the Strat. I can play one piece of a solo and need to retune the bastard.

So, has anyone else had this problem? Do I need locking tuners, a new nut, do I need to do something to the nut? I can actually hear that pinging sound when bending the strings (not with the bar - just bending with my fretting hand). Does that mean that the nut is too tight against the string?

I'd really appreciate any help you might be able to provide. I want to love this thing but it keeps pissing me off!!

PS - I miss my fine tuners that I have on my Floyds too (wah, wah, ...).

[Scott Rosenberger]

sounds like the strings are pinching in the nut. Get some files and widen the nut slots or replace the nut with a graphtech

[Bigtommyb]

There was some discussion not long ago about the a similar thing. it mainly came down to the nut pinching the strings so when you play it pulls it out and pinches again out of tune. Or your tuners are slipping. So things to check for a V shaped nut (rather than U shaped) if they look fine then check your tuners.

Hope that helps.

T

[Jivin]

Don't the anniversary strats have locking tuners and a roller nut already? or is that only certain models?

-Dan

[marksound]

Does it have roller string trees or the regular butterfly type? That *ping* is often a string caught in the string tree.

[Mickguard]

.

[marksound]

I'm not so convinced about the sound --this thing really does quack like a duck.

I use the middle pickup by itself a lot. With a little overdrive it gets a modern Clapton blues tone, and with a little more distortion it's almost as thick as a humbucker. And that's with MIM pickups.

[daveq]

This one definitely does not have a roller nut - it's the standard white nut. As for the string tree - I wouldn't know the difference between a butterfly or others - it has two cylinder-ish looking arms. I don't think it's caught there because there's really nothing for the string to catch on (the arms are rounded). I guess it's gotta be the nut.

The nut groove/slot is supposed to have a U shape? I'll check on that tonight. I'll probably grab some locking tuners also just in case that's also causing trouble.

Overall, I like the sound (especially after switching to the EMG Gilmour electronics) and look of the guitar. I'm having some trouble getting used to the volume knob being sooooo close. If I can get this tuning issue solved, I'll be happy.

Thanks for the info.

[Gemleggat]

I have a new strat too and when i got it it went out of tune when you looked at it!

Heres what i did.

1, Make sure the trem is parallel to the body, that is make the trem studs the same height and adjust the saddles for the radius.

2, If you want the trem to float make it parallel to the body

3, To make the trem sit at the right height you may have to adjust the micro tilt on the neck so that there is a little neck angle.

4, cut the nut slots to the proper height and the double over some 1200 grit paper to polish the slots, then put some graphite in there from a pencil.

5, This is all i done and now it just doesnt go out and i mean it doesnt. All these thing need to be done or it will go out, I did not change the tuners, nut or string trees

EDIT

Put 2 springs instead of three and tighten them up, it feels much better too. I use 10's BTW

The American strat trem is really a good trem if it set up right. They never are out the box.

[Mickguard]

.

[crafty]

Hmmm...I may not be too much help since my MIM Strat has quite a different trem, but I'd bet that 99% of your problems are in that nut. The trees are the nice round ones, not like the butterflies on my Standard, but even those don't really stick on mine.

I'd consider giving the nut a good filing and polish and consider switching to a GraphTech or roller nut if you use the trem that much. Heck, I'd even drop in a full Wilkinson trem in place of the American trem.

Those non-locking trems can sure be a bitch to sort out. My six-screw trem took forever to sort out until I got it balanced just right and loosened the four inside screws, filed and lubed the nut with a pencil lead, and installed locking tuners. Now it's happy with just about any kind of trem work I'd do on a non-locking trem.

BTW, I love the EMG-SAs too. I just installed mine back in January on the guitar in my profile photo. Sometime I'm going to throw in the EXG and SPG controls, too.

[thedoctor]

OK. Take any string tree you got off completely. Tune it and try it again. When that doesn't work(it won't but do it anyhow) squirt some Lemon Pledge (don't you just LOVE the smell?) on the nut and try it again. Lastly, make sure your tuners aren't Pings, because they had to come up with that name somewhere.

[psw]

Strat's seem to be tempremental till you've got them sorted then they're perfect (enough)....With the string trees on my cheapo strat copies I've always had to raise them about 1/8" by putting a little nut under them and screwing them back on...this produces less tension over the nut and tree/s which might help...

Another trick is to find some washers (I've found copper plumming washers at the hardware store that are ideal) that you can place under the tuners to produce a staggered effect...

On the bridge...If the strings are breaking, a file or dremmel can be used to round over the bridge plate to smooth the transition and make it less sharp...rather than the SRV thing of putting plastic over the string ends...

Check the number of springs and tension in the back too...often the ping noise could be a spring rubbing on something in the cavity...really tight springs also ping...more springs require less tension, less ping, less tuning problems...perhaps...

Once all the little problems (and there are usually a few) the strat system can be amazingly stable...of course new strings need to stretch out....

psw

[swirlslave]

Your problem seems definitely that the strings are pinching in the nut, i use to have the very same problem with my ibanez js600, and the thing dont even have a trem, i was bending the string and wham, it was out of tune but higher in pitch.

i was thinking that the neck was shifting until i cleaned the nut slot with sandpaper and started to put guitar grease(graphite based) in them, and problem was solved.....

by the way, glad to see your back

Edited June 21, 2005 by swirlslave

[Mickguard]

.

[jnewman]

I have a strat (hot rodded american series, which doesn't exist anymore) with a normal 2-point modern strat bridge, and I only have to tune it every couple of weeks (unless I travel with it)... it stays in tune almost perfectly. Maybe I'm just lucky .

[Guitarfrenzy]

Like others have stated it's probably the nut causing the strings to hangup after bending, and not returning to it's original tension between nut and bridge. The bridge could also be a culprit, if your intending on using the tremelo on a Strat you need to really have it setup well, or it will go out of tune easy using it. If your determined to use the tremelo, then you'll have to go another route with setup, but if you want it to stay in tune solidly, then your going to have to make the bridge where it won't move. Instead of blocking the bridge, I find you can get the same results by doing the following.

1. Untighten the 6 screws some, the ones that hold mount the tremelo to the top of the body. The reason for this is that most bridges aren't flat at the end, and have a bevel so the tremelo can swing forward toward the neck. When you loosen them, you give it slack to tighten up the back screws that hold the string claw in the tremelo cavity.

2. Most Fenders have just two springs in it, that's not enough if you want it to make the bridge stationary. I add three more springs to add more tension to hold the bridge back down to the body. If it doesn't, then tighten the screws on the string claw until the bridge does lay flat.

3. Slowly tighten the 6 screws back until they are snug, this will keep the tremelo from moving at all.

The above method I've used on any Strat I've worked on or built, and it works great for keeping the bridge solid and free from any movement. That's just one improvement you can make to the bridge area, if your having breakage problems, then you can file the bridge to make it smooth in key areas, but since you just mentioned tuning problems, then I wouldn't mess with that unless it became a problem.

The second thing you can do, is like others have said, make the nut slots smoother so they don't hang the string up and slide effortlessly. I would first make me some burnishing tools for the nut slot, with popsicle sticks and pieces of guitar strings, like Dan shows. Just glue you a short piece of the correct size guitar string on the edge of a popsicle stick. Make a whole set, you can then burnish the slots so they are very smooth. For the smaller strings, you'll need to use either a wrap of sandpaper around it, or use a standard nut file. Just make sure you don't take much height off the slot or you might end up ruining the nut. Next, I'd use a mixture of vasoline and powder graphite to put in the nut slots and you should be good to go.

Actually there is enough stuff to write a book on it.. lol But we'll stop there.

MaTT Vinson