Stratocaster Help!

qontheboard · June 2022

My wife just bought me a JV modified '60s Strat for our 21st wedding anniversary. I played it for half an hour and loved it. Then I screwed in the whammy bar and boom the tuning went south on my first dive bomb. I stretched the strings used some nut sauce but it still went way out of tune. Pulling back on the bar made the E string go up to F!

My wife took the guitar back to the shop and the tech worked on it. Now the tuning doesn't go out so bad on a dive bomb, but still goes way sharp after a pull. The tech says there is absolutely nothing wrong with the guitar, and maybe "it's not the right guitar for me". I love the guitar in every other way apart from the trem problem.

So I want to deck the bridge and see if it works for me, or should I just return it? I am struggling to make a decision on this one.

qontheboard · June 2022

pjpjpaul · June 2022

The tech is right. Strats are not made for dive bombs but more subtle trem maneuvers. You'd be better suited with something that has a Floyd Rose locking tremelo system if you're looking to get the EVH or 80's metal vibe.

dudeman · June 2022

Agreed. I think Dan Erlewine has a method for setting up a Strat trem that will effectively return to tune, but it is a tedious process.

Strat tremolo systems leave a lot to be desired if you use heavy bending in your playing.

qontheboard · June 2022

I've been playing strats for 30 plus years now, and never had it this bad. So dive bomb was too extreme in describing what was happening. In all seriousness a push on the trem arm just slightly more than subtle, and the tuning is out. Even worse is that if I just press the back of the bridge a little the strings all go way sharp and stay there. Even the guitar expert in the store gave it a try and agreed this was not normal behaviour. He was convinced it was the nut, and after spending an hour trying to figure it out, he gave it to the tech to work on.

The tech was able to make it so a forward push did not throw the strings out of tune, however a pull still resulted in all the strings going way sharp and not snapping back to even close to in tune. I have a strat with a floating bridge and it snaps back to almost perfect tuning no matter how much I push or pull the arm. I guess that's why I found this one so perplexing.

Oh, and I'm not an 80's metal guy and would never put a Floyd Rose on perfectly good srtat... yuck

dudeman · June 2022

The nut, saddles and string trees are the usual suspects for strings binding, as you probably already know.

The method I mentioned above involves adjusting the claw to compensate for the differences in string gauge and making small adjustments and checking return to pitch one string at a time.

FWIW, I have had experiences with techs who didn't know how to properly set up a Strat trem. It was worth learning how to do it myself on my three Strats. I also don't know that I would give up on a Strat if I liked everything else about it but the trem. If you're good with tools and have patience, it can be fun and rewarding to set them up yourself.

Good luck!

qontheboard · June 2022

Thanks dudeman! I really wish I could set them up myself. Maybe one of these days I'll buy a used Squire dirt cheap and use it to learn set up.

Stratocaster Help!

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