Strat trem... makes this newbie uneasy

[poodlesrule]

As I am shopping for my first love, er, Strat, I keep looking at various ones. Then I peek at the trem assembly design, and the mech. engineer in me shakes his head...

I know, an uneducated, silly thing, can't help it!
Did some homework by reading some Dan Ereliwine material... It helped --except that every other Fender setup person reportedly does something different, then DE mixes it up in a new recipe..!

Question is, can a carefully blocked trem provide sustain and keep string happy?

"Hard tail" could an option, I guess, but how common is that?

[markb]

With a 6 point trem all you need to do to disable it is to screw the pivots all the way down. Then take up the slack in the springs with the claw and adjust the action. It won't move after that. Modern 2 point bridges will need to be blocked.

[ZMAN]

I have 9 Strats, some 2 point, some 6 and all of them are "hard tailed". I don't use the trem at all and I get tons of sustain. I get them screwed right down and use all the springs. I get a very low action and they sound great.
I don't have any "blocks" on them just screwed down.

[cherokee747]

My two are hardtailed.Four springs each.My tremelo comes from the fingers.

[poodlesrule]

Thanks for the details.

I let go of my trem unease by ordering a Rondo SST P90...!

I may need extra trem springs, and assume the local friendly music shop should stock some (Fender or other?).

[TS808]

I tend to leave my trems floating on my strats, and really feel they sustain pretty well. Some prefer them flat, others like me, like them floating. Honestly I never noticed a loss of sustain by floating them.

[Spudman***]

I tend to leave my trems floating on my strats, and really feel they sustain pretty well. Some prefer them flat, others like me, like them floating. Honestly I never noticed a loss of sustain by floating them.

I'm like that too but for some reason I have one Strat that the trem wasn't very stable on and I blocked that one with a piece of alder. Now the guitar has much better sustain. I won't do that with the rest because I like the "sproingy" sound from a floating bridge. This one guitar really benefited from the block though.

[fensonpaulcaster]

The Tuners on the Fender are great, they hold tone really well and they turn really smoothly and everything....but they do not lock, and therefore make them useless with the tremelo, specially the one on the strats.

I would suggest getting something like Sperzels or any other locking tuner haha.

Or you could block it, and I do think that it does raise the sustain.
I'm not sure,

Or you could be like me and just not use the trem it works perfectly fine for me. I've no complaints about my strat.

[Duff]

Another strat option would be to "give the trem a chance", like Spud does and I have on a couple of mine; just adjust it so the bridge plate sits flat against the top of the guitar when the trem is at rest. Then you can get a neat effect just by lightly touching the trem by pushing it down. It will only move downwards when flat against the guitar and it can be used in places to get a great sound.

Also, strats are about tremolos.

To each their own. I had a hard tail strat once with a real hard tail bridge. I didn't like it as well as the ones with the tremolo and sustain block.

The trem takes some practice but obviously can be appreciated.

On one of mine I put on Fender locking tuners, which are really nice 90 dollar lockers. I had them on an SX strat for a while and they are now on a Squire strat.

I also have two sets of locking Wilkinson type tuners that I got from GFS. They work great but are not as good looking as the Fender spertzel type ones. They don't work as easily either but they are really easy nonetheless.

Locking tuners will help greatly in keeping the guitar in tune after using the trem. Also lubricating the nut and saddles with graphite helps a great deal on any guitar and minimizes string binding in the nut, etc., so the strings respond smoothly to the tuners.

You might want to put the extra springs in and adjust the trem flat, virtually blocking it, but you would still be able to get a trem effect by pushing down on the bar.

Duffy

That nice mahogany one should sound nice if that's the one you ordered. Is this your first SX? They can be nice. I have a nice all mahogany, including set mahogany neck, copy of a Gibson LP special that's an SX guitar. It has two P90s on it and is really great sounding; beautiful antique burst too.

[poodlesrule]

That nice mahogany one should sound nice if that's the one you ordered. Is this your first SX? They can be nice. I have a nice all mahogany, including set mahogany neck, copy of a Gibson LP special that's an SX guitar. It has two P90s on it and is really great sounding; beautiful antique burst too.

Yep!

The P90s do sound great (to me, which isn't saying much)
A minor problem: the bass side seem to come out stronger than the treble side, even after my crude pickup height adjustment (Amph is the Vox Pathfinder).

Maybe a new set of pots would cure that. I have yet to change strings, so I will open the electrics soon and take inventory, anyway.

[Duff]

With the P90s there is usually no spring under the pickup to push up on the body to move it closer to the strings, such as on the treble side for more output.

One great solution is to cut some pieces of the foam that comes in Seymour Duncan Pickup boxes and use about two layers. Be sure to cut out holes for the P90 mounting screws so it doesn't wrap the foam around the screw as you tighten it in. Use an exacto knife or something like this. This foam pushes up on the body of the P90 like a spring and you can adjust the treble side up closer to the bottoms of the strings giving you more output from the pickup. It is easy to do. Find some half inch foam and use at least two layers and it will have sufficient force to push up on the pickup to raise it up on the treble side. This should correct the problem. I have done this myself to excellent effect.

Also, the Pathfinder 15R, if that is what you have, is an outstanding amp. That should not be a problem at all. I have one and love it.

You might want to get a couple more springs for the trem and use that foam under the pickup to push up on it like springs so you can get the treble side up. I doubt if it is the pots. It is probably just because you can't raise the P90 up close enough to the bottom of the strings to get good output to the amp. This method works very well.

I don't know of any other way to have pressure under a P90 to cause it to be able to be raised up. If anyone knows of another solution I'd be glad to know what it is.

Hope this simple solution helps you and that mahogany strat should sound great.

Definitely get new strings. D'adarrio nines are good, plus others, but I have heard slinkys are too elastic for a tremolo guitar but don't know if this is verified by a lot of users. I've used them and only recently found out that they don't work well on trem guitars.

New strings are a must with a SX guitar, believe me. You will see a world of difference and maybe even the treble side will sparkle up for you.

Duffy