Strat trem question
- Thread starter Greg_L
- Start date
Telemauler
New member
Strat Trems
You are aware that Strat trems are notorious for this? My personal experience (I play a lot of trem equipt Strats) has steered me to doing a number of little things. I'm assuming (sorry) that this is a vintage style (6 screw) trem? If this is the, case it's important to set the unit up correctly. That means starting with the 6 screws that mount the trem to the body. What I do is to remove the strings and leave on the center spring. loosen all 6 of the screws until there is a noticeable gap between the screw heads and the trem plate tighten the two outboard screws until they just touch the plate then back off 1/8th of a turn. Leave the other four with a 1/16th" or so gap between the heads and the plate. Put your springs back on, 3 is good for .009's.
I use pencil lead filings to lubricate the grooves in the nut. Most Strat trem tuning issues are the G string binding in the nut. I'm sure others will recommend other lubes, I've been using pencil lead for 35 years and it works for me.
It is possible to bind strings behind the bridge saddles but it's not as likely. in this case you can either polish the bridge saddles and place a touch of lube, like Vaseline, on the string to saddle contact area. Others things you can do is to put a touch of Vaseline on the trem mounting screws, go to heavier strings, you may find that .010's sound a bit better. Also, consider whether you need the trem "full floating" or not. This is set up so you can pull up as well as push down. For me, I use a little extra tension on the trem springs to "suck" the trem down onto the body. So I only push the trem down and not up. This, to my ear, improves the tone of the axe by improving vibration transfer to the body. It also prevents the guitar from going out of tune if you break a string. A last resort might be to replace the nut with a roller nut. I've done this on one of my Strats that has the trem full floating. Nothing else worked on this guitar. So there's some things to try. Just look long and hard at the entire mechanism from the tuners to the spring claw and try to understand exactly where the bind is.
Good luck !
So I gots this MIM Stratocrapper. Setup on it is pretty good. Good action, good intonation, new strings, good playability, but lately it's been going out of tune worse than usual when wanging the wang bar. I don't do big gay 80's divebombs or anything with it, but little surfy wiggles and slow bends down knock it out of tune way worse than it used to. What could be the cause of this new suckage? Gimme some ideas please.
Oh and I have 9's on it with the standard 3 trem springs.
You are aware that Strat trems are notorious for this? My personal experience (I play a lot of trem equipt Strats) has steered me to doing a number of little things. I'm assuming (sorry) that this is a vintage style (6 screw) trem? If this is the, case it's important to set the unit up correctly. That means starting with the 6 screws that mount the trem to the body. What I do is to remove the strings and leave on the center spring. loosen all 6 of the screws until there is a noticeable gap between the screw heads and the trem plate tighten the two outboard screws until they just touch the plate then back off 1/8th of a turn. Leave the other four with a 1/16th" or so gap between the heads and the plate. Put your springs back on, 3 is good for .009's.
I use pencil lead filings to lubricate the grooves in the nut. Most Strat trem tuning issues are the G string binding in the nut. I'm sure others will recommend other lubes, I've been using pencil lead for 35 years and it works for me.
It is possible to bind strings behind the bridge saddles but it's not as likely. in this case you can either polish the bridge saddles and place a touch of lube, like Vaseline, on the string to saddle contact area. Others things you can do is to put a touch of Vaseline on the trem mounting screws, go to heavier strings, you may find that .010's sound a bit better. Also, consider whether you need the trem "full floating" or not. This is set up so you can pull up as well as push down. For me, I use a little extra tension on the trem springs to "suck" the trem down onto the body. So I only push the trem down and not up. This, to my ear, improves the tone of the axe by improving vibration transfer to the body. It also prevents the guitar from going out of tune if you break a string. A last resort might be to replace the nut with a roller nut. I've done this on one of my Strats that has the trem full floating. Nothing else worked on this guitar. So there's some things to try. Just look long and hard at the entire mechanism from the tuners to the spring claw and try to understand exactly where the bind is.
Good luck !
Strat trem problems
It does look as if the nut slots have worn, that would eventualy cause the problem you describe. I always oil all parts that come into contact with the strings or anything conected to the trem system i.e, the spring claw, the springs (where they go into the block too), the saddle string holes, the saddle slots or string/saddle contact point, string trees on the headstock, and the six bridge plate screws. You should use a clean machine oil and wipe off any excess with kitchen towel. Put either oil or graphite (powdered pencil lead) into the nut slots under the strings. Make sure the bridge is pivoting on the two outer screws only, the others should be raised slightly above the bridge plate. Keep to a minimum the string wrap on the machine heads and bend the string the opposite way to the way it will wrap around the machine head poles. Wind the strings on so the wraping goes down toward the headstock. Put a little oil on the string wrap itself but not into the string hole/slot.
If you do the above it is virtualy impossible for the trem to come back out of tune no matter how enthusiasticaly it's used.
I hope that helps.
It does look as if the nut slots have worn, that would eventualy cause the problem you describe. I always oil all parts that come into contact with the strings or anything conected to the trem system i.e, the spring claw, the springs (where they go into the block too), the saddle string holes, the saddle slots or string/saddle contact point, string trees on the headstock, and the six bridge plate screws. You should use a clean machine oil and wipe off any excess with kitchen towel. Put either oil or graphite (powdered pencil lead) into the nut slots under the strings. Make sure the bridge is pivoting on the two outer screws only, the others should be raised slightly above the bridge plate. Keep to a minimum the string wrap on the machine heads and bend the string the opposite way to the way it will wrap around the machine head poles. Wind the strings on so the wraping goes down toward the headstock. Put a little oil on the string wrap itself but not into the string hole/slot.
If you do the above it is virtualy impossible for the trem to come back out of tune no matter how enthusiasticaly it's used.
I hope that helps.
kevin6string
New member
Is it me or does the B and G string saddle screws look like they are not exactly straight? And using 9's B and G strings go out notoriously. Not that using 9's is bad some guitars even the same model prefer one gauge over the other ( i personally use D'Addario 10-46 ) on all my Tele's and Strats but they are made in USA. Never owned a MIM so my opinion may not mean anything. And thats not to say they are bad so i am not dissing where it was made by any means. They look slightly angled left compared to the others and maybe binding from what i see. May need a replacement bridge. But i Agree, new nut "bone" if ya can get one and i always use a #2 pencil on any unwound string in a nut groove. My 84 USA strat can dive bomb with stock trem with the 10's and stay in tune( 3 springs), Altho that is'nt my style. i been playing Counrty, classic rock and blues for 40 plus years...Good Luck.
Interesting. The conversation steered off-topic for a bit, and then bam! Four posts in a row from people with tiny little post counts. There are definitely outside forces at play here! Suspicious!
No matter, the Strat in question is now obsolete and will never be touched again! Yay!
No matter, the Strat in question is now obsolete and will never be touched again! Yay!
muttley600
Banned
Interesting. The conversation steered off-topic for a bit, and then bam! Four posts in a row from people with tiny little post counts. There are definitely outside forces at play here! Suspicious!
No matter, the Strat in question is now obsolete and will never be touched again! Yay!
lol. thats what I thought. I got a slap last time I posted in this thread so I ain't going to bother posting help anymore...
lol. thats what I thought. I got a slap last time I posted in this thread so I ain't going to bother posting help anymore...
I'll PM you if I need any help.
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
I wanna see what has made the Strat obsolete.
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
Okay. I'll be patient.Oh man, it's badass. Arrived yesterday. I'm gonna take some pics today.
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
Okay. I'm being patient here.
nasticanasta
New member
someone here said his trem went out of tune using lighter string gauges and switching to 10 gauge, I have never had a problem with this, I use a classic 9-42 gauge and i use it on a stock Strat Fender trem (floating), I have never had a problem with it going out of tune, I rarely play it too, and whenever it is taken out of it's case...it is in tune, ALWAYS. But then again i purposely worked with all kinds of trems to understand and adjust, fix, repair them. The gauge of strings shouldn't be an issue with tuning at all. I have all kinds of guitars...61 Gibson ES-330, 62 Tele string thru body, 64 Melody Maker real Leo Quan Badass, 73 Strat floating stock trem, 90's Westone Trevor Rabin Signature Series III TRS-101 locking trem, 90's Westone Pantera 275 Floyd Rose, 90's USA BC Rich Stealth neck thru Kahler Pro, 90's USA BC Rich Ironbird neck thru Floyd Rose, 94 Gibson SG Special, 07 ESP MH-250 neck thru Floyd Rose, 10 Gibson Les Paul Standard, 11 ESP Eclipse...no tuning issues with any of these and I use Ernie Ball 9-42 on all of them.