Hell has frozen over....

[jisham]

[kizanski]

"Strats hate me!"

LOL!

Hey, if I could buy a MAC, anything can happen!

[LordOfTheThighs]

Where's your shoes?

Where are ya playing at .... Kentucky or West Virginia?

Nice Strat btw.

[jisham]

Where's your shoes?

Where are ya playing at .... Kentucky or West Virginia?

Nice Strat btw.

Glen Burnie MD, which might as well be KY or WV.

[currypowder]

Where's your shoes?

Where are ya playing at .... Kentucky or West Virginia?

Nice Strat btw.

HEY! I resemble that remark.

[BTMN]

Man, you a guitar nut!!! What about.......

[BubbaVO]

shoot! if you found one that likes you, keep it! Though I have to admit considering all the pics of the mahogany you've strapped on in the last year its kind of different to see you shifting gears like that. : )

[hamerican gigolo]

Where's your shoes?

Where are ya playing at .... Kentucky or West Virginia?

Nice Strat btw.

HEY! I resemble that remark.

So do i!

[Turdus]

White Strat, Rosewood neck..... that's the combo right there.

[jisham]

White Strat, Rosewood neck..... that's the combo right there.

It needs some work -- I can't keep it tune worth shit. The nut is binding big time from what I can tell, and every time I engage the trem, all the strings go sharp. I'm gonna have to take it to my tech for sure.

Any of you Strat lovers have any tuning tips?

I do like the sound and vibe of it though, and it's a blast to play...very different from what I usually use.

[edgar_allan_poe]

Hell has indeed frozen over....this is the first pic I have seen of you at a gig where you look like a complete dork. ROTFLMAO!!! Your rock icon status has just taken a major hit in my book. LOL!!!!!

WTF did you get those shorts? Did you ride a skateboard to the gig? (poe ducks Jaye's left cross to his chin)

[DEMENTED]

I don't know Jaye...you don't look too comfortable with that Fendre strapped on, uh, yeah. Ummm, you need to relic it or something.

[atquinn]

I don't know Jaye...you don't look too comfortable with that Fendre strapped on, uh, yeah. Ummm, you need relic it or something.

Yeah, I mean, I hate relics and everything, but seeing you with that pristine white strat makes me think relics might have a purpose after all

-Austin

[Armitage]

It's official.

[Zoner]

Hey Jaye, as a certified Strat Cat I feel I can give some pointers in the "how do I keep this $%^& thing in tune" dept.

First off, unless you have some sort of space-age nut, you're gonna need some lube in there. Nut slots like graphite or something like Big Bends Nut Sauce (never tried it, but folks recommend it a lot for this purpose).

Of course, make sure there is no binding going on in the first place. It looks like the plank you are weiding in the pic is at least the American Standard version so I'd be surprised if the nutwork was really shoddy, but you never know. I don't know if you have the trem set up to float at all, but having a good solid setup for your string of choice is obviously step #1. I have my bridges set up so I can pull up a fair bit, too, and that is part of the method I use to tune the dang things and get them to stay there.

First off, tune each string bringing it up in pitch to your target. Then, take the whammy bar and depress it so the strings go nearly flat against the fingerboard. Let 'em back up and see where the pitch is. If you have gone sharp, try pulling the bar up and see if it gets you back in tune. If this action gets you back in tune, you're almost there. If not, try doing a whole-step bend and see if you drop back down to tuned. What you are trying to do is find the balance point where any sharpness due to diving or bending can be quickly "pulled" back in to tune. You end up tuning, dive-bombing, pulling up and starting all over again until it staays pretty well in tune no matter how abusive you get. Often times you have to tune a hair flat, do the drop, and it will jump up into proper tuning. I have had great luck keeping most of my Strats in tune this way, with the exception of my Jeff Beck, but that has a special (PITA) roller nut that I suspect is more trouble than it's worth.

It might seem like a silly ritual, but with a little time and some proper setup and maintenance a traditional Strat trem can be made to stay pretty well in tune unless you are being radical. You should be able to grab the arm and do very wide vibrato stuff and not budge a bit out of tune. Or, there is always the Floyd Rose system Let me know if you need any help getting that thing dialed in. They are well worth the effort! Love the color choice, too.

Z

[intelligentpony]

One thing I do with a two point trem is to raise it off of the top. If it is adjusted down where the forward edge if the trem plate is against the top it can bind against the top. I raise it so the trem plate is 1/8" off the deck. I then get it level with the top. Pretty much how a floating Floyd Rose is set up. With it set up like this it is a lot less likely to bind and go sharp. You will need to adjust the neck angle to get the action back down to a playable height (unless you are also wanting to play slide). Hope this makes sense and helps.

[bubs_42]

White Strat, Rosewood neck..... that's the combo right there.

It needs some work -- I can't keep it tune worth shit. The nut is binding big time from what I can tell, and every time I engage the trem, all the strings go sharp. I'm gonna have to take it to my tech for sure.

Any of you Strat lovers have any tuning tips?

I do like the sound and vibe of it though, and it's a blast to play...very different from what I usually use.

Only one suggestion.... Strat Plus Baby!!! Get you a fender Roller Nut. I have two Early 90's Strat Plus's and I never have anytuning problems and they both sound great.

[MTM105]

Do you crush grapes with those feet?

Part-time chiropractor walkng up/down spines?

Training for the UFC?

Did you sell your shoes for the Strat?

Or OP is setting self up for a Jeff Foxworthy joke. You just MIGHT be a redneck if you think your Jimi Hendrix and play barefooted....... and think HELL has just frozen over on a Hamer forum.

[JGale]

You're right.

I wouldn't wear that earring with that outfit either!

[jorg]

I can't remember what fender calls 'em but my '95 strat+ has the roller nut with ball bearings and locking tuners. My '91 deluxe strat+ had a different roller nut that was much wider and would require modification. The ball bearing model seems to work better IMO.

[bubs_42]

I can't remember what fender calls 'em but my '95 strat+ has the roller nut with ball bearings and locking tuners. My '91 deluxe strat+ had a different roller nut that was much wider and would require modification. The ball bearing model seems to work better IMO.

87 to 92/93 they were the wilkenson nut's then they switched to the LSR nut. I have a SilverBurst 91 with the Wilkenson and a Pewter 91 that has been fitted with the LSR. Both Good nut's and I have not issues. Story goes that fender replaced faulty Wilky's with the LSR. My guess is that it was cheaper to use the LSR since they could use the Fender Nut Slot... Either way, they work! NOT TO MENTION, that the string tention is improved, no string tree required.

[Boogie1]

Yup. That's how I felt when I picked up my first Strat in 30 years. They work real well on some songs though!

[jisham]

Thanks for all the tuning suggestions -- it's off to my tech this week and I'm sure he'll get it dialed in for me. The trem bridge is flat on the body right now and after reading this thread and playing it some more last night, that's definitely part of the problem. We'll see how it does after my tech does his mojo.

Hell has indeed frozen over....this is the first pic I have seen of you at a gig where you look like a complete dork. ROTFLMAO!!! Your rock icon status has just taken a major hit in my book. LOL!!!!!

WTF did you get those shorts? Did you ride a skateboard to the gig? (poe ducks Jaye's left cross to his chin)

Obviously you've missed several episodes of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" Robert.

As for the clothes -- I don't give a fuck what you all think. It was 105 degrees Saturday here and damn near that inside the club. Just as important, those shorts and the Strat are birthday presents so . . .

But....it's Monday morning and my feet STILL hurt. ARRRGGGHHHH...I'll never play barefoot again.

[kizanski]

You know Poe's in trouble when he is called "Robert."

[Siaip Ciuvas]

Jaye - for sure you haven't earned respect points showing up here with this strat

jokes aside - strat trem is notorious for an effort and number of tricks required to keep it in tune and yes, its not Floyd Rose so divebomb will bring it out of tune. I have read many (and use few) tricks to keep it in tune as possible, some of them are here (yes, I have strat too...):

- get decent nut. Some cheapo nuts are the problems themselves

- try different cut on the nut, for some (e.g. EVH) it was one of the ways to cope with it before he find his way to FRose.

- lubricate the nut, I use some silicon lubricator used in some electronic machinery, but big bends nut sauce I guess does the thing too.

- try to leave minimum necessary string wounds on tuners, some say it helps.

- I also do extreme string kick in excercise - pulling them hard in different places, it helps too.

and there are lots of tricks out there, which may work or not. Try yourself and decide what helped in your case. From theoretical standpoint the weakest links are string trees and nut, which doesn't allow strings to come back to initial tension, so focus there.