Dead sounding strat?

[j9fd3s]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

a big problem is that there is hardly any sustain.... maybe 3 seconds. Action and relief appear to be fine. I use 10s and they feel very stiff... I could go for a slinkier feel, maybe back down to 9s or something. I've tried duncans and dimarzios, and the pickup sound is good but the guitar itself needs to sound and play better.

That 6 page resonance thread is great, as are many of your suggestions. I may dig into that thread and try some things in the future... hopefully without dropping much money (if any).

redoing mine, i used a new nut, and strings. everything else was labor.

i'd suggest doing it cheap first, and then upgrading stuff. see what you have first

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

A set of active pickups. Don't they do Blackouts in single coil size now?

My Jackson RR3 never sounded great, despite trying a variety of different pickups - I was going to sell it, then someone suggested I try actives and, well, they made it sound awesome.
I believe "dead" wood isn't such an issue with actives.

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

i have an emg 60a and 85 on the way. i'd planned to put them in my prs se, but i've gotten such great sounds from tweaking my passives lately (hex screws are awesome) that i may toss them in the strat and see what they do... the strings just sound so weak and there's no "feel", even plugged in. my neck is hooked to a 250k and my bridge to a 500k (both p 90s) so i thought about swapping that and seeing if it helps. I dunno man, seems like there's nothing i can do, but im not going to sell it. maybe actives, maybe digging into some real labor on the guitar will help.

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

is it an ordeal to take the neck out, check out the neck pocket, and re-fasten it? seems like this is my best bet without spending any money.

 

[arbiter]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

i had the same issue with good playability/poor tone on a vintage MIM strat. threre are basically three things to check. first one is the aforementioned neck joint, just loosen up the screws for about a quarter-turn with strings attached. you should hear a faint click as the neck sets in better. then screw it back tight. that should improve sustain. then check the bridge, if it is a trem screw it down tight until the block makes contact with the wood or put a little block of wood between those. you should now have at least decent sustain, the rest is probably due to a bad block of wood the body is made of (as in my case). then stick a high output pup of your choice in it - i put the invader in, and some 500k pots. the guitar rocks now. it is fit for almost any application.

 

[j9fd3s]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

is it an ordeal to take the neck out, check out the neck pocket, and re-fasten it? seems like this is my best bet without spending any money.

you need to remove the strings, but other than that its just those 4 screws.

your goal is to maximize the contact area between the neck and the body.

i just looked at several of my guitars. i'll use the 2007 MIM strat as my example.

1. the heel of the neck should be flat. back of the heel should be flat. there is always some pulled up wood around the screw holes, plus theres a sticker too. the back of the neck should be reasonable, mine had all kinds of mill marks in it.

2. the neck pocket in the body should also be flat. ideally it should be bare wood, although imo light overspray is ok. my MIM was bare

3. check out the neck plate, i love to torque the neck, i have it TIGHT, so all my neck plates are bent. i sand em straighter, although i'd like a thicker/stringer one....

4. this is an odd one, but my MIM neck didnt actually contact the rear of the neck pocket. it took a shim.

when you assemble it, dont tighten the screws until the strings are on, you wanna let the strings pull the neck back.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

You can't polish a turd. If the guitar sounds terrible, the only way you're going to cover that up is by using pickups that don't take wood much into the equation - something active like EMGs. If the sustain is bad, but the strings feed through the nut smoothly and sit in the saddles on the bridge well, you're not going to make it significantly better by changing it out. I don't care what folks say about the ultra lightweight aluminum and titanium stuff, that's a load of BS as far as I'm concerned. The only thing I've noticed with different bridges is that the tone frequencies get shifted (the TonePros and the like give it more upper mid snap and treble extension, but at the expense of the bass).

 

[tc]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

Aluminum bridge hardware and a refinish.

If it has a thick finish, replace it with a thin finish.

Installing a new bridge is easy...but eating through a thick Fender finish is lotsa hard work man!

is it an ordeal to take the neck out, check out the neck pocket, and re-fasten it? seems like this is my best bet without spending any money.

Not at all, as long as you don't do it with your strings on! that would be fun...in a very twisted way.

Just remove string tension in any way you like better, be it taking the strings off or whatever, unscrew the 4 screws and check. When you retighten try not to over torque it because I've asked around and cracking on the finish next to the neck pocket is quite common, even if people here like to have thousands of pounds worth of pressure holding the neck and body together...

 

[uOpt]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

Can I fix it up?

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Dead sounding strat?

CLEAR! SHE'S STILL BREATHING!

I forgot all about this thread. Luckily, I did a bunch of stuff to my strat, and I've been jamming on it for a solid month, barely touching my other gits. Sounds AWESOME. Here's what I did:

changed the neck tone pot from 250k to 500k
put the stock A5s back in the VPAF Hot, neck soapbar
put a business card shim into the neck pocket ala "Improving Resonance in a Stratocaster"
adjusted my tremolo bridge to float again
removed a tremolo spring
tuned guitar up a half step

These last three things are what restored the magic. In my earlier efforts to hardtail the strat, apparently I killed all the vibe. That is, I think hardtailing the bridge added unnecessary tension to the strings which made the guitar a boar to play. Tuning up a half step, in combination with removing one tremolo spring (putting me at two tremolo springs) brought this baby back to life.

I didn't even change the strings, adjust action, or adjust relief.

Owners of dead sounding strats, have no fear! I had literally given up on this guitar, attempted to sell it, and the only reason I kept it was sentimental value. Why? Because I'd BEEN tweaking it, adjusting it, messing with it for years! And I thought I'd exhausted my options. But between the guidance of this forum and some creative experimentation on my part, I've led this strat back into my heart.

Hope this helps out some folks