having trouble with the low e string on my strat

o.p-i.v

o.p-i.v

New member
the height is set pretty low on the saddle and yet the string is miles above the fretboard at the higher frets. It also sounds horrible when you play the upper frets, the pitch sounds off and theres something really wrong but i have no clue
 
Re: having trouble with the low e string on my strat

Sounds like the neck and/or middle pickup is to close to the string. The polepiece is an actual magnet and when you fret the E string up high the polepiece's magnetism is pulling the string out of tune. Back off the neck and/or middle pickup - they're to close to the string on the bass side. The treble side can be closer.
 
Re: having trouble with the low e string on my strat

Lower the saddle
Tweak the truss rod so when you hold down the 1st and 14th, the 7th fret has just a glimmer of light between it and the string. Then make sure most of the notes read dead center on a tuner...move the saddle toward the pickups if it's flat, and toward the end if it's sharp. And like was mentioned above, lower your pickups enough so they're not magnetically pulling on the string.
 
Re: having trouble with the low e string on my strat

Sounds to me like there's too much relief in the neck. That's fixable. Strats have a problem with "wolf tones" on the higher frets with the low strings anyway, but the neck is my first guess.
 
Re: having trouble with the low e string on my strat

lowered the pickups all the way down, and the problem is still there, im guessing its neck relief but for some reason my 1/8" allen wrench (standard size fender truss rods, right?) wont fit into the rod, rendering me unable to adjust it. Is there a different size i should use?
 
Re: having trouble with the low e string on my strat

go to the hardware and get a set of extra long ones in different sizes.
You might want to have a look at your neck ANGLE as well as the neck relief.
 
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