left hand strat neck

S

SJ318

New member
Hello,
I asked this on a thread but got no response, so If I go from .009 to ,095-D'Adarrio, I feel the extra tension and it stays uncomfortable, and weeks of playing do not make it feel easier to bend on my strat.
So my question is: would a reverse headstock strat or any neck with the high E tuner close to the nut make the .095 feel easier to bend?
I know 99% of you don't care and can't tell. So no need to call me a p**sy, I already know that. I am talking to anyone like me or anyone who has used a left hand neck or a tuning peg high E close to the nut on a strat scale.
Thanks for any informative responses in advance,
Steven JB
 
Re: left hand strat neck

I have a lefty neck on one of my strats, I will compare it when I get home Sunday night. If you are thinking about buying a new neck, why not a short scale conversion neck from Warmoth?
 
Re: left hand strat neck

^Shortscale or the reverse??
Maybe it needs a good setup?
Some guitars are just more stiff to play than others, or the action and radius are unfavorable setup?
Personally I think D'Addarios are soft and easy strings to use, anyways the reverse will make the lower stings easier to bend, while the B an E will get alittle more stiff in feel.
 
Re: left hand strat neck

AlexR,
How could a tuning peg closest to the nut make it harder? I am only concerned with the high E, B, and G strings. The low strings I tend to pull away from me, and I can pull a heavy string down far easier than pushing a heavy string up. I bet that helped A. King, but if he were alive he would kick my a*s for saying that.
Thanks for answering BTW,
SJ
 
Re: left hand strat neck

SJ318 said:
AlexR,
How could a tuning peg closest to the nut make it harder? I am only concerned with the high E, B, and G strings. The low strings I tend to pull away from me, and I can pull a heavy string down far easier than pushing a heavy string up. I bet that helped A. King, but if he were alive he would kick my a*s for saying that.
Thanks for answering BTW,
SJ
Click to expand...

A lot of the feel difference comes from the break angle, and the amount of string behind the nut. I've found topwrapping a LP helps with strings feeling slinkier even with the same string gauge. So there is a slight reduction of break angle, and a slight increase in string length behind the playing length. A lefty neck will give you the high strings with the worst of the setup - All the reverse necks I've had on strats have felt like this.
 
Re: left hand strat neck

AlexR- I was under the impression that, and have read, and been told, that if your high E string's tuning peg is close to the nut, the easier it is to bend. The idea I was told was that there is literally less LENTGH of string to bend. THAT is my one and only reason for asking. I am not trying to come of as a jerk. So to be more literal, you men that the high E string "break" is the sharper downward bend from the nut to the tuner, yes? So the Gibson being easier to bend is because of scale length, not the break angle, if I read you correctly?
Vasshu - Albert played his guitar reversed allright, but he left his strings the way a right hander would have them - that's why I said what I did. Albert did not "push" when he bent his strings, he "pulled". I find pulling is easier than pushing strings, and tried it out for fun the Albert King way, just using a 9 in the low E position to "feel" what pulling is like. To me it is easier. And my set up is spot on, I personally radius the neck w/a 20" radius, so there are no fret "buzz-outs" and I also scoop the neck a tad so I can really get my finger under the string. Not much wood touches my fingers, but I am able to do so w/out pushing the strings out of tune on the fretboard. Also I use a slippery TusqXL nut on everything I own except my Jeff Beck LSR. But thanks for asking, I should have said that first. Also you agree w/AlexR about the reverse making the high E harder to bend. You can see what I thought in my answer to him. I guess that idea is wrong then, regardless of the amount of times I have heard that. Is the break angle what you think also?
Funkfingers-the whole idea was to get a more even "acoustic" volume from string to string, as I like heavier bottom strings, so 10-38 would be going in the wrong direction, but thank you for the suggestion.
Archer250- ....I think you are right. I will just stick to 9's. My idea seems to have bad mojo attached to it.
I'd like to personally thank all of you folks for responding and especially disabusing me of "length" as the problem, if that is the case. I thought that was why my Gibson guitars felt easier, string length, not break angle or scale length.
Steve B.
 
Re: left hand strat neck

Have you loosened the tension on the trem springs at the claw ? The difference between 9s and 10s is a very small amount and you should be able to match the tension unless you have almost none on the tremolo already ? Lot of things you can do with the setup to help too. You have the truss rod tightened all the way by chance? Really low and tight string trees? Nut slots not large enough etc?
 
Re: left hand strat neck

I have felt the opposite in the reverse necks I have had. I've also guitars topwrapped and felt the difference there. Both of these cases the slinkier feeling strings either had less break angle, a greater distance behind the scale length or both. Of course my own experience is only with a handful of guitars, so its possible my 100% strike rate in this might just be fluke.
 
Re: left hand strat neck

Funkfingers-oh man, the Hendrix Card! I can't possibly reply to that. Although a 15 for a g with a 10 on top is certainly different, but hey, it's Jimi.
Oinkus- Staggered tuners, no string trees, Strat at all time adjusted to pull up from an open G to an A#, regardless of string gauge, as I said a slippery tusqXL nut on all but my J Beck LSR. I laid it all out already. See my response #10.
To everyone. Thanks, but we are going in circles now. I don't know how I could make my question clearer, and when you have to repeat yourself and things get off topic, well, I'd say it's time to call this one quits. I really do appreciate your time and thanks for chiming in.
Cheers,
Sj
 
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Re: left hand strat neck

Sidenote...Hendrix had big amps...those do not need the extra meat on the bottom, plus a Fender already has nice long scale lenght that gives a good clean low end.
Well it seems that your guitar is just a stiff bastard with bigger strings :D
What bridge does it have?
How is the angle of the neck?
 
Re: left hand strat neck

Using a lefty neck will make the "problem" worse, not better. Howzabout you simply don't use strings that you dislike?
 
Re: left hand strat neck

Vasshu- hello,
I have 4 Strat necks, all re-radiused by me the way I personally like them, and I had them each checked on 2 Warmouth bodies and the third neck on my Jeff Beck guitar. The luthier I use here is getting kinda famous (Joe Riggio) so he says although he likes a more traditional radius, mine looked straight, truss rod good, angle right on, so I trust him. The fourth and last neck will be going into my final guitar, a chambered Warmoth.
All of my Strats have the same bridge, the 2 Fulcrum Deluxe Fender Tremolo Bridge like the one that came with my Jeff Beck Fender. For my new one I will be getting the pop in arm update.
Vasshu- and any one else still listening, the MAIN, SINGLE question I am asking is: a left hand Strat uses less string length on the high E string than a right hand Strat, so does that make it easier to bend a string.
AlexR had an interesting idea about the break from the nut to tuner being sharper, but they all go straight from my low E to my high E with staggered tuners, all in a no break straight path.
So my basic question has to do with AMOUNT of string length, period, that's all.
I agree with your Hendrix thought, I know it to be true.
Well, thanks again, maybe I made myself a little clearer.
Thanks.
SJ
 
Re: left hand strat neck

As mentioned before and said by others, the top strings will be even harder due to the short length from the nut to the tuner.
Have had a few reversed strats, they all where slightly stiffer on the top strings than my normal ones.
Ok on the bridge....
Hehe I yanked mine off the Beck....worn out the baseplate and posts in a meagre two years, did not wanna bother with another soft Fender vibrato, so I got a two post Gotoh 510 series for it instead.
 
Re: left hand strat neck

Vasshu-
The Gotoh 510 looks very cool, and I would get that as my first choice, but the guy doing my chambered body can get me such a good deal on Fender, I just can't pass it up. Maybe next year.
Hey, now that you know and understand my basic question, AND ANSWERED it, can you tell me the scientific reason why it would be stiffer that way, just for fun, of course!
Cheers and thanks Vasshu,
SJBuffington
 
Re: left hand strat neck

It only has to do with the tension from the nut to the tuner, as the pitch is the same when they are tuned up, I guess the best way of saying this is, the long thick E string is easier to lift out of the nuts slot than the thin E string, due to angle and the length of the string behind the nut.
On my Ibanez guitars I use D'Addario balanced strings, they have an angled headstock(yeah one has a locknut, but I can still feel the different stringtension behind the nut hehe), on my strat I use either old Fender 250's and EB RPS strings, don't like the D'Addarios on that one!

Anyways I cannot find the site where the tension was measured on the different guitars, shoved a really good picture of the different scalelengths and headstocks.
Found this one...seems that the word tension is misused often :D

http://guitarz.blogspot.dk/2009/08/of-reverse-headstocks-and-string.html
 
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Re: left hand strat neck

Vasshu,
Thank you - that article was very informative AND SCIENTIFIC. What could be better?
Good job, well done,
SJ
 
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