Re: Strat Guys....Bridge...Floating Or Decked?
Not either. Not floating, not decked. I guess blocked? I have the bridge positioned about 1/8 inch off the rear deck so that, along with the paint under the 6 screw mounting area removed, none if it touches paint.
I positioned two oak blocks on each side of the trem block, sanded and sized to be completely flush with both the trem block and the body caivity walls, where I also removed the paint. Because the trem block is not perfectly parallel with the caivty wall, each oak block is slightly angled. Kinda tough to sand to the right dimensions and then position both, but I got it to work. Each oak block is as big as will fit along the non-curved cavity walls and extend down to just before touching the plastic back plate.
I left two springs attached to keep the grounding and any possible ringing that may still occur like the original setup, but I doubt much actually does.
This is on a new MIM alder strat that's pretty bright. The bridge buckers I was testing seemed weak, non-sustaining, and undefined. These changes clearly increased sustain and clarity (very very moderately though, not like some huge difference), and I swear I detect a slight output increase, but that could be just perception from the sustain and clarity improvements. And now the guitar resonates much more and through the center to the neck. Before it felt like a lot was lost through the floating trail from the bridge to the claw. I did lose a bit of that strat ringiness, but some of it is still there. Overall it's a more focused and controlled sound, with enough strat vibe. Before and I after, I spent time with the guitar hanging from a wall neck mount and just strumming in different ways and lightly feeling what was going on all over it. With the changes more resonance finds it's way through the two body horns and to the neck joint, wiht less going on around that cavity. Again, not huge differences, but enough to notice.
No clue what exact change made the differences, and maybe it's just the sum of them, but they are noticeable and in the direction I wanted. And no clue if avoiding the deck made any difference, because I didn't try decking it, but it doesn't matter now because I'm happy with where I'm at.
Now I need to address the rattling saddles, or something around that area, which has always been there. Some of the cheap intonation screws seem to fit too loosely, and, even with the tesnsion of strings holding the saddles down, it seems llike they are vibrating in their channels. Or maybe something further back into the trem block. I've been eyeing new saddles anyway, so we'll see if that helps.
