Stratocaster sustain question

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

By adjusted do you mean the the curve of the neck? or fitting the neck in the bolts?

I can't totally tell without looking at the thing, but mostly the curve. I wouldn't call it dead yet. Get it set up professionally, and if it still happens then I don't know what to tell you. Like Edgecrusher says, this just screams bad set up based on the symptoms. MORE sustain when strummed lightly and/or on open strings then fretted ones? That sounds too irregular and specific to be just a tone dead guitar.

 

[stef89]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

I can't totally tell without looking at the thing, but mostly the curve. I wouldn't call it dead yet. Get it set up professionally, and if it still happens then I don't know what to tell you. Like Edgecrusher says, this just screams bad set up based on the symptoms. MORE sustain when strummed lightly and/or on open strings then fretted ones? That sounds too irregular and specific to be just a tone dead guitar.

My neck is fine, so is string height and and the bridge. Ive been setting up my guitars for 14 years I feel comfortable in that area.

 

[stef89]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

I started this thread mainly for information about strats. But again I really think im just not use to the scale length of the guitar

 

[AlexR]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Play your guitar very carefully with your ear near the strings - no amp. Listen closely to the timbre and volume of the fretted notes vs open strings. You should be able to hear the difference, and being close to the fretboard you may hear some of the slight buzzing if thats causing the issue.

 

[dotsdad]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Ive been setting up my guitars for 14 years I feel comfortable in that area.

Read the stratocaster setup guide from fenders website and follow Fender's advice. I am not questioning your setup skill, I am simply suggesting that Fender Knows more about setting up a Stratocaster than you do.

http://www2.fender.com/support/articles/stratocaster-setup-guide/

 

[stef89]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Lowered my pickups even further and it seems to have fixed the problem. Never had this problem with my humbucking guitars. Thanks for your help guys

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Lowered my pickups even further and it seems to have fixed the problem. Never had this problem with my humbucking guitars. Thanks for your help guys

Thats common.. the rod mags in strat single coils are much more prone to causing the issue than the bar mags in humbuckers

 

[stef89]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Thats common.. the rod mags in strat single coils are much more prone to causing the issue than the bar mags in humbuckers

Good to know thanks!

 

[stef89]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

By the way. Fender setup guide suggest humbucker height of 1,6mm. Do you guys set em that high?

 

[greekdude]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Lowered my pickups even further and it seems to have fixed the problem. Never had this problem with my humbucking guitars. Thanks for your help guys

Its the material of the pup, read here : http://www.dimarzio.com/faq#55/62/7585

 

[stef89]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Its the material of the pup, read here : http://www.dimarzio.com/faq#55/62/7585

Wery helpfull. Bokmarked.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

So I got my first am strat. Been playing Gibson type guitars all my life. First thing ive notised is the fender strat barely has any sustain.. Compared to my American washburn and gibson melody maker wich vibrate and sustains for really long. Is this normal for fender guitars? Is it the bolt on neck? Ive flushed my bridge raised the action lowered the pickups to get the magnets away from the string doesent make it better.

It might feel shorter because it is brighter. Higher overtones decade faster, so brighter guitars appear to have less sustain. You should record single notes on all three guitars. Then you filter hard at 1000 Hz or so. Then you look at or listen to the length of the sustain of the sub-1000 Hz portion.

If there still is a question here's the order of things:
- clean out the neck pocket, or if it clean already add a shim to increase angle
- if it has short sustain, does it sound bad? Some guitars are acoustically loud and give off all the energy. But they might sound much richer from it. If so and if you still don't like it ditch it to somebody who wants that.
- try a known-good tremolo. Saddles might also be an issue
- try with a different neck to narrow down the issue

Sadly you gave no indication of what kind of Strat that is.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Lowered my pickups even further and it seems to have fixed the problem. Never had this problem with my humbucking guitars. Thanks for your help guys

Thats a help, but if you are still not happy after some time and a good setup. Sell the axe.
You earlier mentioned that it does not sustain well acoustically. That is the real benchmark.
Not all strats are created equal. Play as many strats as you can get your hands on and use the funds from this axe to go towards getting the best one you play.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

I have a reissue American '62 Stratocaster that has little sustain. The body is lightweight, the neck is heavy, and the pickup output is weaker than all my other Fender's, except my Jaguar. I also have a 1966 Stratocaster with a Fender replacement bridge that has a heavier block. The body is heavy, the neck is heavy and has that big, groovy 1960's headstock. I have at least 4 springs on each, but neither has the bridge flat to the body. The 1966 sustains just like my Les Paul Standard. With the '62 reissue, however, by increasing amp input gain (real tube amps only) I can recover some admirable sustain out of it. It's still a worthy gig player because that sucker stays in tune more than any other guitar I have, even with 10s on it and bending the hell out of it for 2 hours. Different guitars are different, but you can make up for some of the deficiencies elsewhere in the chain if you are willing to go that route. If that doesn't cut it for you, you'll have to decide if it's worth sinking money into mods or just getting a different guitar that does what you need.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

It's still a worthy gig player because that sucker stays in tune more than any other guitar I have, even with 10s on it and bending the hell out of it for 2 hours.

Then, upgrade the tuners and get a decent well cut nut in every one of the rest of your suckers and the tuning problems will be gone on them as well. Still puzzled on what is so special about 10's and big bends....

 

[stef89]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Im positive we can call this thread solved now. After I lowered my pickups I can see the strings vibrate a whole lot more and the sustain doesent just suddenly die out it rings out now. Like Uopt mentioned its a much brighter sound that im also not used to.

So all single coil pickups with A5 rods should be lowered more then all others right?

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Then, upgrade the tuners and get a decent well cut nut in every one of the rest of your suckers and the tuning problems will be gone on them as well. Still puzzled on what is so special about 10's and big bends....

+1 to this.

I have a trem guitar with minor tuning issues and I can even hear the string that always goes out of tune binding at the nut. I do not know of any good techs here in Greece yet where I can bring it, but one day it will get dealt with.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Im positive we can call this thread solved now. After I lowered my pickups I can see the strings vibrate a whole lot more and the sustain doesent just suddenly die out it rings out now. Like Uopt mentioned its a much brighter sound that im also not used to.

So all single coil pickups with A5 rods should be lowered more then all others right?

Again, this could be a side effect. Very high pickups are very bright. They don't make bright up on their own, "bright" means picking up a lot of high overtones that decay faster. So there is still a question of whether the actual sustain in the base tones is really different.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

I have a reissue American '62 Stratocaster that has little sustain. The body is lightweight, the neck is heavy, and the pickup output is weaker than all my other Fender's, except my Jaguar. I also have a 1966 Stratocaster with a Fender replacement bridge that has a heavier block. The body is heavy, the neck is heavy and has that big, groovy 1960's headstock. I have at least 4 springs on each, but neither has the bridge flat to the body. The 1966 sustains just like my Les Paul Standard. With the '62 reissue, however, by increasing amp input gain (real tube amps only) I can recover some admirable sustain out of it. It's still a worthy gig player because that sucker stays in tune more than any other guitar I have, even with 10s on it and bending the hell out of it for 2 hours. Different guitars are different, but you can make up for some of the deficiencies elsewhere in the chain if you are willing to go that route. If that doesn't cut it for you, you'll have to decide if it's worth sinking money into mods or just getting a different guitar that does what you need.

Is it much louder acoustically?

 

[greekdude]

Re: Stratocaster sustain question

Is it much louder acoustically?

all of my loud guitars had poor sustain. All of my acoustically dead guitars had great sustain. The partial explanation is partially obvious.