When I was 16 my father took me to a pawn shop and he bought me an old and rusted made in Mexico Strat in this exact color. The guitar played about as good as one can expect from something neglected and bought from a pawn shop...but I loved it. It was my first electric guitar, over 15 years ago. Then a friend of mine borrowed it in HS and i never saw it again in one piece. Friendship over. Ever since that day, I told myself I'd buy a strat like it again, brand new, in honor of my father inspiring me to play the guitar. This month for Xmas, I'm hitting GC Hollywood and selecting my perfect Fender. Thank you for your video. It inspires anybody who loves guitars as I do.
You let a "friend" borrow your strat? Did that guy become a badass guitar player because that sounds like the origin story to a badass guitarist. Oh yeah sorry for your loss. /s lol
Nice video. I prefer to have my bridge Floating (same guitar-American Ultra). Everyone has their own preference. I have had no issues with mine staying in tune at all since I got the guitar 2 years ago. Great playing/sounding Strat. Fender did a great job on these.
I have an Ultra strat like this but its hss and has rosewood fretboard. I played several strats and tele's and they all played and felt differently. Overall these are excellent guitars. I am a Les Paul guy but i am really enjoying my strat so far. It is taking some time to get used to because it is so different than playing a LP! Thanks for the video because i needed to learn some Fender tips!
I recently purchased an American ultra brand new while Fender and GC had a great sale going. I got it new in the box and had to do a full setup myself. No problem, I've done it several times before. I love the guitar except for some fret buzz on the high E on the 11th fret. It never frets out, but the buzz in that spot is about as close as you can get before fretting out. My American pro ll is immaculate! It's almost perfection. I just wish the fretwork on a higher end model was as good as that one. Odd.
Mr Roy, - How does setting string height action at the 17th comport with the compound radius of the keyboard of the american ultra? Wouldnt he 17th have a larger radius than the 22nd (14") and therefore an even more pronounced radius than at the bridge?
I guess so, but you are measuring the space between the underside of the string and the fret relative to your position on the fretboard... you can make adjustments to your preferred string height as you go.
Hi guys, I'm new to this guitar setting. I've been given a strategy that someone has butchered the setting, and I mean all the settings. All the saddles that have been backed right off, is there a certain measurement for each They have also been lowered as far as they go, too. It's a friends guitar, and he wants me to try setting it up so I can try to set it as he knows I've been wanting to try it. Any help would be awesome. Mark
your measurements are always relative to your technique - if you always measure it the same way (on the bench, in playing position, upside down, who cares...) your adjustments are repeatable.
@@ManotickGuitarTech "Your measurements are always relative to your technique" True, but in the 'PLAYING POSITION', which is (Body)vertical, (not upside down) (Neck width)vertical, (Neck length) Horizontal.. That's how we play, unless you're someone like: Jeff Healey or something, who puts it flat on his lap! "If you always measure it the same way (on the bench, in playing position, upside down, who cares.. (THIS IS DEPENDING ON WHAT CUSTOMERS YOU WANT TO DO WORK FOR & HOW MUCH $$$ YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE!😉) If you measure the Guitar's relief or set the Action, cut the Nut while it's flat on a bench, your measurements will be different than when you play the guitar in "playing position" ('cause the weight of the guitar pressing on the neck support.) I don't make this up, these are just the Laws of Physics as they are known to mankind today.) I saw you have a Peterson Strobo+ HD, ..So you must have some care about accuracy?🤔 A Neck Jig will simulate "playing position" It'll save you all the work from having to flip each guitar..😉 Cheers.
Oh, i love playing Stratocaster-guitars, and i love to choose guitars who are better than Fenders, especially better than Fender USA! My first Stratocaster was an end-80ies ,,Fender American Standard Stratocaster“, and it was my worst guitar ever, and i´ve had a second Fender Strat, a mexican-Version, called ,,Fender Standard Stratocaster“ and this guitar have had a Poplar-body and sounded like soft shit. And so I learned that either Fender is cheating us because they deliver poor quality and workmanship or overpriced guitars with wet, poorly stored and less vibrating woods, and trying to compensate for this with overloaded, or fat-sounding, pickups, and that is the reason for the myths of the real, old vintage Strats, because back then they tended to use woods that were stored and had better vibratability were used. Or, and this is certainly true, the production volume is so high that the company is no longer able to get wood of the same quality for the entire production, and then the really good, well-vibrating guitars come from the current production not to Germany - I am in Germany, a country that the USA keeps under military occupation to this day, so we Germans are like modern slaves of the USA Occupation Force, the USA controls Germany to this day and abuses us Germans as a source of money ! At the beginning of the 90s I got my hands on my first ESP-S-400 series Strat, now there are four, but this first one had 42 slanted annual rings and had such a great attack and cracky, bony, twangy and wiry-sound by dry-playing, and this guitar has beaten every Fender USA Custom Shop Strat by far in comparisons, let alone the production models from Fender and also a real, vintage Fender 1963 Strat. Around 2006, based on my good experiences with ESP, I bought an "ESP Vintage Plus" Strat, with the best, densest wood, superbly crafted and with a flattened neck-body transition (SSS variant), this Vintage Plus was once again on point Overtones and sustain are a step better, they easily beat the MusicMans and Suhrs and cost 1100 euros new at the time! Then in 2014 i came across a cheap used BLADE Texas Classic and was blown away. It was good, it could easily compete with the ESPs, yes it plays in the same league as ESP and cost 350 euros used. A short time later I tried a "BLADE Texas Standard Pro" with VMC midboost, similar to the "Fender Eric Clapton Signature USA-Strat", exactly the same again, it was better than any Clapton signature guitar from Fender, had better swingable woods, a flattened neck-body transition (like the BLADE Texas Classic) and therefore much better playability than Fender! So I use a lot of good Strats at home and all of them are better than what I could buy as a Fender in Germany at completely overpriced prices! That's why I prefer to play Strats, but the main thing is that it never says Fender on it, but rather ESP-S-400-Series, ESP Vintage Plus, BLADE Texas Classic or BLADE Texas Standard Pro! Well, I can prove not only purely subjectively, but very objectively in terms of sound, that there are much better things than Fender, in some cases also much cheaper and easier to play! Why should I even buy a Fender, a guitar that is worse in terms of sound and workmanship and less playable at a completely overpriced price???? Why, can someone explain this to me??????
Wow there might be "better" guitars out there that are not Fender, but nobody is going to be impressed by an obscure brand. When people buy Fender, they do so because the name alone is prestigious and impresses people. A "Blade" Strat copy isn't going to get the same reaction from people as a real Fender American Strat. That's why.
![The Perfect Stratocaster Trem / Vibrato Setup [Floating, Flat Or Blocked?]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PjVXWyUGpwc/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Perfect Stratocaster Trem / Vibrato Setup [Floating, Flat Or Blocked?]](/img/tr.png)
When I was 16 my father took me to a pawn shop and he bought me an old and rusted made in Mexico Strat in this exact color. The guitar played about as good as one can expect from something neglected and bought from a pawn shop...but I loved it. It was my first electric guitar, over 15 years ago. Then a friend of mine borrowed it in HS and i never saw it again in one piece. Friendship over. Ever since that day, I told myself I'd buy a strat like it again, brand new, in honor of my father inspiring me to play the guitar. This month for Xmas, I'm hitting GC Hollywood and selecting my perfect Fender. Thank you for your video. It inspires anybody who loves guitars as I do.
You let a "friend" borrow your strat? Did that guy become a badass guitar player because that sounds like the origin story to a badass guitarist. Oh yeah sorry for your loss. /s lol
'Bob Ross' of Guitar Technicians! Your videos are so soothing to watch with your calm demeanor. Beauty of a guitar that's beautifully set-up.
Thanks, DJ
Nice video. I prefer to have my bridge Floating (same guitar-American Ultra). Everyone has their own preference. I have had no issues with mine staying in tune at all since I got the guitar 2 years ago. Great playing/sounding Strat. Fender did a great job on these.
I have an Ultra strat like this but its hss and has rosewood fretboard. I played several strats and tele's and they all played and felt differently. Overall these are excellent guitars. I am a Les Paul guy but i am really enjoying my strat so far. It is taking some time to get used to because it is so different than playing a LP! Thanks for the video because i needed to learn some Fender tips!
Great job 👍🏻
I recently purchased an American ultra brand new while Fender and GC had a great sale going. I got it new in the box and had to do a full setup myself. No problem, I've done it several times before. I love the guitar except for some fret buzz on the high E on the 11th fret. It never frets out, but the buzz in that spot is about as close as you can get before fretting out. My American pro ll is immaculate! It's almost perfection. I just wish the fretwork on a higher end model was as good as that one. Odd.
Sometimes they miss a fret when leveling - try spot leveling to fix that problem.
Thanks
Thanks, Alan!
Mr Roy, - How does setting string height action at the 17th comport with the compound radius of the keyboard of the american ultra? Wouldnt he 17th have a larger radius than the 22nd (14") and therefore an even more pronounced radius than at the bridge?
I guess so, but you are measuring the space between the underside of the string and the fret relative to your position on the fretboard... you can make adjustments to your preferred string height as you go.
@@ManotickGuitarTech thanks for your reply
More great work from MSW! Separate note, every $1000 PRS SE I've come across has had perfect fretwork... just saying...
They are pretty good- very few lemons
Hi.
The ultra has a 10-14 compound radius. What should be the radius of the bridge saddles? How can be calculated?
Thanks!
what do you call the tool you used as a feeler gauge to check the 4/64 clearance between fret and string?
I make them- they will be for sale soon!
@@ManotickGuitarTech - can you please respond here again when they're for sale - thanks
@@SD-nj1cy Watch for the upcoming video
Hi guys, I'm new to this guitar setting. I've been given a strategy that someone has butchered the setting, and I mean all the settings.
All the saddles that have been backed right off, is there a certain measurement for each
They have also been lowered as far as they go, too. It's a friends guitar, and he wants me to try setting it up so I can try to set it as he knows I've been wanting to try it. Any help would be awesome.
Mark
Great Video , how can you get those brass gauges on a stick that you are using ? The ones that look like a dental tool?
Dan, visit my website and you can purchase them there -www.manotickstringworks.com
@@ManotickGuitarTech , thanks I picked one up.
👍👍
Measuring relief and action.. It's not accurate when leaving the guitar flat..😄
your measurements are always relative to your technique - if you always measure it the same way (on the bench, in playing position, upside down, who cares...) your adjustments are repeatable.
@@ManotickGuitarTech "Your measurements are always relative to your technique" True, but in the 'PLAYING POSITION', which is (Body)vertical, (not upside down) (Neck width)vertical, (Neck length) Horizontal.. That's how we play, unless you're someone like: Jeff Healey or something, who puts it flat on his lap!
"If you always measure it the same way (on the bench, in playing position, upside down, who cares.. (THIS IS DEPENDING ON WHAT CUSTOMERS YOU WANT TO DO WORK FOR & HOW MUCH $$$ YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE!😉)
If you measure the Guitar's relief or set the Action, cut the Nut while it's flat on a bench, your measurements will be different than when you play the guitar in "playing position" ('cause the weight of the guitar pressing on the neck support.)
I don't make this up, these are just the Laws of Physics as they are known to mankind today.)
I saw you have a Peterson Strobo+ HD, ..So you must have some care about accuracy?🤔
A Neck Jig will simulate "playing position" It'll save you all the work from having to flip each guitar..😉
Cheers.
Oh, i love playing Stratocaster-guitars, and i love to choose guitars who are better than Fenders, especially better than Fender USA! My first Stratocaster was an end-80ies ,,Fender American Standard Stratocaster“, and it was my worst guitar ever, and i´ve had a second Fender Strat, a mexican-Version, called ,,Fender Standard Stratocaster“ and this guitar have had a Poplar-body and sounded like soft shit. And so I learned that either Fender is cheating us because they deliver poor quality and workmanship or overpriced guitars with wet, poorly stored and less vibrating woods, and trying to compensate for this with overloaded, or fat-sounding, pickups, and that is the reason for the myths of the real, old vintage Strats, because back then they tended to use woods that were stored and had better vibratability were used. Or, and this is certainly true, the production volume is so high that the company is no longer able to get wood of the same quality for the entire production, and then the really good, well-vibrating guitars come from the current production not to Germany - I am in Germany, a country that the USA keeps under military occupation to this day, so we Germans are like modern slaves of the USA Occupation Force, the USA controls Germany to this day and abuses us Germans as a source of money ! At the beginning of the 90s I got my hands on my first ESP-S-400 series Strat, now there are four, but this first one had 42 slanted annual rings and had such a great attack and cracky, bony, twangy and wiry-sound by dry-playing, and this guitar has beaten every Fender USA Custom Shop Strat by far in comparisons, let alone the production models from Fender and also a real, vintage Fender 1963 Strat. Around 2006, based on my good experiences with ESP, I bought an "ESP Vintage Plus" Strat, with the best, densest wood, superbly crafted and with a flattened neck-body transition (SSS variant), this Vintage Plus was once again on point Overtones and sustain are a step better, they easily beat the MusicMans and Suhrs and cost 1100 euros new at the time! Then in 2014 i came across a cheap used BLADE Texas Classic and was blown away. It was good, it could easily compete with the ESPs, yes it plays in the same league as ESP and cost 350 euros used. A short time later I tried a "BLADE Texas Standard Pro" with VMC midboost, similar to the "Fender Eric Clapton Signature USA-Strat", exactly the same again, it was better than any Clapton signature guitar from Fender, had better swingable woods, a flattened neck-body transition (like the BLADE Texas Classic) and therefore much better playability than Fender! So I use a lot of good Strats at home and all of them are better than what I could buy as a Fender in Germany at completely overpriced prices! That's why I prefer to play Strats, but the main thing is that it never says Fender on it, but rather ESP-S-400-Series, ESP Vintage Plus, BLADE Texas Classic or BLADE Texas Standard Pro! Well, I can prove not only purely subjectively, but very objectively in terms of sound, that there are much better things than Fender, in some cases also much cheaper and easier to play! Why should I even buy a Fender, a guitar that is worse in terms of sound and workmanship and less playable at a completely overpriced price???? Why, can someone explain this to me??????
I didn't realize that Germany was under American occupation... who knew? 😁
@@ManotickGuitarTechlmao
Wow there might be "better" guitars out there that are not Fender, but nobody is going to be impressed by an obscure brand. When people buy Fender, they do so because the name alone is prestigious and impresses people. A "Blade" Strat copy isn't going to get the same reaction from people as a real Fender American Strat. That's why.
If it was truly better than any Fender, Clapton would have played that instead.
Ucanbarlyhearu