Thanks for a really interesting vid. My only thought was the Freeway could also be a good option for playing high gain by using the bridge and middle in series? I think it should be humbucking as long as the middle is RWRP. Those freeway switches are awesome, I have the HSH version and it's great.
Hi Darrell, a similar video but for the tele would be awesome. Maybe there's already one and I missed it? Also, a review of the Ibanez AR 520 HFM VLS would be really really nice! 😀 Someone who agrees?
Hi Darrell, a Trick that I use over the years is to put graphit into the nuts of the saddle and the Bridge where the Strings comes out of the Body. Therefore I'm using the Carbonmine of a Pencil. Easy, cheap and very effectiv. By the way another good Vid from you. Stay tuned, save and shine on. Salutations sur Quebec, Alex ☺☺🎸🎸
Tip 11: Buy a pack of Fender whammy bar springs and pop one in before you screw the tremolo bar in. The resistance is just perfect for keeping the bar where you want it. Without one, the bar just swings wildly all over the place. Great vid as usual Darrell. Thanks.
I always appreciate time stamps: #1 0:29 Pick up height #2 1:29 Float Trem #3 3:07 Use position 2/4 #4 3:55 Bridge tone mod (if nec.) #5 5:00 Raise string height #6 5:55 Install 10-way switch #7 7:26 Change to HSS, use Noise Gate Pedal, and/or use position 2/4 for high gain #8 9:11 Use Volume control to clean up tone / Tone bleed circuit mod (if nec.) #9 11:03 Add locking tuners #10 12:55 Tremolo Spring options Another great video!
thanks. another suggestion - changing to a quality nut on a cheaper strat? poor saddle or nut causes a plonk sound in string and puts it out of tune. use nut sauce, no pun intended.
I own 3 Strats and found the best mod is to make the middle tone nob a master tone control for all pickups and replace the second tone nob with a "no load" blender pot between the bridge and neck pickups. It allows you to mix the neck and bridge pickups. Very cool! It's really a passive balance control. Allows you to add a little 'neck' to your bridge setting or a little 'bridge' to the neck position. Turn it all the way down and the pickups are 50/50.
I know this is an older comment but hopefully you'll see this. Have you happened to do a video about how to do this or have a link to a video you would recommend? Thanks in advance
I use locking tuners and I flos the nut . Keep it clean . My strat stayes in tune . Even after a string change . At times a new string hits the spot , but other times , there is nothing like a string thats broken in .
How did you determine if you needed a bottom radius or flat bottom nut? I've built out an old much-beloved '87 Squire Bullet One 3S and want to do the nut, but don't know what kind to order
@@AnthonyBayerl I took it to a luthier. As far as ordering from Graphtech you can email them and ask. I think they have one that fits all import Strats. At the time I did some research on the net or with Graphtech. Unsure now. It’s been a few years. Hope you get it sorted out
Fantastic video! I've been playing strats for 40 years or more, obviously I love them, and I learned a few new things. But I found the best way to get the most out of a strat... is to have two or three set up differently! I have a 1996 MIMN that I modded a lot, including a Floyd Rose full dive bomb trem and Seymour Duncan Vintage Series pups, locking nut, etc. It's been my workhorse since then. I also have a newer MIM HSS strat that I left alone because I love the beautiful tones it gives me. Bottom line...find what works for you and leave it alone, then get another one!
As a 33 year Strat player I swear my post would've been identical had I not read read yours first with 2 of my 5 with the HSS configuration...one with EMG pickups and the other an American Pro II. My SRV Strat has .12s with the highest action of the 5 but really can dig in w/ no fear. All 5 Strats.. 5 different pickup configurations and setups really has been given each a unique a unique personality.
Personally, an HSS and SSS strat are all ya need imo. I have a Jackson Soloist and an Ibanez S for the metal dive bar thing, and they do it better too. Plus, if I need humbuckers only, I got a Guild Bluesbird. Strats have a spot more than people like to think, and that's how I keep mine.
ALSO, DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE TREM ARM SPRING! Most people don’t realize there is a small stiff spring inside the hole where the tremolo bar screws in. It’s not fixed in there so if you turn your guitar upside down it’ll fall out and this is why most people don’t have one in their guitar. And it’s mostly because they didn’t know anything about it and didn’t know that they already lost it. Sometimes it gets lost in the music store too. But the purpose for this spring is to keep the tremolo arm in place. It stops it from swinging all around while you’re playing. I really hope more people read this because I didn’t know this for about the first 10 years of owning a Stratocaster and now I have a bag full of these things just in case since I own several Stratocasters now.
I think the biggest reason most people don't know there is a spring because Fender only puts then in the USA models...not the Squires, MIMs, etc. Also, none of the other manufacturers really do it. Everyone that owns a Strat of any type should buy a bag or two of those relatively cheap springs...I consider them necessary and a great frustration reliever.
@@christianhansen3041 Guitar center should have them, Amazon has them in a 12 pack for like $6. They are called Fender Tremelo Arm Springs. Also, any new guitar with a screw/wind in tremolo arm that has a little sticker over the tremolo arm hole is there because it's holding a spring in there. They just provide tension so the arm doesn't have to be screwed all the way in to stay where you put it.
Thank you. I lowered the p’ups on my American Standard and wow what a wonderful difference. I have rediscovered this guitar. Thank you again for what you do for us.
@@user-of9ut1hd9q They were close to the factory specs.3.6 mm bass side, 2.5 treble. Almost double those numbers now. Way sweeter. I play through a Hot Rod Deville but keep the volume low. I never play out.
A few years ago, I was really into getting a strat. I did A LOT of research. I ended up with a Mexican “Deluxe”. For $825 it came with locking tuners, noiseless pickups, a push push button to activate the bridge pu in positions 5,4, and 3, and a contoured heel joint. I paid to have the edges slightly rolled. I totally love that guitar.
I paid to get the edges rolled on a recent used strat, but next time I'm doing it myself, and getting nut files too, Stewmac has everything we need. ALL guitar players should do their own setup, including fret and nut work, which is really very simple if you watch videos and take it slow. I'm mechanically challenged, but I'd rather do my own guitars and get it exactly right, rather than pay some guy who does that stuff all day to do it, and sometimes not do it the way I wanted, so I have to take it back (after waiting for weeks in the first place!). Setups including intonation and pickup height we all need to do, or work closely with a tech if you can afford to. But I'm getting back into doing my own nuts, saddles, and frets. I also bought a Lindy Fralin boat neck (Allparts), which he sands into a soft V, and sprays with nitro, I think he does a little fret work, but I'll finish the frets myself, and do the nut. I've always wanted to shave down a boat neck to a perfect soft V that fits my hand perfectly, and Stewmac has the scrapers and other tools needed to do necks too - dig it.........!
Love the vid and the tips. I am a dedicated Strat person for the past 50 years and yeah, the pickup height and magnet strength I have had issues with over the years. Talking now about my 1960 pre-CBS Strat... Let the trem float, use 3 springs and as you say, thrash it to break it in and get that graphite on the nut slots. Have to say Tip 5 is er, a bit unusual. I say that because I don't know anyone who wants a higher action - ever! Also, a humbucker on a Strat is like putting a trapdoor on a canoe. You do that it isn't a Strat any more. Use a Les Paul for that! Position 4 is a wonderful tonal chamber of delights. What did we do when it was only a 3-way toggle? The mod for the bridge pickup I like - not that I ever move ANY of the 3 pots - they are all glued to 10! Which brings me to Tip 8 and the Vol control. See, back it off and the Strat dies - all the sustain goes. Tone goes muddy and weedy! I've had to slip a piccy undermine as it is so slack (worn) it will self-back off and suddenly I've lost the bite - not now it won't! OK, not one for subtly and tones am I lol! I enjoyed that vid. I could talk Strats all day because they are the best guitar (for me) ever made. Only thing I still don't get is why you'd want a 6 minute hike to the fretboard with string height. Why make it harder to play? Want bigger bends then get lighter gauge strings or scoop and scallop if you must or put Aintree Race Course Fence frets on it! 😊
I have watched a zillion guitar videos and I have never seen a ten-way switch before. Thanks, Darrell, for showing me something different--I will def look into it!
Thanks for adding to my work! I'm half way through recording my album and now, after your awesome advice and making my 50th Anniversary Issue Stratocaster sound 1000% better, I have to go back and re-record all the Stratocaster parts so they'll sound so much better. Keep it up!
Im glad you put this video out. Ive had a strat for 10 years and never really played it because the frets were so worn down that it was unplayable. It is in the process of getting refretted and now Im even more excited to use it when I get it back. Thanks!
My MIM strat tends to get overlooked in preference to my other (more sexy?) guitars, but every now and again I pull it out of its case and I'm reminded of just how great and comfortable it feels to play
If there is one thing I have learned about Fender over the last 40 years .... it's100% marketing, including gaslighting and brainwashing regarding the grossly overpriced guitars. You can buy a Squier or Squier Mini (I have two) ... and with a few very minor changes ... sound just as good as a $2500 Strat. I have done the A/B tests with various friends, and the consensus is exactly what I said. Bottom line ... why pay more.
You nailed it. 💯 A+++++++ Ralphie The only things I'd add are 11. Lubricate nut 12. Highwood saddles Now you have an even dozen 13. Tune to pitch (or approximately), SLIGHTLY loosen neck screws (1/4-1/2 turn) to seat neck in pocket. You might hear a click/pop when you loosen the 4th screw as it seats. Snug screws (the ones towards headstock first). Just snug enough to seat the neck agaist the wood is all you want. Too tight will crush finish and wood on a light spanky strat body. The 2 screws toward the pickups are barely doing anything. The 2 screws towards the headstock do all the work.
Yep, I started small and in total turned each of the 6 screws 3 full turns. Yes there's a change in tone (for the better) in my opinion and more sustain. Thanks again Darrell 🎸🤠👍
Great tips Darrell! I love my strat that I built. It's because of you I installed the Obsidianwire blender switch wiring and locking tuners! That being said I think a great way to warm up and mellow out a strat is flatwound strings. Keep up the good work!
I love flatwound strings, especially with a wound G. Really nice, mellow tone. Tuning stability is dead on (no evil G). I'm mainly a rhythm player, though; wound G strings are a little more challenging to bend, I've found.
Lube the nut slots with tiny amounts of graphite and vaseline, and replace the string trees with roller trees. My Strat's floating vibrato bridge never goes out of tune without locking tuners. Also a push pull volume knob to turn on the bridge pickup is a must to add versatility to your five way switch. I feel a ten way can be too confusing.
I used to play my Chrome Blue Strat in a heavy metal band, and I used position 2. However, I was always fighting it, until for some reason, I bought a Boss noise gate. Night and day! I could ramp the gain up and not have to worry about loud hums when not playing. Yes to low P/U and high strings, yes locking tuners, but also strap locks.
Regarding Tip #7 (playing high gain tones) I totally agree on the noise gate, I use a small Joyo one called Gate of Khan which is dirt cheap, one knob you only need to tweak until you find the sweet spot (removing hum without losing sustain and drying out the flavor of the tone) and you're good to go for some heavy tunes
Tip #1 (pickup height) inadvertently fixed a confusing problem I was having with a newly-bought (second hand) Strat. It was buzzing like mad on many strings. I'd tried new strings, neck relief adjustment, saddle/action height, fret leveling/polishing.. nothing made much difference... After watching this I noticed how high the pickups were (duh, call me Captain Observation) and dropped them a lot. It didn't noticeably affect the volume but now the fret buzz is negligible. I'm pretty confident I can eliminate it completely if I start from here and set the rest of the guitar up properly. Thanks Darrell
Don't know if someone has already mentioned this in the comments, but I consider a graphite nut (e.g. Graph Tech TUSQ XL) to be a great upgrade for any strat, for it acts as a self lubricating tool that keeps the strings in tune whenever you use your whammy/trem bar. This means the strings slip through the slots and return to their original pitch with no problems. These come in different sizes and its slots are filled most of the time, making the nut replacement quicker. Besides, these nuts' cost is relatively cheap. Thanks for taking the time to read this, hope it was useful to anyone.
For any guitar. Got the Tusc XL on my L P. Not gonna change the nut on my Strat cause it's actually the best you could use. The roller nut/ locking tuners is a great system.
Thank you for the info about the pick-up height! 😀🙏 I've been following a luthier/guitar fixer's channel (also Canadian) for a while now who swears by adjusting them fairly close to the strings, often commenting with, "If you've been wondering why your guitar ain't sounding good, then your pick-ups most likely are too low", and so I adjusted my Strat's accordingly - and now have the middle pick-up in the way of my pick 🙄 I'll just put them lower again now - I didn't really notice much sound improvement after raising them anyway!
My fave mod that I did on my Strat was wiring in a transformer for line-mic xlr connector so that I could connect my guitar to a mic in console. Then I can feed my guitar to a mic input channel as well as feeding through effects boxes and have both recorded into my workstation.
Great tips!! My main Strat is springed down and blocked. I roll off a bit of neck volume and we have a nice big body sound. She has other tricks to offer as well. Two other Strats are always open for trying something new and we discover new improvements.
I agree with the 2 springs option though a better option is to buy softer springs and replace with them. The Raw Vintage brand does this for ~$25 no tech needed. Also guys, please learn how to float the trem yourself by watching some videos. My strats stay in tune WITH floating trems that I use constantly.
as a strat enjoyer: -floating done right takes time; tweaking the setup is very important (check john levan's premier guitar article on how to do it). All settings are interactive so lots of patience... and keep adjusting. -pos 2 is underrated. comp+subtle chorus+rev gives beautiful cleans -modding for 7 positions (b+n and all 3 at once) is nice -if using the bar you find that it can't retain proper tuning, check if any strings bind at the nut. That's most likely the problem -lubricate moving parts! add graphite (rub a pencil) in saddles where strings sit, on the nut and in the string trees. Use vaseline or other type of grease where the bridge assembly pivots (the two or six screws where it rests).
Don't know what we'd do without you. Maybe cause I'm Canadian love your direction but I'm certain it's because you have an innate talent for teaching with a clear concise manner. Thanks as always Darrell and keep it comin'! 👌💯🎸
A minor one - get one of those little springs to drop into the whammy bar hole before you screw the bar in. Stops the bar flapping in the breeze. Don't know if all new strats come with this as I've never been able to afford a new one (!), but every second-hand one I've ever bought (Fender or Squier) hasn't had one. Tip - if you buy the Fender replacement ones, don't screw the bar in really tight - that compresses the spring to the point where it won't recover, then it's just a block of metal. Would've thought Fender could find some better materials to make them from.
Great tips, Darrel! Thank you! Although I don’t own a Fender Strat at the moment, I adjusted the pickup height on my Silver Sky and it made a massive difference. Feels like a totally different guitar.
The 10 way switch is amazing. The American Deluxe series from the 2000's has this as a feature with a push pot. The tone control was also on the bridge but had a detent at 10, allowing you to bypass it if desired. Locking tuners also came on this model along with Fender's Noiseless single coils.
I have a Mexican HSS that I put a Seymour jb trembucker in the bridge. I'm going to try lowering the neck and middle pickups. I agree, the 4th position alone makes getting a strat worth it. I'm amazed shielding the cavity wasnt in this vid tho. It's a must mod!
Great tips; I never heard of the 'Ten-way Switch, amazing! My 1987 MIK Strat is not new and neither is my playing. Just recently I actually regained clarity and output by raising my pups. Not too close, around 4 mm-4.2mm. They might be getting weak with age? There is no 'warble' and it sounds much better. Don't rely just on theory, use your ears too.
A decently set up Strat wont go out of tune with hard trem use... I use Dry Lube for the last 25 years... A dry spray designed to keep curtain tracks from sticking.. It works a treat!! And yes, a floating trem is the way to go!!
Another great video from Darrell. I miss two things though : a closeup picture of the mod for bridge PUP to work with tone control. If you haven't opened up a guitar before, it can seem a bit scary when in reality it is very easy to do. And: the Faraday cage, the excellent hum-reducer wich is also very easy to do.Just cover the inside cavities with copper tape (and connect it to ground). I have several single coil guitars, and it really works. No need for a noise gate imho :-)
I'm just about to get my first usa fender strat ( 1990, maple fretboard), managed to negotiate to trade my prs se +some money.. can't wait...might use this video to get as much out of it as possible 😁
Good stuff. I immediately lowered my pickups as a result of watching this. I had never actually paid attention to if I have a treble bleed circuit because I always run the guitar wide open and use a volume pedal. BUT, now that you made me aware of it I went to check, and damn if it doesn't get real thin when you roll back the volume. And here all these years I thought that only humbuckers got dark when you roll off the volume. That's why we played single coils. For all those clean sounds. But now that I hear that my strat is going artificially thin when I roll back the volume, it is driving me insane, so the soldering iron comes out tomorrow! THANK YOU! Now for that fancy 10x switch. That is super cool, except I had an S1 switching Strat and I had to trade it in BECAUSE there were so many sound choices that I was always screwing with it when I should have been playing. So while I salute the coolness of that aftermarket 10x switch, I know that my OCD-self needs to stay away from it. Oh, also, that was super good advice on making a person use a floating tremolo for several weeks to really get the guitar to settle in. After I do a major readjustment to a guitar that includes a truss rod adjustment, or if the neck angle has been changed, or the rear spring tension has been messed with to get the float right for the strings your using, YES, it takes time for everything to stop moving about. I will tweak, tweak, tweak for at least a week before deciding to leave it alone. Then I like to put it away for at least a week and come back to it. Play it. See how it feels. I can't tell you how many times I think that I still don't have it right, then come back a week later and DAMN, what was I thinking? This thing plays great! Sometimes you have to sneak up on stuff to really see it. Thanks again!
When I first got my strat, it was nicely set up with a floating bridge, stayed in tune perfectly, no issues at all. The problems came when I've started learning this tune, that had a lot of bends in it and I really struggled, my bends where all over the place, especially with whole tones and 1.5s. I locked the bridge and it became so much more controllable, it stays locked from that time on. Ironically, the tune I'm talking about was Jeff Beck's Cause We've Ended as Lovers :)
the floating trem is a wild horse compared to locking ones ... yes you will see a lot of annoying discrepancies but you have advantages too ... i can bend a string on the strat without affecting the adjacent one ... not so on the locking JS or JEM also i find the strat one more ...urgh ... organic ? more tonal difference ... also i dropped my pickups almost to the plate ... awesome difference in dynamics and voicing ... the strings wear out and the feature vanishes
Usually that kind of videos of 10 trick of something are just a bunch of crap that everyone already know... this is really a useful video with precious stuff on it, thank you for doing it!
If you have a 6 screw trem I can't recommend enough dumping the stock trem screws and install PRS style screws with the notched shaft. Dramatically improved the feel of the trem. That is, if your bridge plate has the countersunk holes underneath creating a butter knife edge. Straight holes won't work.
Darrel. Gotta tell ya about my new purchase. I just did a blind Strat test at a large guitar shop. They set up 4 different guitars in a sound room with the same amp. I didn't know what makes they picked. After playing them, hearing them and feeling them, I made a choice. Shocked... out of an American Fender Strat, a Squier Strat, a PRS Silver Cloud and a Godin Session HT, I had walked away with the Godin and love it. True unbiased choice.
Great stuff. I’ve done several of those tweaks to my Squire 60s Classic Vibe Strat, and switched to locking tuners. I also upgrading all the electronics to Fender products, and replacing the saddles with Highwood recessed screw saddles. Plays like a dream; on par with the Fender American Strat Deluxe that I used to own. One other easy/ inexpensive mod which had a positive change in its tone was switching the cheap pot metal trem block with a big thick all brass block. Definitely worth the $50. One
Hello Darrell, nice and informative video as always !! I'd like to see a video in the future, where you analyze the different positions of the 10-way switch, especially the one that uses the three coils simultaneously. Great content, Kudos
I have a player strat. I installed the freeway switch after watching that first video you put out on it! I love it! Specially the bridge+ neck setting! I also blocked the trem and refinished the body. I play it every single day!
Yeah, I definitely find that switch very intriguing myself! 😃 Not sure if I'd be too keen on all the soldering, though! 😆 But I did hook up the bridge pick-up to the Tone pot on a couple of Strats in the past, and it's a brilliant modification, too! 😀👍
I have a Freeway Switch and it's fantastic. There are a few ways of wiring therm but mine is wired so it's normal on one side but on the flip side, number 1 position (so number 6) it has bridge and middle acting in series, like a humbucker (not exactly, but a split humbucker doesn't sound quite like a proper single coil either), position 7 are all 3 pickups in parallel, which David Gilmour reckons makes it sound like a Jazzmaster. 8 has neck and bridge in series (a bit like a nice Tele tone), 9 has neck and bridge in parallel and 10 has the neck and middle acting in series to make a sort of neck humbucker like sound. So it's a strat on one side and a bit like an LP (configurationally) on the "extra" side, with two other positions. They also make them for Telecasters, but that's a 7 way switch, or for HSS strats.
I’ve been playing the same Strat since the 1980s. The only mods I’ve done is adding locking tuners and strap locks. I agree that you don’t want the action too low on a Strat - that kills your tone, especially if you play clean. For a while I had the trem blocked, for a while decked, but now I like it best floating. Stays in tune fine if you use it right.
Darrel, you are my "very best favorite" content creator, your channel is really great...top notch, you deserve at least 4 o 5 million susbcribers...... please keep going!!.....every time I watch some of your videos, my passion about guitars keep growing.... best regards from Bolivia....
Well Darrell I couldnt sleep and came across this video and watched it for the second time. I think I'm going to finally loosen up that trem. I have had that spring claw screwed way in with five springs for a long time. I think you are right. Floating trem is how it was ment to be so I'm going to give it a solid week or two. I already have the lockers and lower pickups. thanks as always Darrell. Gods Blessing to you up in the northland
Great tips and I'm a fan of a bunch of them. One of the 1st things I had to change on my strat, since I have big hands and the volume was just too close to the string-bed, is to move the volume down one position and make it a master volume/master tone. Solved my accidental adjustments and the lack of tone on the bridge PU in one operation. I used a spare switch-tip from the 5way and gjued it into the empty hole for a pinky anchor. I also got a second trem bar and cut it a couple inches shorter and put the plastic tip back on. For me the long bar was in the way lots of times and had too much leverage/sensitivity.
Yes, the Volume knob being too close to the strings was the very first thing that also bothered *me* , after buying the first Strat in many years, about ten years ago! I'm a Tele fan, and I'd mainly bought it because I wanted a guitar with a trem, and this one then popped up in my circle of friends. I'd had a couple of Strat *copies* before and bought another one only recently, but I had that issue only on that one MIA Fender Strat! Very strange! 🤔 😄
Great video! Raising the strings makes it a lot harder to bend and play overall and changes intonation slightly which makes that change a tad tedious. A better solution to get nicer sustains is to use a compressor and a noise gate which together allow to lengthen your sustains while keeping them clean. The 10way switch would be awesome on my American Standard HSS...which is the exact same finish/look as the one you have there. Wish it had locking tuners, but I ordered a Sire S7-FM-TBL
@@wuuuuuuu254 It's really a personal choice, some prefer one before the other, some prefer the opposite. The best thing for you to decide what you like is to try both setups and play with the settings for a long enough time on both setups to find whatever tone/sound you want. There's no one exact or perfect one way to do it. If you have a effects looping setup on your amp, some also put some pedals through that. Most guitarists however do place the noise gate first or second and the same for compressor. Your compressor will get you the sustains you want when you find your desired setting. Depends if you want to compress your other pedals or not, also take into account gain compounding (multiple gains one after the other), depends what type of music you are playing. If you have the pedals and have the time, try multiple setups and play, maybe even record yourself, label your recordings with the setup and then compare them to decide. Cheers! Edit : My personal preference is to eliminate noise before anything else.
Something never talked about is the little screws that hold the tuners to the headstock. If the screws are not rock solid tight, and sometimes they arent which will cause tuning stability issues, make sure those tiny screws are secure as you can get them. When the screws are stripped out, add wood in the holes with a toothpick. Some headstocks are kinda soft and have a hard time staying put.
Great set of tips! I especially believe all Strats should have the floating trem. That’s the way Leo designed it. To people that say you have to deck or block the trem to stay in tune, I call BS. It’s all about finding the right balance between strings and springs. After that, your Strat will be rock solid.
Well, you're approaching it like some kind of ideology applied to the all. If you never use the thing, I don't get why you would want it. I pin mine because I use my fingers for vibrato. When I yammer on the trem bar it doesn't sound like music. It sounds like some novelty sound effect. But, if you love the trem bar, go bananas on it.
@@ericjames8816 possibly because you’re ‘yammering’ on it. It is possible to use the bar in extreme fashion, and have it sound like music. Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore both have made extensive, and even violent, use of it while being very musical in the process
@@ericjames8816 It’s not about whether you ever use the trem or not. It’s about how Leo designed the guitar to be set up that way. There’s a difference in the way the strings oscillate when the bridge is floating that is an essential part of the classic Strat tone.
I've got an American Special. In order to get the tremolo to return to pitch I put in roller bridges, TUSQ nut and string guides, and I use nut sauce on the string bearing points. It's really pretty much ok now. Great video, I picked up some great info and the 10 way switch is intriguing.
Hey Darrell, a good topic, and I'm always looking for ways to improve the performance and sound of my Strats. Although I would point out that not all Strats throughout its history, have had floating bridges, one example is the 1983 Elite Stratocaster. That bridge was decked. Another is the 1980 "STRAT" and that was because the inertia block was so thick it didn't have much travel to begin with. Tip #1: I've been doing that for decades now and it does produce a better tone Tip #2: Locking tuners would help this a lot, but then so does a small bottle of Selmer liquid cork grease. A tiny dab in each nut slot helps free the strings up, (provided the slots are cut correctly to allow the strings to pass through. Tip #3: Been doing that one for years too. I would also recommend position 2 as well for many of the 80's clean choused sounds. Tip #4: All my traditional Strats have been wired to have the 2nd tone knob on the bridge pickup, and the 1st tone knob always goes to my neck pickup. It really helps put some more meat into the bridge pickup. Tip #5: A good neck alignment will give you the same results with lower action. The real trick is finding a good guitar tech who knows how to do it right. Tip #6: I need to get about a dozen of those switches. Thanks for that tip! Tip #7: I've used noise gates since the 80's and they help a lot, but there's also the option of stacked humbuckers so you don't have to modify the guitar to accept it. Tip #8: I'm with you on the volume knob, much of my inspiration for using the volume knob on a Strat came from Rory Gallagher, he was a master at it. Tip #9: Agreed. Also, the original slotted post tuners on Strats can be set up to function almost as well as locking tuners. I've been doing that for a few decades as well, and it works very well. It's a little tricky to do, and find the right string length, but so worth the effort. Tip #10: I've been experimenting with different spring tensions, but like the bridge blocks, Fender uses the cheapest junk metal for these components. There are good replacements out there on the market that will make a Strat sustain, and sound much better. You just have to know what sound you are going for. Darrell, have you tried Tremsetters?
Strats are great. I bought Cort G260 HSS with coil tap in sunburst colour in 2014 and its one of the best guitars i have played, better then some Fender strats. I just changed pickups to Seymour Duncans and its great, stays in tune and sounds awesome. 🎸🎶☮
Nut lubrication really helps on the trem problem. I retrofitted my Fenders with split shaft tuners, I find they work just as well as lockers. I grew up with the split shafts.
Another great tip is a hair tie or scrunchy on the trem springs - helps mute that buzz some make. Cory Wong even has a Fender Signature hair tie that comes with his Signature model.
9:15 - I have a 1984 "Jap Strat" in Paisley Pink and I can tell ya... Yes, dialing the volume back to 8 while on the bridge pickup SERIOUSLY kills the twangy highs and makes it sound like a normal standard Strat of it's era. Took a while of playing with pickup hight & adjusting everything to get a good "normal" non-twangy sound of it. Thank you for bringing this up as it really does make a difference.
Outstanding, I’m on my 2nd Strat mostly like my Tele’s. My 1st Strat was an American Std 2015 and we never got along. So bummed. SOLD. Went many years w/o. I didn’t want to blow a lot of money on the second one, so I bought a MIM player LE. Can’t get a straight answer from GC but why LE but $679 good buy. What if I’m not a strat person? I already love my new Strat, very cooperative, and with your 10 Strat improvements I’m going to use at least 7! I’m feeling good about this. That’s why I watch your flicks. Thank you.
I have 3 Strats left, I just sold 2. I'm looking for a hard tail now. I could add a couple things to help your list. If you going to do a humbucker in pos 1, Seymour Duncan makes a "stacked humbucker", that is the same dimensions as a single coil. I believe they call it the "little 59"? The tone target was to sound like a 59 PAF, and it does. Very easy to install using the same pick guard. The second, when you change strings, take a #2 (soft) pencil and rub it in the nut slots. This leaves a little graphite film there and the strings slide/move without sticking. Like Darrell said, there are a lot more too. Good luck!! --gary
Both great suggestions! 😀👍 I've been doing the pencil trick forever myself 🙂 And another good replacement pick-up for a more humbucker-like sound that fits into the same pickguard is the DiMarzio FS-1, which may also be stacked but I'm not a 100% sure.
@@mightyV444 Thanks, and I have a DiMarzio story! Starting in the mid-70's I had a Gibson ES325, I gigged that for 10 years! The 325 was a Gibson 'mutt', they only made it '72- ' 79. It was all hollow, w/2- Firebird pups, and a trapeze tailpiece. I played on the neck pup a lot. My tech talked me into putting a DiMarzio PAF there. He had to route the pup hole larger to do it. I loved it! 6 weeks later I was on stage, all of a sudden I had the neck in one hand and the body in the other!! The tech had routed the neck tenon right off, and it broke off in my hands!! I gave it to a neighbors kid for a shop project, never saw it again!! Live and learn I guess. --gary
@@gtr1952 - Oh nooo!! 🙈 Bummer! And after having played it for quite a long time, too! 😯 Good on ya for giving it to a youngster, though! 😀👍 Did you keep your tech? 😉 And it appears an ES325 is the same guitar the dude from Kings Of Leon plays 🙂
@@mightyV444 I did keep him for awhile. That was in the 70's - 80's and we have remained friends since. The tech thing was a little different then. I used 4 guitars. I'd pick them up on Wednesday. We would do 8 gigs, Thu, Fri, Sat night, Thu, Fri, Sat happy hour, Sat wedding, Festival Sun afternoon (there were a lot of them back then!) Then I dropped them off. He would re-string, adj, repair etc. I'm 70 now, I think he had 10 years on me! LOL I have a 335 walnut color now, w/burstbuckers, that looks like the 325. Although the 325 had a very thin neck (width wise), and I used it to play rhythm. I still have 40 some electrics/acoustics, a couple bass's, mandolins, a lap steel and 8 or so amps/cabs kicking around. LOL Like kids, I can't sell them. 8) --gary
Great tips Darrell. I would also say for the noise of a single coil say also you could swap out the single coil pickups for stacked humblers. this way you don't have to cut the guitar.
Thanx!! From your tips I just messed with my 2 strats and they are better! Put new 9 's on my squier cv 70's. natural wood, whanged the whammy for 10 minutes and the stock tuners work perfectly, no need for locking tuners.
I bought a Player HSS almost a year ago, and just love the way it came from the factory, so I don't want to do any mods .However, I do agree that the number 4 position is my favorite. To me, it's the iconic Strat sound.
I just took your advise and lowered my pickups on my sss strat and turned up the gain and guess what ? It sounds better ! I could tell the difference right off . Plus I like many love position 4 . Thanks for the advice , worked like a charm !
There was some really valuable stuff there. I lowered my pickups and it made a world of difference.I have a tele and i'm going to try that on it as well. Also I did not know about the ten way switch. I will look for some demos on RUclips. Thank you
You mean the 432 frequency? I think the powers that be changed to the standard 440, which is not congruent to the harmony of the universe that 432 matches. It’s even mathematical. Check that out if you haven’t heard of it. I like to play in 432. My voice does better with half step down tunings.
I replaced a Strat floating trem with a VTech Bladerunner. I can dive bomb that, put it away for two weeks, and it comes out of the case in near-perfect tune! It instantly went from a bedroom-only guitar to one I can use at gigs. No locking tuners or roller string T's, though I got rid of those stock ones with rounded T's that don't bind the strings at all.
Worked guitars for years but have only done this on my own Strats - swap the middle and bridge pickup positions WITHOUT rewiring > "bridge" pickup then has the tone control AND the first crack select position becomes neck/bridge out of phase, second crack is still mid/bridge out of phase (one COULD reverse magnet polarity of the mid - which was bridge, to hum cancel) only drawback (to me) is passing through the no toned mid (former bridge pickup) sweep from "position" 1-5 As far as treble bleed, Hendrix left his Marshall amps wide open for distortion and used the Strat volume knob to not only back volume but to "mellow" the tone. He hardly used the Fuzzface unit as much as players assume. He used the guitar's volume control because... he left the Marshall amps at basically full volume for piercing distortion.
Great tips. I would recommend a "permanently on" (via a push/pull tone pot replacement) for the bridge pickup. That way you can achieve Tele style bridge+neck (in position 5) or all 3 pickups at once (in position 4)
Man, I'm glad I watched this to the end. Great tips all the way through, but with the last one, you really gave me an "oh, duh!" moment! I've played an epi SG for years, but recently got my first strat. The trem system has had me unexpectedly baffled! I knew I wanted it floating, but it wasn't set up that way when I got it. I thought I tried everything, but somehow, adjusting the claw never occurred to me. Well, duh, of course it affects the tension! Thanks Darrell!
I have a strat 2017 elite, love the guitar, has locking tuners and I have the truss rod wheel adjust at the bottom of the neck similar to the Music Man setup. If you don’t want a whammy then you should look for a different guitar, ooopps, I just slammed Eric Clapton, he blocked his tremolo. The stat has alway been referred to as the “Working Man’s Guitar” Darrell thanks for your channel it is one of the best on guitars. We all don’t need lessons, and I love the gear head approach.
Nice tips. Bought the freeway switch after seing it in your video. My favourite position is the bridge and neck pickup in parallell. Would love to have an out of phase option on it. When you talked about treble bleeds I started thinking. I've come to the same conclusion. Prefer the volume without it. My tips would be: I set my amp sound with the tone controls on 6. That gives me an opportunity to add treble when needed, which most often is used in position 4, where I crank the tone to 10. About the tone control for the treble pickup, I wire the first tone control for the neck and middle pickups, so I have the second tone control only for the treble pickup. I put that on 5-6 and almost never touch it.
Sharpen your pencil when you change your strings! Of course, you have to put the graphite into the slots. I did that back in the 80s on my 62RI Strat and that vintage floating trem was slinky and expressive and called out to me, "Go on, be Jeff Beck! I won't tell if you're not!" Great vid, D!!!
Showing some love for the Strat this week!
If if missed any tips (like choosing a different string gauge ect) let me know down below! 👇
Enjoy :)
Black background and black t-shirts mix a bit too well IMO, what happened to the nice bright space?
Thanks for a really interesting vid. My only thought was the Freeway could also be a good option for playing high gain by using the bridge and middle in series? I think it should be humbucking as long as the middle is RWRP. Those freeway switches are awesome, I have the HSH version and it's great.
Hi Darrell, a similar video but for the tele would be awesome. Maybe there's already one and I missed it?
Also, a review of the Ibanez AR 520 HFM VLS would be really really nice! 😀
Someone who agrees?
Hi Darrell, a Trick that I use over the years is to put graphit into the nuts of the saddle and the Bridge where the Strings comes out of the Body. Therefore I'm using the Carbonmine of a Pencil. Easy, cheap and very effectiv.
By the way another good Vid from you. Stay tuned, save and shine on.
Salutations sur Quebec, Alex ☺☺🎸🎸
Do a video on the "D" harmonic that comes from the end of the "G" string if you don't have a string tree on it. Same happens with tele's.
Tip 11: Buy a pack of Fender whammy bar springs and pop one in before you screw the tremolo bar in. The resistance is just perfect for keeping the bar where you want it. Without one, the bar just swings wildly all over the place. Great vid as usual Darrell. Thanks.
Yes, that's a good piece of advice, too! 😀👍 Many new Strats come with that little spring already in place, hence the round sticker covering the hole 🙂
Excellent tip. I absolutely must have one installed.
YES
@@mightyV444 Not Fender Player strats. But I bought the springs separately and they fit perfectly
Unfortunately some Mexican strats have a hole where the spring falls all the way through… best upgrade in that case.
I always appreciate time stamps:
#1 0:29 Pick up height
#2 1:29 Float Trem
#3 3:07 Use position 2/4
#4 3:55 Bridge tone mod (if nec.)
#5 5:00 Raise string height
#6 5:55 Install 10-way switch
#7 7:26 Change to HSS, use Noise Gate Pedal, and/or use position 2/4 for high gain
#8 9:11 Use Volume control to clean up tone / Tone bleed circuit mod (if nec.)
#9 11:03 Add locking tuners
#10 12:55 Tremolo Spring options
Another great video!
And I always appreciate people who take the trouble of typing it out for us.
thanks. another suggestion - changing to a quality nut on a cheaper strat? poor saddle or nut causes a plonk sound in string and puts it out of tune. use nut sauce, no pun intended.
@@anmolsingh9025 Just get a better guitar.
@@beefnacos6258 what is the point of this video? If one has a guitar that is not so called -a better guitar than apply these mods?
@@anmolsingh9025 that's more of a general tip, not only for the strat i guess
I own 3 Strats and found the best mod is to make the middle tone nob a master tone control for all pickups and replace the second tone nob with a "no load" blender pot between the bridge and neck pickups. It allows you to mix the neck and bridge pickups. Very cool! It's really a passive balance control. Allows you to add a little 'neck' to your bridge setting or a little 'bridge' to the neck position. Turn it all the way down and the pickups are 50/50.
I know this is an older comment but hopefully you'll see this. Have you happened to do a video about how to do this or have a link to a video you would recommend? Thanks in advance
Graptech nut on a Strat? Most definitely. Will keep that guitar in tune. I’ve had one on a Mex Strat for a couple years . Huge upgrade.
Yes 100 percent
I use locking tuners and I flos the nut . Keep it clean . My strat stayes in tune . Even after a string change . At times a new string hits the spot , but other times , there is nothing like a string thats broken in .
How did you determine if you needed a bottom radius or flat bottom nut? I've built out an old much-beloved '87 Squire Bullet One 3S and want to do the nut, but don't know what kind to order
@@AnthonyBayerl I took it to a luthier. As far as ordering from Graphtech you can email them and ask. I think they have one that fits all import Strats. At the time I did some research on the net or with Graphtech. Unsure now. It’s been a few years. Hope you get it sorted out
I use locking tuners and an LSR Roller Nut…Roller Nut is AMAZING!!🎸🎸
Holy. How have I never seen a 10 way switch that fits like that. That’s epic. I might need one.
I didn't know that existed either. I'm gonna try to find a RUclips video demonstration
Fantastic video! I've been playing strats for 40 years or more, obviously I love them, and I learned a few new things. But I found the best way to get the most out of a strat... is to have two or three set up differently! I have a 1996 MIMN that I modded a lot, including a Floyd Rose full dive bomb trem and Seymour Duncan Vintage Series pups, locking nut, etc. It's been my workhorse since then. I also have a newer MIM HSS strat that I left alone because I love the beautiful tones it gives me. Bottom line...find what works for you and leave it alone, then get another one!
As a 33 year Strat player I swear my post would've been identical had I not read read yours first with 2 of my 5 with the HSS configuration...one with EMG pickups and the other an American Pro II. My SRV Strat has .12s with the highest action of the 5 but really can dig in w/ no fear. All 5 Strats.. 5 different pickup configurations and setups really has been given each a unique a unique personality.
Personally, an HSS and SSS strat are all ya need imo. I have a Jackson Soloist and an Ibanez S for the metal dive bar thing, and they do it better too. Plus, if I need humbuckers only, I got a Guild Bluesbird. Strats have a spot more than people like to think, and that's how I keep mine.
ALSO, DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE TREM ARM SPRING!
Most people don’t realize there is a small stiff spring inside the hole where the tremolo bar screws in. It’s not fixed in there so if you turn your guitar upside down it’ll fall out and this is why most people don’t have one in their guitar. And it’s mostly because they didn’t know anything about it and didn’t know that they already lost it. Sometimes it gets lost in the music store too. But the purpose for this spring is to keep the tremolo arm in place. It stops it from swinging all around while you’re playing. I really hope more people read this because I didn’t know this for about the first 10 years of owning a Stratocaster and now I have a bag full of these things just in case since I own several Stratocasters now.
Oh my goodness. I’ve been playing for almost 50 years and thought there was something wrong with my strat. I’ll have to go and grab some springs.
I think the biggest reason most people don't know there is a spring because Fender only puts then in the USA models...not the Squires, MIMs, etc. Also, none of the other manufacturers really do it. Everyone that owns a Strat of any type should buy a bag or two of those relatively cheap springs...I consider them necessary and a great frustration reliever.
@@kristopherkrahl1597 can you buy the little springs at any music shop?
@@christianhansen3041 Guitar center should have them, Amazon has them in a 12 pack for like $6. They are called Fender Tremelo Arm Springs. Also, any new guitar with a screw/wind in tremolo arm that has a little sticker over the tremolo arm hole is there because it's holding a spring in there. They just provide tension so the arm doesn't have to be screwed all the way in to stay where you put it.
@@kristopherkrahl1597 THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you. I lowered the p’ups on my American Standard and wow what a wonderful difference. I have rediscovered this guitar. Thank you again for what you do for us.
Were the pickup heights closer to factory spec before or after lowering them?
@@user-of9ut1hd9q They were close to the factory specs.3.6 mm bass side, 2.5 treble. Almost double those numbers now. Way sweeter. I play through a Hot Rod Deville but keep the volume low. I never play out.
A few years ago, I was really into getting a strat. I did A LOT of research. I ended up with a Mexican “Deluxe”. For $825 it came with locking tuners, noiseless pickups, a push push button to activate the bridge pu in positions 5,4, and 3, and a contoured heel joint. I paid to have the edges slightly rolled. I totally love that guitar.
Wow, that sounds like an amazing axe, man.
Nice! 🙌
I paid to get the edges rolled on a recent used strat, but next time I'm doing it myself, and getting nut files too, Stewmac has everything we need. ALL guitar players should do their own setup, including fret and nut work, which is really very simple if you watch videos and take it slow. I'm mechanically challenged, but I'd rather do my own guitars and get it exactly right, rather than pay some guy who does that stuff all day to do it, and sometimes not do it the way I wanted, so I have to take it back (after waiting for weeks in the first place!). Setups including intonation and pickup height we all need to do, or work closely with a tech if you can afford to. But I'm getting back into doing my own nuts, saddles, and frets. I also bought a Lindy Fralin boat neck (Allparts), which he sands into a soft V, and sprays with nitro, I think he does a little fret work, but I'll finish the frets myself, and do the nut. I've always wanted to shave down a boat neck to a perfect soft V that fits my hand perfectly, and Stewmac has the scrapers and other tools needed to do necks too - dig it.........!
Jimmy Vaughan plays a Mexican Strat
@@pharmerdavid1432 I agree. Most of the skills for doing setup work are pretty easy. It helps me play better as I continue to perfect the setup!
Love the vid and the tips. I am a dedicated Strat person for the past 50 years and yeah, the pickup height and magnet strength I have had issues with over the years. Talking now about my 1960 pre-CBS Strat...
Let the trem float, use 3 springs and as you say, thrash it to break it in and get that graphite on the nut slots.
Have to say Tip 5 is er, a bit unusual. I say that because I don't know anyone who wants a higher action - ever!
Also, a humbucker on a Strat is like putting a trapdoor on a canoe. You do that it isn't a Strat any more. Use a Les Paul for that!
Position 4 is a wonderful tonal chamber of delights. What did we do when it was only a 3-way toggle?
The mod for the bridge pickup I like - not that I ever move ANY of the 3 pots - they are all glued to 10!
Which brings me to Tip 8 and the Vol control. See, back it off and the Strat dies - all the sustain goes. Tone goes muddy and weedy! I've had to slip a piccy undermine as it is so slack (worn) it will self-back off and suddenly I've lost the bite - not now it won't! OK, not one for subtly and tones am I lol!
I enjoyed that vid. I could talk Strats all day because they are the best guitar (for me) ever made. Only thing I still don't get is why you'd want a 6 minute hike to the fretboard with string height. Why make it harder to play? Want bigger bends then get lighter gauge strings or scoop and scallop if you must or put Aintree Race Course Fence frets on it! 😊
All good points! 👍
I have watched a zillion guitar videos and I have never seen a ten-way switch before. Thanks, Darrell, for showing me something different--I will def look into it!
Thanks for adding to my work! I'm half way through recording my album and now, after your awesome advice and making my 50th Anniversary Issue Stratocaster sound 1000% better, I have to go back and re-record all the Stratocaster parts so they'll sound so much better. Keep it up!
I prefer position 2 personally. I also did the bridge tone mod and it really transformed my Strat!
Im glad you put this video out. Ive had a strat for 10 years and never really played it because the frets were so worn down that it was unplayable. It is in the process of getting refretted and now Im even more excited to use it when I get it back. Thanks!
I’m so glad you mentioned a Noise Gate. I’ve used a Noise Gate for years with my Strat.
My MIM strat tends to get overlooked in preference to my other (more sexy?) guitars, but every now and again I pull it out of its case and I'm reminded of just how great and comfortable it feels to play
If there is one thing I have learned about Fender over the last 40 years .... it's100% marketing, including gaslighting and brainwashing regarding the grossly overpriced guitars.
You can buy a Squier or Squier Mini (I have two) ... and with a few very minor changes ... sound just as good as a $2500 Strat. I have done the A/B tests with various friends, and the consensus is exactly what I said. Bottom line ... why pay more.
You nailed it. 💯 A+++++++ Ralphie
The only things I'd add are
11. Lubricate nut
12. Highwood saddles
Now you have an even dozen
13. Tune to pitch (or approximately), SLIGHTLY loosen neck screws (1/4-1/2 turn) to seat neck in pocket. You might hear a click/pop when you loosen the 4th screw as it seats. Snug screws (the ones towards headstock first). Just snug enough to seat the neck agaist the wood is all you want. Too tight will crush finish and wood on a light spanky strat body. The 2 screws toward the pickups are barely doing anything. The 2 screws towards the headstock do all the work.
Yep, I started small and in total turned each of the 6 screws 3 full turns. Yes there's a change in tone (for the better) in my opinion and more sustain. Thanks again Darrell 🎸🤠👍
Great tips Darrell! I love my strat that I built. It's because of you I installed the Obsidianwire blender switch wiring and locking tuners! That being said I think a great way to warm up and mellow out a strat is flatwound strings. Keep up the good work!
I bet that helps
I love flatwound strings, especially with a wound G. Really nice, mellow tone. Tuning stability is dead on (no evil G). I'm mainly a rhythm player, though; wound G strings are a little more challenging to bend, I've found.
Yes. I've got flatwounds on my Tele Thinline, tone on the neck p/u is delicious and creamy.
Mellow out a Strat? Defeats the point of the single coils. You want mellow, buy a Les Paul.
SIT makes a set of semi flat strings in 9's great strings
Lube the nut slots with tiny amounts of graphite and vaseline, and replace the string trees with roller trees. My Strat's floating vibrato bridge never goes out of tune without locking tuners.
Also a push pull volume knob to turn on the bridge pickup is a must to add versatility to your five way switch. I feel a ten way can be too confusing.
I used to play my Chrome Blue Strat in a heavy metal band, and I used position 2. However, I was always fighting it, until for some reason, I bought a Boss noise gate. Night and day! I could ramp the gain up and not have to worry about loud hums when not playing. Yes to low P/U and high strings, yes locking tuners, but also strap locks.
Or you could just turn your volume knob down when not playing, like players with P90s.
Regarding Tip #7 (playing high gain tones) I totally agree on the noise gate, I use a small Joyo one called Gate of Khan which is dirt cheap, one knob you only need to tweak until you find the sweet spot (removing hum without losing sustain and drying out the flavor of the tone) and you're good to go for some heavy tunes
Tip #1 (pickup height) inadvertently fixed a confusing problem I was having with a newly-bought (second hand) Strat. It was buzzing like mad on many strings. I'd tried new strings, neck relief adjustment, saddle/action height, fret leveling/polishing.. nothing made much difference... After watching this I noticed how high the pickups were (duh, call me Captain Observation) and dropped them a lot. It didn't noticeably affect the volume but now the fret buzz is negligible. I'm pretty confident I can eliminate it completely if I start from here and set the rest of the guitar up properly. Thanks Darrell
Hello, update on the setup?
Don't know if someone has already mentioned this in the comments, but I consider a graphite nut (e.g. Graph Tech TUSQ XL) to be a great upgrade for any strat, for it acts as a self lubricating tool that keeps the strings in tune whenever you use your whammy/trem bar. This means the strings slip through the slots and return to their original pitch with no problems. These come in different sizes and its slots are filled most of the time, making the nut replacement quicker. Besides, these nuts' cost is relatively cheap.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, hope it was useful to anyone.
For any guitar. Got the Tusc XL on my L P. Not gonna change the nut on my Strat cause it's actually the best you could use. The roller nut/ locking tuners is a great system.
@@sparkyguitar0058roller nut🤮
@@sparkyguitar0058THE graphite nut is better
Thank you for the info about the pick-up height! 😀🙏 I've been following a luthier/guitar fixer's channel (also Canadian) for a while now who swears by adjusting them fairly close to the strings, often commenting with, "If you've been wondering why your guitar ain't sounding good, then your pick-ups most likely are too low", and so I adjusted my Strat's accordingly - and now have the middle pick-up in the way of my pick 🙄 I'll just put them lower again now - I didn't really notice much sound improvement after raising them anyway!
My fave mod that I did on my Strat was wiring in a transformer for line-mic xlr connector so that I could connect my guitar to a mic in console. Then I can feed my guitar to a mic input channel as well as feeding through effects boxes and have both recorded into my workstation.
Great tips! Most of them I had to learn the hard way. Wish RUclips and this guy was around 45 years ago
Great tips!! My main Strat is springed down and blocked. I roll off a bit of neck volume and we have a nice big body sound. She has other tricks to offer as well. Two other Strats are always open for trying something new and we discover new improvements.
I agree with the 2 springs option though a better option is to buy softer springs and replace with them. The Raw Vintage brand does this for ~$25 no tech needed. Also guys, please learn how to float the trem yourself by watching some videos. My strats stay in tune WITH floating trems that I use constantly.
as a strat enjoyer:
-floating done right takes time; tweaking the setup is very important (check john levan's premier guitar article on how to do it). All settings are interactive so lots of patience... and keep adjusting.
-pos 2 is underrated. comp+subtle chorus+rev gives beautiful cleans
-modding for 7 positions (b+n and all 3 at once) is nice
-if using the bar you find that it can't retain proper tuning, check if any strings bind at the nut. That's most likely the problem
-lubricate moving parts! add graphite (rub a pencil) in saddles where strings sit, on the nut and in the string trees. Use vaseline or other type of grease where the bridge assembly pivots (the two or six screws where it rests).
Pure gold. Best tutorial ever I’ve seen in RUclips on the Fender Stratocaster. Including re position 2 and 4 are effectively the Fender’s humbucker.
I love my 10 way tone switch from Freeway, great mod while keeping it looking original!
I just installed one in my primary Strat (a Squier Mini - yep) and it's a "whole nuther world" :-)
Don't know what we'd do without you. Maybe cause I'm Canadian love your direction but I'm certain it's because you have an innate talent for teaching with a clear concise manner. Thanks as always Darrell and keep it comin'! 👌💯🎸
SUPER POST! Number 1 tip is what Dan Patlansky says too. He is that rare player who has the SRV vibe nailed.
Amazing timing, just got a player strat over the weekend
Congratulations!
With my strat the right strings were a big help, not saying to stick with the same string brands but finding good sting is a blessing.
A minor one - get one of those little springs to drop into the whammy bar hole before you screw the bar in. Stops the bar flapping in the breeze. Don't know if all new strats come with this as I've never been able to afford a new one (!), but every second-hand one I've ever bought (Fender or Squier) hasn't had one. Tip - if you buy the Fender replacement ones, don't screw the bar in really tight - that compresses the spring to the point where it won't recover, then it's just a block of metal. Would've thought Fender could find some better materials to make them from.
I prefer it to flap! That way it falls away when you’re not using it. I guess if you’re trying to play like Jeff Beck, that would not be desirable.
Great tips, Darrel! Thank you! Although I don’t own a Fender Strat at the moment, I adjusted the pickup height on my Silver Sky and it made a massive difference. Feels like a totally different guitar.
The 10 way switch is amazing. The American Deluxe series from the 2000's has this as a feature with a push pot.
The tone control was also on the bridge but had a detent at 10, allowing you to bypass it if desired.
Locking tuners also came on this model along with Fender's Noiseless single coils.
I have a Mexican HSS that I put a Seymour jb trembucker in the bridge. I'm going to try lowering the neck and middle pickups.
I agree, the 4th position alone makes getting a strat worth it. I'm amazed shielding the cavity wasnt in this vid tho. It's a must mod!
Great tips; I never heard of the 'Ten-way Switch, amazing! My 1987 MIK Strat is not new and neither is my playing.
Just recently I actually regained clarity and output by raising my pups.
Not too close, around 4 mm-4.2mm. They might be getting weak with age?
There is no 'warble' and it sounds much better. Don't rely just on theory, use your ears too.
A decently set up Strat wont go out of tune with hard trem use... I use Dry Lube for the last 25 years... A dry spray designed to keep curtain tracks from sticking.. It works a treat!! And yes, a floating trem is the way to go!!
Another great video from Darrell. I miss two things though : a closeup picture of the mod for bridge PUP to work with tone control. If you haven't opened up a guitar before, it can seem a bit scary when in reality it is very easy to do. And: the Faraday cage, the excellent hum-reducer wich is also very easy to do.Just cover the inside cavities with copper tape (and connect it to ground). I have several single coil guitars, and it really works. No need for a noise gate imho :-)
I'm just about to get my first usa fender strat ( 1990, maple fretboard), managed to negotiate to trade my prs se +some money.. can't wait...might use this video to get as much out of it as possible 😁
Good stuff. I immediately lowered my pickups as a result of watching this. I had never actually paid attention to if I have a treble bleed circuit because I always run the guitar wide open and use a volume pedal. BUT, now that you made me aware of it I went to check, and damn if it doesn't get real thin when you roll back the volume. And here all these years I thought that only humbuckers got dark when you roll off the volume. That's why we played single coils. For all those clean sounds. But now that I hear that my strat is going artificially thin when I roll back the volume, it is driving me insane, so the soldering iron comes out tomorrow! THANK YOU! Now for that fancy 10x switch. That is super cool, except I had an S1 switching Strat and I had to trade it in BECAUSE there were so many sound choices that I was always screwing with it when I should have been playing. So while I salute the coolness of that aftermarket 10x switch, I know that my OCD-self needs to stay away from it. Oh, also, that was super good advice on making a person use a floating tremolo for several weeks to really get the guitar to settle in. After I do a major readjustment to a guitar that includes a truss rod adjustment, or if the neck angle has been changed, or the rear spring tension has been messed with to get the float right for the strings your using, YES, it takes time for everything to stop moving about. I will tweak, tweak, tweak for at least a week before deciding to leave it alone. Then I like to put it away for at least a week and come back to it. Play it. See how it feels. I can't tell you how many times I think that I still don't have it right, then come back a week later and DAMN, what was I thinking? This thing plays great! Sometimes you have to sneak up on stuff to really see it. Thanks again!
When I first got my strat, it was nicely set up with a floating bridge, stayed in tune perfectly, no issues at all. The problems came when I've started learning this tune, that had a lot of bends in it and I really struggled, my bends where all over the place, especially with whole tones and 1.5s. I locked the bridge and it became so much more controllable, it stays locked from that time on. Ironically, the tune I'm talking about was Jeff Beck's Cause We've Ended as Lovers :)
Interesting, Thanks 😊
the floating trem is a wild horse compared to locking ones ... yes you will see a lot of annoying discrepancies but you have advantages too ... i can bend a string on the strat without affecting the adjacent one ... not so on the locking JS or JEM also i find the strat one more ...urgh ... organic ?
more tonal difference ... also i dropped my pickups almost to the plate ... awesome difference in dynamics and voicing ... the strings wear out and the feature vanishes
Usually that kind of videos of 10 trick of something are just a bunch of crap that everyone already know... this is really a useful video with precious stuff on it, thank you for doing it!
If you have a 6 screw trem I can't recommend enough dumping the stock trem screws and install PRS style screws with the notched shaft. Dramatically improved the feel of the trem. That is, if your bridge plate has the countersunk holes underneath creating a butter knife edge. Straight holes won't work.
Great and informative video. I've been playing Strats for decades and never knew about lowering the pickups. What a game-changer!!! Thank you!
I’ve always LOVED position 4 and find it an essential Strat sound. For me I use position 2 the least even for cleans but that’s just me
I call the 4the position the Ronnie Earl setting and the 2nd position the Robert Cray setting.
Darrel. Gotta tell ya about my new purchase. I just did a blind Strat test at a large guitar shop. They set up 4 different guitars in a sound room with the same amp. I didn't know what makes they picked. After playing them, hearing them and feeling them, I made a choice. Shocked... out of an American Fender Strat, a Squier Strat, a PRS Silver Cloud and a Godin Session HT, I had walked away with the Godin and love it. True unbiased choice.
Great stuff. I’ve done several of those tweaks to my Squire 60s Classic Vibe Strat, and switched to locking tuners. I also upgrading all the electronics to Fender products, and replacing the saddles with Highwood recessed screw saddles. Plays like a dream; on par with the Fender American Strat Deluxe that I used to own.
One other easy/ inexpensive mod which had a positive change in its tone was switching the cheap pot metal trem block with a big thick all brass block. Definitely worth the $50.
One
Hendrix did not not use Brass blocks you know.
after owning numerous squiers even a legit jv thet are not par with american
@@morfarviksturmm2652 I hear he didn’t have a cell phone, either….
Hello Darrell, nice and informative video as always !!
I'd like to see a video in the future, where you analyze the different positions of the 10-way switch, especially the one that uses the three coils simultaneously.
Great content, Kudos
I second that! Not heard of the 10-way switch before!
Keep it in position 4.
I have a player strat. I installed the freeway switch after watching that first video you put out on it! I love it! Specially the bridge+ neck setting! I also blocked the trem and refinished the body. I play it every single day!
Yeah, I definitely find that switch very intriguing myself! 😃 Not sure if I'd be too keen on all the soldering, though! 😆 But I did hook up the bridge pick-up to the Tone pot on a couple of Strats in the past, and it's a brilliant modification, too! 😀👍
I have a Freeway Switch and it's fantastic. There are a few ways of wiring therm but mine is wired so it's normal on one side but on the flip side, number 1 position (so number 6) it has bridge and middle acting in series, like a humbucker (not exactly, but a split humbucker doesn't sound quite like a proper single coil either), position 7 are all 3 pickups in parallel, which David Gilmour reckons makes it sound like a Jazzmaster.
8 has neck and bridge in series (a bit like a nice Tele tone), 9 has neck and bridge in parallel and 10 has the neck and middle acting in series to make a sort of neck humbucker like sound.
So it's a strat on one side and a bit like an LP (configurationally) on the "extra" side, with two other positions.
They also make them for Telecasters, but that's a 7 way switch, or for HSS strats.
I’ve been playing the same Strat since the 1980s. The only mods I’ve done is adding locking tuners and strap locks. I agree that you don’t want the action too low on a Strat - that kills your tone, especially if you play clean. For a while I had the trem blocked, for a while decked, but now I like it best floating. Stays in tune fine if you use it right.
Hi...do you mainly play clean? Cheers...
Darrel, you are my "very best favorite" content creator, your channel is really great...top notch, you deserve at least 4 o 5 million susbcribers...... please keep going!!.....every time I watch some of your videos, my passion about guitars keep growing.... best regards from Bolivia....
Well Darrell I couldnt sleep and came across this video and watched it for the second time. I think I'm going to finally loosen up that trem. I have had that spring claw screwed way in with five springs for a long time. I think you are right. Floating trem is how it was ment to be so I'm going to give it a solid week or two. I already have the lockers and lower pickups. thanks as always Darrell. Gods Blessing to you up in the northland
Position #4 WITH CHORUS!!!!
SO GOOD AND SO GOOD FOR YOU
Great tips and I'm a fan of a bunch of them. One of the 1st things I had to change on my strat, since I have big hands and the volume was just too close to the string-bed, is to move the volume down one position and make it a master volume/master tone. Solved my accidental adjustments and the lack of tone on the bridge PU in one operation. I used a spare switch-tip from the 5way and gjued it into the empty hole for a pinky anchor. I also got a second trem bar and cut it a couple inches shorter and put the plastic tip back on. For me the long bar was in the way lots of times and had too much leverage/sensitivity.
Yes, the Volume knob being too close to the strings was the very first thing that also bothered *me* , after buying the first Strat in many years, about ten years ago! I'm a Tele fan, and I'd mainly bought it because I wanted a guitar with a trem, and this one then popped up in my circle of friends. I'd had a couple of Strat *copies* before and bought another one only recently, but I had that issue only on that one MIA Fender Strat! Very strange! 🤔 😄
Great video!
Raising the strings makes it a lot harder to bend and play overall and changes intonation slightly which makes that change a tad tedious. A better solution to get nicer sustains is to use a compressor and a noise gate which together allow to lengthen your sustains while keeping them clean. The 10way switch would be awesome on my American Standard HSS...which is the exact same finish/look as the one you have there. Wish it had locking tuners, but I ordered a Sire S7-FM-TBL
Can you tell me how to combine comp and noise gate?
@@wuuuuuuu254 It's really a personal choice, some prefer one before the other, some prefer the opposite. The best thing for you to decide what you like is to try both setups and play with the settings for a long enough time on both setups to find whatever tone/sound you want. There's no one exact or perfect one way to do it. If you have a effects looping setup on your amp, some also put some pedals through that. Most guitarists however do place the noise gate first or second and the same for compressor. Your compressor will get you the sustains you want when you find your desired setting. Depends if you want to compress your other pedals or not, also take into account gain compounding (multiple gains one after the other), depends what type of music you are playing. If you have the pedals and have the time, try multiple setups and play, maybe even record yourself, label your recordings with the setup and then compare them to decide.
Cheers!
Edit : My personal preference is to eliminate noise before anything else.
Something never talked about is the little screws that hold the tuners to the headstock. If the screws are not rock solid tight, and sometimes they arent which will cause tuning stability issues, make sure those tiny screws are secure as you can get them. When the screws are stripped out, add wood in the holes with a toothpick. Some headstocks are kinda soft and have a hard time staying put.
I have a Strat with S1 switching, and I absolutely love the bridge pickup with the neck pickup added. kind of the best of both worlds.
My American Performer Strat has the S1 switch and I absolutely adore it! I use it a LOT
Great set of tips! I especially believe all Strats should have the floating trem. That’s the way Leo designed it. To people that say you have to deck or block the trem to stay in tune, I call BS. It’s all about finding the right balance between strings and springs. After that, your Strat will be rock solid.
I’ve always floated the vibrato bar. Rarely had tuning problems, and I used to beat on it pretty hard.
I agree! If you're having issues, have it set up by a pro, and learn to break it in when you change the strings. Work that trem bar hard!
Well, you're approaching it like some kind of ideology applied to the all. If you never use the thing, I don't get why you would want it. I pin mine because I use my fingers for vibrato. When I yammer on the trem bar it doesn't sound like music. It sounds like some novelty sound effect. But, if you love the trem bar, go bananas on it.
@@ericjames8816 possibly because you’re ‘yammering’ on it. It is possible to use the bar in extreme fashion, and have it sound like music. Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore both have made extensive, and even violent, use of it while being very musical in the process
@@ericjames8816 It’s not about whether you ever use the trem or not. It’s about how Leo designed the guitar to be set up that way. There’s a difference in the way the strings oscillate when the bridge is floating that is an essential part of the classic Strat tone.
I've got an American Special. In order to get the tremolo to return to pitch I put in roller bridges, TUSQ nut and string guides, and I use nut sauce on the string bearing points. It's really pretty much ok now. Great video, I picked up some great info and the 10 way switch is intriguing.
Hey Darrell, a good topic, and I'm always looking for ways to improve the performance and sound of my Strats.
Although I would point out that not all Strats throughout its history, have had floating bridges, one example is the 1983 Elite Stratocaster. That bridge was decked.
Another is the 1980 "STRAT" and that was because the inertia block was so thick it didn't have much travel to begin with.
Tip #1: I've been doing that for decades now and it does produce a better tone
Tip #2: Locking tuners would help this a lot, but then so does a small bottle of Selmer liquid cork grease. A tiny dab in each nut slot helps free the strings up, (provided the slots are cut correctly to allow the strings to pass through.
Tip #3: Been doing that one for years too. I would also recommend position 2 as well for many of the 80's clean choused sounds.
Tip #4: All my traditional Strats have been wired to have the 2nd tone knob on the bridge pickup, and the 1st tone knob always goes to my neck pickup. It really helps put some more meat into the bridge pickup.
Tip #5: A good neck alignment will give you the same results with lower action. The real trick is finding a good guitar tech who knows how to do it right.
Tip #6: I need to get about a dozen of those switches. Thanks for that tip!
Tip #7: I've used noise gates since the 80's and they help a lot, but there's also the option of stacked humbuckers so you don't have to modify the guitar to accept it.
Tip #8: I'm with you on the volume knob, much of my inspiration for using the volume knob on a Strat came from Rory Gallagher, he was a master at it.
Tip #9: Agreed. Also, the original slotted post tuners on Strats can be set up to function almost as well as locking tuners. I've been doing that for a few decades as well, and it works very well. It's a little tricky to do, and find the right string length, but so worth the effort.
Tip #10: I've been experimenting with different spring tensions, but like the bridge blocks, Fender uses the cheapest junk metal for these components. There are good replacements out there on the market that will make a Strat sustain, and sound much better. You just have to know what sound you are going for.
Darrell, have you tried Tremsetters?
The best tone you can get is having a cigarette burn by the nut.
Strats are great. I bought Cort G260 HSS with coil tap in sunburst colour in 2014 and its one of the best guitars i have played, better then some Fender strats. I just changed pickups to Seymour Duncans and its great, stays in tune and sounds awesome. 🎸🎶☮
Nut lubrication really helps on the trem problem. I retrofitted my Fenders with split shaft tuners, I find they work just as well as lockers. I grew up with the split shafts.
Great video!!! Would recommend graphtech saddles for the bridge also which help 99% reduce string breakage (works on any guitar)
Yes!
Another great tip is a hair tie or scrunchy on the trem springs - helps mute that buzz some make. Cory Wong even has a Fender Signature hair tie that comes with his Signature model.
9:15 - I have a 1984 "Jap Strat" in Paisley Pink and I can tell ya... Yes, dialing the volume back to 8 while on the bridge pickup SERIOUSLY kills the twangy highs and makes it sound like a normal standard Strat of it's era. Took a while of playing with pickup hight & adjusting everything to get a good "normal" non-twangy sound of it. Thank you for bringing this up as it really does make a difference.
Hey bud,.....ive been playing for 35 years,......you really got some useful stuff here I never thought much about!!
Couldn’t agree more about #4. Soldered that little jumper a while back to my MIM Strat, which already has hot ceramic pickups and WOW….✌🏻🎶🎸
Outstanding, I’m on my 2nd Strat mostly like my Tele’s. My 1st Strat was an American Std 2015 and we never got along. So bummed. SOLD. Went many years w/o. I didn’t want to blow a lot of money on the second one, so I bought a MIM player LE. Can’t get a straight answer from GC but why LE but $679 good buy. What if I’m not a strat person? I already love my new Strat, very cooperative, and with your 10 Strat improvements I’m going to use at least 7! I’m feeling good about this. That’s why I watch your flicks. Thank you.
I have 3 Strats left, I just sold 2. I'm looking for a hard tail now. I could add a couple things to help your list. If you going to do a humbucker in pos 1, Seymour Duncan makes a "stacked humbucker", that is the same dimensions as a single coil. I believe they call it the "little 59"? The tone target was to sound like a 59 PAF, and it does. Very easy to install using the same pick guard. The second, when you change strings, take a #2 (soft) pencil and rub it in the nut slots. This leaves a little graphite film there and the strings slide/move without sticking. Like Darrell said, there are a lot more too. Good luck!! --gary
Both great suggestions! 😀👍 I've been doing the pencil trick forever myself 🙂 And another good replacement pick-up for a more humbucker-like sound that fits into the same pickguard is the DiMarzio FS-1, which may also be stacked but I'm not a 100% sure.
@@mightyV444 Thanks, and I have a DiMarzio story! Starting in the mid-70's I had a Gibson ES325, I gigged that for 10 years! The 325 was a Gibson 'mutt', they only made it '72- ' 79. It was all hollow, w/2- Firebird pups, and a trapeze tailpiece. I played on the neck pup a lot. My tech talked me into putting a DiMarzio PAF there. He had to route the pup hole larger to do it. I loved it! 6 weeks later I was on stage, all of a sudden I had the neck in one hand and the body in the other!! The tech had routed the neck tenon right off, and it broke off in my hands!! I gave it to a neighbors kid for a shop project, never saw it again!! Live and learn I guess. --gary
@@gtr1952 - Oh nooo!! 🙈 Bummer! And after having played it for quite a long time, too! 😯 Good on ya for giving it to a youngster, though! 😀👍 Did you keep your tech? 😉 And it appears an ES325 is the same guitar the dude from Kings Of Leon plays 🙂
@@mightyV444 I did keep him for awhile. That was in the 70's - 80's and we have remained friends since. The tech thing was a little different then. I used 4 guitars. I'd pick them up on Wednesday. We would do 8 gigs, Thu, Fri, Sat night, Thu, Fri, Sat happy hour, Sat wedding, Festival Sun afternoon (there were a lot of them back then!) Then I dropped them off. He would re-string, adj, repair etc. I'm 70 now, I think he had 10 years on me! LOL I have a 335 walnut color now, w/burstbuckers, that looks like the 325. Although the 325 had a very thin neck (width wise), and I used it to play rhythm. I still have 40 some electrics/acoustics, a couple bass's, mandolins, a lap steel and 8 or so amps/cabs kicking around. LOL Like kids, I can't sell them. 8) --gary
Great tips Darrell. I would also say for the noise of a single coil say also you could swap out the single coil pickups for stacked humblers. this way you don't have to cut the guitar.
Thanx!! From your tips I just messed with my 2 strats and they are better! Put new 9 's on my squier cv 70's. natural wood, whanged the whammy for 10 minutes and the stock tuners work perfectly, no need for locking tuners.
Thank you so much. I just lowered my pickups on my player series and wow 🎉
WHAT A VOICE!
I bought a Player HSS almost a year ago, and just love the way it came from the factory, so I don't want to do any mods .However, I do agree that the number 4 position is my favorite. To me, it's the iconic Strat sound.
the 10-way Freeway switch mod is simply great! best trip to the luthier I have made! Also did the 6-way on one of my Telecasters. Fantastic!
You are awesome darrell!😁
I started learning guitar because of you and man I'm having a blast.
What awards?
What did I win?
I just took your advise and lowered my pickups on my sss strat and turned up the gain and guess what ? It sounds better ! I could tell the difference right off . Plus I like many love position 4 . Thanks for the advice , worked like a charm !
There was some really valuable stuff there. I lowered my pickups and it made a world of difference.I have a tele and i'm going to try that on it as well. Also I did not know about the ten way switch. I will look for some demos on RUclips. Thank you
Great video - thanks for the tips. I have been a Strat player for years and these tips will help tremendously!!!
that 10 way switch sounds so intriguing!!
Oh man Darrell! I was hoping for 11 tips!
Another tip for the strat - tune all the strings down a half step. It sounds so much better
You mean the 432 frequency? I think the powers that be changed to the standard 440, which is not congruent to the harmony of the universe that 432 matches. It’s even mathematical. Check that out if you haven’t heard of it. I like to play in 432. My voice does better with half step down tunings.
@@scottyscott1898 half step down means Eb standard tuning
@@scottyscott1898 415hz
I replaced a Strat floating trem with a VTech Bladerunner. I can dive bomb that, put it away for two weeks, and it comes out of the case in near-perfect tune! It instantly went from a bedroom-only guitar to one I can use at gigs. No locking tuners or roller string T's, though I got rid of those stock ones with rounded T's that don't bind the strings at all.
Worked guitars for years but have only done this on my own Strats - swap the middle and bridge pickup positions WITHOUT rewiring > "bridge" pickup then has the tone control AND the first crack select position becomes neck/bridge out of phase, second crack is still mid/bridge out of phase (one COULD reverse magnet polarity of the mid - which was bridge, to hum cancel) only drawback (to me) is passing through the no toned mid (former bridge pickup) sweep from "position" 1-5 As far as treble bleed, Hendrix left his Marshall amps wide open for distortion and used the Strat volume knob to not only back volume but to "mellow" the tone. He hardly used the Fuzzface unit as much as players assume. He used the guitar's volume control because... he left the Marshall amps at basically full volume for piercing distortion.
Great video. I just bought a Squier Vibe Strat. I can’t wait to take advantage of some of these.
Seymour Duncan Hotrails in the bridge and staggered locking tuners. 🤘
Great tips. I would recommend a "permanently on" (via a push/pull tone pot replacement) for the bridge pickup. That way you can achieve Tele style bridge+neck (in position 5) or all 3 pickups at once (in position 4)
Man, I'm glad I watched this to the end. Great tips all the way through, but with the last one, you really gave me an "oh, duh!" moment! I've played an epi SG for years, but recently got my first strat. The trem system has had me unexpectedly baffled! I knew I wanted it floating, but it wasn't set up that way when I got it. I thought I tried everything, but somehow, adjusting the claw never occurred to me. Well, duh, of course it affects the tension! Thanks Darrell!
I have a strat 2017 elite, love the guitar, has locking tuners and I have the truss rod wheel adjust at the bottom of the neck similar to the Music Man setup. If you don’t want a whammy then you should look for a different guitar, ooopps, I just slammed Eric Clapton, he blocked his tremolo. The stat has alway been referred to as the “Working Man’s Guitar” Darrell thanks for your channel it is one of the best on guitars. We all don’t need lessons, and I love the gear head approach.
Nice tips. Bought the freeway switch after seing it in your video. My favourite position is the bridge and neck pickup in parallell. Would love to have an out of phase option on it.
When you talked about treble bleeds I started thinking. I've come to the same conclusion. Prefer the volume without it.
My tips would be:
I set my amp sound with the tone controls on 6. That gives me an opportunity to add treble when needed, which most often is used in position 4, where I crank the tone to 10.
About the tone control for the treble pickup, I wire the first tone control for the neck and middle pickups, so I have the second tone control only for the treble pickup. I put that on 5-6 and almost never touch it.
Lowering pickups!!! Such a tremendously positive change. Thanks!! The Fender recommended heights aren’t conducive to good guitar sound IMO
Sharpen your pencil when you change your strings! Of course, you have to put the graphite into the slots. I did that back in the 80s on my 62RI Strat and that vintage floating trem was slinky and expressive and called out to me, "Go on, be Jeff Beck! I won't tell if you're not!"
Great vid, D!!!
Hey Darrell, really good tips on Strats. Always like watching your videos, sort of gets me fired up to make some good tweaks on my Strats.
Had my strat for years but these were some great ideas. Thanks for the info. Such a good video.