Japanese Fender Strat

novarock

Im picking up my first Strat today, I bought it on adverts last week:http://www.chillyspoon.com/gear/Strat/. I think it was a bargain at €250! Anyway, Ive never payed an electric without a fixed bridge before, any advice on what to do, not to do, maintenance?

Killaqueen!!!

Don't know anything about maintanence but congrats on a great find! Thanks God it's a lefty though, because otherwise I would be killing myself that I didn't buy it! Why was it so cheap.....?

novarock

It needed a little bit of TLC, cost me about €50 in Musician, JAck was a bit iffy and the bridge needed to be lowered, neck straightened etc.. I brought it in to Musician and Rodge (a fellow lefty) re-iterated the fact that it was a bargain. It sounded great in practice the other night, even though the action was pretty high and had really old strings!

Do you recommend leaving the bridge flat to the body or slightly raised would be my main question.

Fingers Mcginty

that's a lovely looking guitar!

Voodu Child

novarock wrote:

Do you recommend leaving the bridge flat to the body or slightly raised would be my main question.

Most people who play older strats would recommend that they stay in tune better if there is enough tension in the springs to pull the bridge flat to the body.

Johnny Storm

Here's some good basic info

http://www.fender.co.uk/support/stratocaster.php

There are advantages and disadvantages to floating or decking your bridge. Personally I prefer floating, because IMHO it adds something to the tone.

Voodu Child

Johnny Storm wrote:

There are advantages and disadvantages to floating or decking your bridge. Personally I prefer floating, because IMHO it adds something to the tone.

It has a looser feel as well. I guess you should try both and see which you prefer, it only takes a second to change it in either case.

I know some serious strat players mess around with the six screws that hold the trem on the body (they loosen all but the outer two), to improve the stability of the trem as well, but its a pretty esoteric mod, i doubt you'll find many here who do it, or have even heard of it.

novarock

I got it, brought it straight to the practice room, sounds amazing, has a great crunch that I just cant get on my ibanez. Set up is amazing as well. I presume the Buzz is normal for the single coils? Just get a noise suppressor and im golden!

Fingers Mcginty

prefer mine floating also

So Glad

That guitar is exactly the same as mine. But mine is a Mexican Fender Strat. I was going to buy a Japanese one but Ishibashi don't send Japanese Fenders to Ireland

Johnny Storm

novarock wrote:

..I presume the Buzz is normal for the single coils? ...

There was a thread about this just the other day. Single coils can pick up noise. Bottom line is have a look at www.guitarnuts.com for info on shielding.

It wasn't me!

So Glad wrote:

That guitar is exactly the same as mine. But mine is a Mexican Fender Strat. I was going to buy a Japanese one but Ishibashi don't send Japanese Fenders to Ireland

Yes they do.

novarock

Does anyone have experience with the boss NS-2? does it affect the dynamcs of your tone or anything?

It wasn't me!

Makes it the slightest bit duller in my experience, but you'd have to listen for it.

Karl Hungus

I'd recommend getting an ISP Decimator, because quite frankly, it's a phenominal piece of kit that doesn't affect the tone at all.

Voodu Child

First thing you want to do is get rid of avoidable problems - check your shielding, grounding, output jack, cable etc. Get your basic setup as noiseless as possible, the less noise you have to reduce with a stompbox the better.

Then, as Karl said, if its still noisy you cant go wrong with an ISP decimator.