Strat bridge problem

Gobethewall

Noticed recently when I start playing my Strat high E & B strings are flat. So I tune them up and play. Next time I pick up guitar they are flat again so I tune up and play. Eventually realized that the bridge for each string had dropped. Basically the little grub screws for raising and lowering keep undoing themselves. Anyone had this problem? and what did you do to rectify it.
Hope the above makes sense

feylya

That's weird. Can't say I've ever heard of that. Easiest fix is to use a TINY amount of thread lock on the screws. I can't emphasis TINY enough.

Alanstrainor

Gobethewall wrote: »

Noticed recently when I start playing my Strat high E & B strings are flat. So I tune them up and play. Next time I pick up guitar they are flat again so I tune up and play. Eventually realized that the bridge for each string had dropped. Basically the little grub screws for raising and lowering keep undoing themselves. Anyone had this problem? and what did you do to rectify it.
Hope the above makes sense

You could replace the saddles themselves, this would most likely be a more permanent solution.

If the screws are just loose, you could set them at the correct height, and use something like nail varnish to hold them in place. This would make it so they wont spin would a good amount of force being applied. But they would still be turnable in the future as the varnish would be brittle enough to break loose when turning with an Allen key.

Gobethewall

Thanks for replies lads
Yeah! it's a strange one. Took me a while to figure out what was happening and stranger still it seems to happen when guitar is snug in it's case. Thought of loctite alright but I'm just afraid it would lock them up altogether. Might try the nail varnish seems like a good idea.

Dord

I've seen it before on basses with a Fender style bridge. Vibrations can cause the grub screws to losen and drop the string height. Thread lock would be a quick fix, but I usually replace the bridges.

AnBradan

I have had a squire strat affinity series since 2002. i love that guitar and i have had a similar problem. i have all of my little screws dropped as low as i can go to get very low action (without fret buzz) there is also the little screws at the back that basically allow you to shorten or lengthen the string. you should maybe check your intonation with a tuner and see. I think that the strings can be at different lengths to compensate for different gauge strings. for your intonation to be right there has to be the exact same length from nut to 12th fret as there is from the 12th to the bridge. ie the 12th fret should be exactly half way between nut and bridge. check with a ruler.
if all that is ok the last thing or maybe the first thing you should do is tighten your machine heads the screw that points up threw the machine head will help stop the string slipping.

good luck with that. careful not to wreck your screws and use an appropriate screw driver.

endacl

A cheap fix is a little drop of superglue. It'll wick down the threads and hold everything steady. Won't adversely effect anything. Screws will still screw in and out. They just won't move unless you move them.

Gobethewall

I have reset the tremelo, hardening it down a bit and this appears to have made a difference and the lady is currently staying in tune. I can't imagine why that would affect the grub screws but it definitely seems to have had an effect.
Thanks again for all the suggestions