AH! string help :(

[Derrick1642607670]

Ok so I put a set of .012's on my strat today coming from .011's. The action was incredibley higher (the opposite of what I expected) but I thought I would give it time to see if I would prefer it rather than lower the action. I just noticed a few minutes ago the bridge (non-hardtail) was inclined towards the headstock which cleared up everything, to be safe I loosened the strings so the bridge would lay flat. So what exactly am I going wrong with?

 

Thanks

[miroslav]

With .012's....you may need to tighten the truss rod a bit which will bring the strings back down toward the neck...then reset your action.

 

If your bridge is being pulled forward...maybe something is loose.

You may need to tighten your whammy bar springs (not to sure how that goes exactly, I don't have a Strat on hand).

[Derrick1642607670]

The truss rod seemed alright I believe that the springs probably have to be tightened. I'll have to look it up doesn't seem like a serious job but who knows, thanks for the input.

[miroslav]

Maybe you know all this already...

 

But you can't just guesstimate about the truss rod...you need a feeler guage and you need to measure the space from the fret to the string at the 8th fret...while holding down at the first fret and also at the fret where the neck meets the body.

Use a capo to hold down at the first fret.

 

Have you done that?

 

012 strings will pull on the neck much harder...which is why your strings are higher off the neck....because your neck is getting bowed by that pull.

 

[Derrick1642607670]

Yes and again thank you, I didn't quite put that into words very well. Thanks for reinforcing though, better safe than sorry.

[The Geoff]

You could also try adding another spring to your trem.

 

G.

[Guitarzan]

question... how many springs on the tremolo?

with 12 gauge you are gonna need a few to fight the string pull.

SRV used 12's and he had all 5 springs.

you can tighten the springs by turning the screws that hold the spring claw but if you only have 3 springs it will take some tightening to balance the tension of a set of 12's.

loosen the strings and tighten the screws a bit and retune. you don't want to over do it. there should be enough tension to do a whole note bend on the high E without the low E dropping in pitch, if you want it flat on the body. floating is another story.

remember there is a tug of war between the strings and the springs. if one is pulling harder the bridge will follow.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Yeah, "twelves" are really beginning to push it on a Strat (SRV used a variety of hefty gauges in his time, but he usually tuned down a half-step or more, loosening that string-tension to a more reasonable amount). You will either need to use four or five springs in the cavity 'round-back, or tighten them by tightening the two screws that hold the spring-claw (be sure to do so evenly on the two screws), or both.

 

This will all take a lot of trial-and-error, the trem-bridge is a balancing-act that will see-saw back and forth with changes made in string-gauges, number of springs, and any adjustments made. Intonation and action will have to be addressed.

 

And, unless there was too little relief to begin with, those twelves will have pulled the neck into more relief, more forward-bow, and that will raise the overall action a bit; add that to the trem-bridge being pulled forward, which raises the height of the bridge-saddles, and thus raises the action, and you've got a compounded raised-action and mushy yet stiff feel...

 

On a Strat, it's best to have as little relief as you can get by with, too, as the neck will begin to act like an acoustic "bow" (think archery) that robs tone and sustain and definition... for real! (Shorter-scale Gibson-style guitars, particularly single-cutaway designs, can get by with more relief, and often need to with the lower string-tension caused by the shorter scale-length.)

 

I cannot highly enough recommend Dan Erlewine's book, How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!. To say that it contains a wealth of information is an understatement, it is a superior reference-book for guitar set-up, easily well worth the price. You will NEVER exhaust its contents! Never! Unless you open a high-traffic pro repair and set-up shop in Nashville!

 

It even comes with a set of radius-gauges in a perforated plastic-sheet inside the back-cover. Too cool! It'll explain EVERYTHING, step-by-step, with pictures, that you need to know and do for a superior set-up that will be to YOUR liking. I promise! Pinky-swear!

[Derrick1642607670]

Ok thanks for the help guys everything is good again. I had give the neck a bit more concave and tightened the tremelo claw so I no longer have the ultimate floating bridge haha.