How to setup and adjust a Stratocaster for Jazz

[kris]

I have those types on a couple of Teles and a JM. I have had no problems strung with TI and Pyramid flat 12s with a 13 & 17 substituted for the higher strings. When you say "failure" what specifically fails?

FWIW, one thing that you have to do with those types of saddles is to be sure your strings are grounded because the saddles material is nonconductive. So with Teles the strings need to contact the string thru hole in the bridge plate and the bridge plate needs to be grounded. With a JM the strings need to contact the tailpiece and the tailpiece needs to be grounded. TIs will work on a Tele because the silk wrap is short enough to allow bare metal to still touch the string thru hole. TIs don't as work well in JMs because the silk wrap can prevent the string metal from touching the bridge plate if the ball end doesn't seat well against the metal of the tailpiece. YMMV.

Once a Teflon broke before a concert while changing strings.
It worked great for three years.I wanted to raise the height of the saddle string a little.

[paul s.]

pick up Stratocaster. Play jazz on Stratocaster. Profit!

[Cunamara]

Our own Jens Larsen:

Jamie Holroyd:

Our own rp:

And others:

[kris]

Has anyone played a hollow-body Stratocaster?
I have a chambered Stratocaster, but it's not full hollow-body.

[Little Jay]

This is the best movie with a Strat used for jazz:

And it looks like he is using the bridge PU!

[citizenk74]

RP is sorely missed!

[John A.]

This is the best movie with a Strat used for jazz:

And it looks like he is using the bridge PU!

I think it's more likely that he has the switch reversed so as to avoid knocking it out of the neck position while playing. It definitely sounds like the neck position.

[pauln]

And it looks like he is using the bridge PU!

Leo called the three Strat pickups:

"Rhythm" (Neck)
"Normal" (middle)
"Lead" (bridge)

Most Strat players do not think of the middle pickup as the "normal" one, they tend to avoid it altogether unless their switching allows it to be combined with another to get a special sound. They might use the bridge PU occasionally, but they certainly prefer the neck PU for most everything, often using it exclusively.

What many guitarists these days call "tone" comes from the deliberate generation of sounding string anomalies produced by adopting hard aggressive picking as a fundamental technique. The bridge PU is actually capable of a beautiful jazz tone; you just have to resist the urge to pick hard. Notice how the guitarist in the video is playing - very gently, thoughtfully, absolutely not forcing the strings, letting them sound without producing any anomalies.

[John A.]

I posted this a week or so back. At the risk of repeating myself I think it bears noting a few things

RGD: Rejuvenated Guitar Day

This is a dead stock American Standard strat. Plain old Fender alnico pickups, whammy bar with a little float, strung with 10-46 roundwounds. Action is a hair higher than 4/64" (bass) and 3/64"(treble) at the 12 fret; relief is about .008" at the 6th fret. The signal chain is a GarageBand plug-in that combines the amp section of a BF Super Reverb and SF Twin + a little delay and reverb. I think this clearly shows that it's not difficult to get a good jazz tone out of a strat. I don't think strats need to have special jazz set-ups, strings, or pickups.

This carries through to my live set up. I use the same amps for all my guitars, either a Champion 20 set to the BF DR model or a SF Princeton Reverb. With both amps, I turn the bass and treble knobs all the way down, and vary gain according to the pickups to leverage the way volume and tone interact in Fender amps, (i.e., I turn up the amps more for the strat than the others to get more mids; I control loudness and tone color from the guitar). No effects other than amp reverb. I did a jam session yesterday with the strat and the C20. It sounded great. All of the deficits people claim strats have (too scooped, too bright, doesn't sit well in a band mix, etc.)? Nope. None of that is true with my set-up.

I will say that getting a good fat sound out of the strat is more amp dependent than with my other guitars. If I wind up going through something like a Roland JC or something in the Polytone/Henriksen/AER neck of the woods, I'm usually pretty frustrated. I don't particularly like those amps with ANY guitar, but I'm more unhappy with the strat than with other guitars. Other than that, I think the idea that a regular strat can't be a good jazz guitar, which gets treated as resolved wisdom around here, is just not true. Obviously, YMMV, a particular guitar may not work for a particular person for a particular style, and I'm not trying to convince anyone that they should play this or that instrument. But opinions about equipment should be based on what you experience, not based on what you read.

[citizenk74]

Leo called the three Strat pickups:

"Rhythm" (Neck)
"Normal" (middle)
"Lead" (bridge)

Most Strat players do not think of the middle pickup as the "normal" one, they tend to avoid it altogether unless their switching allows it to be combined with another to get a special sound. They might use the bridge PU occasionally, but they certainly prefer the neck PU for most everything, often using it exclusively.

What many guitarists these days call "tone" comes from the deliberate generation of sounding string anomalies produced by adopting hard aggressive picking as a fundamental technique. The bridge PU is actually capable of a beautiful jazz tone; you just have to resist the urge to pick hard. Notice how the guitarist in the video is playing - very gently, thoughtfully, absolutely not forcing the strings, letting them sound without producing any anomalies.

The middle pickup is my default setting, with the neck being second. I rarely use the bridge by itself. And a light touch is the norm for me. Just a tickle.

[John A.]

Leo called the three Strat pickups:

"Rhythm" (Neck)
"Normal" (middle)
"Lead" (bridge)

Most Strat players do not think of the middle pickup as the "normal" one, they tend to avoid it altogether unless their switching allows it to be combined with another to get a special sound. They might use the bridge PU occasionally, but they certainly prefer the neck PU for most everything, often using it exclusively.

I suppose I wouldn't call the middle pickup "normal" either, but I disagree that people don't use it. I hear it a lot on recordings, and all the strat players I know personally use it quite a bit, though time. Ditto for the bridge pickup. Some people are almost constantly switching between settings (e.g., Knopfler, Hendrix, SRV). I use all 5 settings on my strat (though for straightahead jazz, just the neck pickup).

What many guitarists these days call "tone" comes from the deliberate generation of sounding string anomalies produced by adopting hard aggressive picking as a fundamental technique. The bridge PU is actually capable of a beautiful jazz tone; you just have to resist the urge to pick hard. Notice how the guitarist in the video is playing - very gently, thoughtfully, absolutely not forcing the strings, letting them sound without producing any anomalies.

It's hard to tell what's going on with Quentin Warren on that video because his back is to the camera a lot, and I'm pretty sure I can hear different pickup sounds at different points. But I think it's mainly neck pickup, and I think the switch is reversed (the place in the video where I can actually see the switch sound like the neck pup to me, not a gently played bridge pup). I don't think he's playing on the bridge pickup for the most part.

[pauln]

I switch through the different PU selections throughout a set; the various tunes just seem to call for specific tonal qualities that best suit their mood, feel, and style. I do keep the same setting for a whole song. Sometimes I image that the different settings are the sounds of different kinds of guitars, other times as different instruments.

[Cunamara]

I have mainly been playing my Stratishcaster for probably the last six months, initially because I got recruited into an R&B style band but also because it's just so darn comfortable and ergonomically nice to play. It is an old Warmoth body that I first put together in 1989 or 1990, although revised many times since then. The neck is currently a Warmoth conversion neck with 24 3/4" scale. It works really surprisingly well when played finger style. I enjoy playing with just my fingers, but on my archtops I've never been satisfied with the sound I get.

I have alternative pickups in it (Wilde L280N in the neck position, and two L90s in the middle and bridge positions; these are "split" using Lindy Fralin's circuit. It is also wired so the neck pickup sees a Strat style 250k circuit and the L90s see a Gibson style 500k circuit). I've been getting used to playing jazz on it but found that the wound strings tended to sound a little "Stratty" while the plain strings sounded quite good. Monday I switched to flatwounds (SIT 11 – 50s) and have been really pleased by the results.

And so now, after all these discussions, I find myself looking at Craigslist checking out local MIM Stratocaster and thinking about having a standard Strat, too.

[pauln]

Of all the revolutionary features of the Stratocaster, the way the body feels against you may be the most endearing and enduring. A close second is ease of adjustments and modifications. In spite of its modern appearance (like something Leo thought up while on hiatus at the planet Saturn), even the current models after all these decades still have a little of the look of a prototype - just the front side of mine I can count 40 screws.

[kris]

Interesting sonic effects are achieved by experimenting with the height of the pick ups.
I have a middle pick up a little lower than the other two.

[itsmyname]

The only negative with the pickups for me is single coil buzz, and I do consider switching to noiseless, but I’m down enough rabbit holes for now. As far as strings go, in general I think thinner strings and roundwounds sound fine. For me, thick/thin round/flat is more about feel. Each facilitates certain articulations, so I like to have both.

have a look to what kinman is doing for the strato pickups, got some on my strato and never regret the change from the original 88 US strato. heavier pickups but better pickups !


Best Stratocaster Zero Hum - Noiseless Guitar Pickups by Kinman

[lammie200]

have a look to what kinman is doing for the strato pickups, got some on my strato and never regret the change from the original 88 US strato. heavier pickups but better pickups !


Best Stratocaster Zero Hum - Noiseless Guitar Pickups by Kinman

I have a Kinman KITA set in mine. They are absolutely great pickups but hella expensive. Before that I had EMG SAVs and then Lace Holy Grails. They were fine, too but the Kinmans were what I was looking for. Best tones out of the three and dead quiet.

[Peter C]

I like to have my Strat set up pretty resonant acoustically, with minimal string slap. Just finished work, so here's a rough recording, of course unplugged. Turn up the volume.