Let's talk Sustain

[Kapo_Polenton]

So I have been doing some you-tubing on how to keep standard strats in tune. That was one of the issues I was having with my rear routed strat even with locking tuners. The other problem I am having is that I feel like I am not getting much sustain past the 12th fret. At first I thought it might be the neck but after some research am I to beleive that a blocked trem (set to dive) only could have some influence here on sustain? The axe is alder with a koa top and looks awesome. Problem is, with no sustain it is seriously killing the vibe for me. Anyone have any tips on what I may want to look at or is it luck of the draw between neck and body?

[fillmore nyc]

So I have been doing some you-tubing on how to keep standard strats in tune. That was one of the issues I was having with my rear routed strat even with locking tuners. The other problem I am having is that I feel like I am not getting much sustain past the 12th fret. At first I thought it might be the neck but after some research am I to beleive that a blocked trem (set to dive) only could have some influence here on sustain? The axe is alder with a koa top and looks awesome. Problem is, with no sustain it is seriously killing the vibe for me. Anyone have any tips on what I may want to look at or is it luck of the draw between neck and body?

Did you try lowering the middle pickup? Its a known intonation and sustain killa. I lower the middle pickup on my Strat "almost" flush with the pickguard. It plays in tune from the 9th fret up, and sustain is not an issue. If you haven't done it, give it a try... might do the trick.

[Kapo_Polenton]

Thanks for the tip, I will def. Keep that in mind for future strats.THe issue with this one is that it is rear routed H - S so there is no middle pickup.I raised the action thinking this might help but nada. The neck looks like it doesn't need adjustment so now wondering what else I could try..

[darkbluemurder]

Most guitars sustain less above the 12th fret than below the 12th fret. This is normal. With some guitars it is dramatically less, though. This is not normal but if that is the case then there is almost nothing you can do about it except to change necks.

I have read controversial thoughts about sustain with fixed trem bridge vs. sustain with floating trem bridge. On one guitar I had both set ups and couldn't hear a difference but that was a lousy, lousy guitar to begin with.

[Structo]

Another thing to consider especially if you notice a fret that just sounds dead on all strings or half the strings could be a loose fret.

Sometimes they are not seated properly from the factory or they can pop up a little.

It is very hard to see the loose ones.

Dan Erlewine had a news letter about it, the fix is to use some thin super glue and accelerator.
Here is that news letter. You can subscribe to them for free.

http://tinyurl.com/yletzuj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;