Hello everyone. Great site! Im a 54 yr old geezer, but missed out on surf growing up and am just now going back and learning some of the surf classics, along with other related stuff by the Shadows, Link Wray, Duane Eddy, etc.
I've already utilized the Mr Moto download and it was great, had me going in minutes.
I'm using either my Electromatic 5120 or my MIM strat for this stuff. The strat seems, better for surf because of the upper fret access. But I actually prefer the Bigsby and 11-49s that came on the 5120. My strat was set up w 9s and a blocked trem, cause I never used the trem. THen I got the Gretsch and fell in love with the stuff I could do with the Vibrato and started learning these old tunes. the other day I put some 10s on the strat and floated the trem, experimenting, so havn't dialed in the intonation perfectly yet. I have 3 springs on it. I tried to go by Fender's
instructions for setting up a strat trem best I could.

I was wondering those of you who prefer Strats for this style, how do you set it up? It sounds to me like Dick Dale is using heavy strings and a hard attack, while Hank Marvin sounds like he has a more refined approach, lighter strings and a lighter touch. Am I right?
What do you prefer? String ga? action low/high/average? flatwounds or wound 3rd, or no? How do you set you trem, #springs, degree of float, etc.?
I really dont have a preference, I just want an authentic tone and whats best for this style. I play all kinds of acoustic instr from guitar to banjo to upright bass, so I can get used to about anything.

Excuse me if this has all been discussed, but I did not see any threads addressing Strat set up specifically. If its old news you can direct me to an old discussion.

Thanks

Last edited: Jan 11, 2012 16:02:50

Hello Whit,
Dick Dale does use very heavy round wound strings and hits hard with thick picks but he doesn't even have a tremolo arm on his guitar so his bridge may not float at all.
I recently purchased a new Strat and have been doing a lot of adjusting and seeking out detailed information. I use .11 round wound, all nickel strings with 3 springs and I float the trem 1/16" to 1/8" off the body per Fender's recommendations, which enables you to get those Hank Marvin's sounds. Some echo will help for Hank sounds and a Fender tank is of course "required" for the Dick Dale sound.

3 springs with 11s pyramids pure nickel. No tuning problems with heavy use of tremolo.

I do not remember where I read that Hank Marvin used to play in his early years with heavy strings because they were the only ones avalaible. He said that the floating tremolo was a great help to bend those wires without too much effort.

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I have two strats and considered myself a strat guy - until I discovered surf. Lucky I have a jag, jazzmaster, and hallmark C60 that I love. But I have never been close to happy with the surf tones from my strat. Perhaps having thicker strings would help, but my other guitars don't require anything excessive.

On the other hand, nothing I have played beats a strat for all around versatility and comfort (except maybe a tele?).

I have always been curious...anybody ever heard of a strat with 500K or even 1Meg pots? I would love to be able to through a switch and get a big thick Jazzmaster tone!

I'm with 6v6 here, I too have a strat but would rather play one of my Tele's, Mustangs, or even my 22" scale Duo-Sonic for surf.
btw, I use 11's on my strat with 3 springs.
I think it works fine, haven't played it on months.

Thanks everybody. I had kept my strat w 9s cause it came set up that way, with the trem flush to the body, and 3 springs. The intonation was perfect, and I just hated to mess with it since I rarely used the trem. My Tele or my old Carvin Double Cut were my main electrics anyway, and I string those guitars with 10s.

But then I got this 5120, it came with 11s. Nice, I like em, can still bend easily, unwound 3rd.

So I said I should set up my strat to feel more like my other guitars & get some good use of the trem, so I put some 10s on it. The bridge pulled way up.I pulled it back flat and set the screws on the plate per the Fender guidelines and still I had to crank the claw screws down considerably to get to aprox 1/8" float which is where I am now. It seems a little too much float to me, think it should come down a little more, so I may add a 4th spring and see how that balances.
I afraid 11s would requre 5 springs, or a maybe some stronger springs? I dunno. Guess I'll just keep messin with it till it gets to where I'm satisfied.

Ivan, do you use a wound or unwound 3rd .12 set?

Last edited: Jan 11, 2012 22:13:36

I use 11 roundwounds on my strat and all 5 springs with the trem plate flat against the body. The action and tension are absolutely atrocious and the neck is bowed from all the tension, still playable but it definitely gives me a challenge. The best example I can think of a strat with flatwounds would be the Spotniks, and it sounds very Jazzmaster like. I really think strats play best with roundwound strings though. Let's not let all the Clapton/SRV wannabe's taint our opinion of this great instrument.

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Let's not forget that the Jaguar King Dave Wronski used a Strat to record the first Slacktone CD, using flatwounds and the bridge/neck pickup combination. It is hard to tell that it is a Strat.

The 5120 is a 24.75 scale, and the strat is 25.5. Tension on both feel pretty equal w/ 11s on the 5120 and 10s on the strat. I think Im gonna leave the 10s on for now and try to dial it in a little better. May go up a ga & add spring next time.

ok, after muck dorking around Ive got the 10 set pretty much where it needs to be. I think my prob is never having fooled with a strat trem, I had no idea what I was doing. after considerable trial and error, Ive got my float about 1/16" off the body, which is what I wanted, just a slight up pull, and my intonation is oly just barely out on a couple of strings. Gonna let this attempt settle in for 24 hrs before I start adj saddles, if at all.

Thanks everyone for their insights.

Last edited: Jan 12, 2012 15:20:14

Thanks very much for the compliment, Skip!

psychonaut wrote:

Let's not let all the Clapton/SRV wannabe's taint our opinion of this great instrument.

Here, here, Victor! The Strat is NOT just for blooze....

The action and tension are absolutely atrocious and the neck is bowed from all the tension, still playable but it definitely gives me a challenge.

The neck on my 1997 shoreline gold '62 RI also tends to bend every so often, it's a pain, and it's my most difficult guitar to play because of that for sure. But the necks on my fiesta red Strat (1987 US-made Strat Plus) and my 1987 black '62 RI never bend. They're extremely stable. I discussed this with my tech some six months ago, and he said it's a complete fluke, some necks are really stable and can take the heavy-gauge strings really well, while others do need regular readjustments.

Strat-o-rama wrote:

I like John Blair's Strat tone as well. I wonder what his set-up is like?

I believe his main Strat is the early-'60s Burgundy Mist (refinished - originally sunburst), and if I remember correctly he uses 13-gauge strings - or at least did some ten years ago.

WhitTownsend wrote:

Ivan, do you use a wound or unwound 3rd .12 set?

I always use wound Gs. A bitch to bend! But such nice tone...

I think Im gonna leave the 10s on for now and try to dial it in a little better. May go up a ga & add spring next time.

I would definitely recommend that but only when you're ready. I worked my way up with gauges over a period of some 15 years, starting with 9s and moving up every 3-5 years, and I think that's the right way to do it. You have to train your hands to be able to handle the heavier gauges. You don't want to go to a gauge that's too much right away, since it just won't feel enjoyable to play - and what's the point then? Having said that, as soon as you think you're ready, you should take the plunge. I do think the 11s sound sufficiently better than 10s for surf that it's more than worthwhile.

ok, after muck dorking around Ive got the 10 set pretty much where it needs to be. I think my prob is never having fooled with a strat trem, I had no idea what I was doing. after considerable trial and error, Ive got my float about 1/16" off the body, which is what I wanted, just a slight up pull, and my intonation is oly just barely out on a couple of strings. Gonna let this attempt settle in for 24 hrs before I start adj saddles, if at all.

Good. BTW, you shoud definitely be able to use 3 springs for 10-gauge strings, just tighten the screws in the back (unless the springs are black - in which case they're crap, and you should replace them immediately with chrome ones!).

Good luck!

Ivan
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Last edited: Jan 12, 2012 21:58:25