Strat sounding thin?

Funkfingers

The early MIM Stratocasters have the same Sung-il waffur theeeeen tapered sustain block as many South East Asian budget guitars. It is a piece of shit. So are its solid cast saddles.

robgilmo

These are the saddles.

 https://i.imgur.com/S5bwVT5.jpg ;

 https://i.imgur.com/0ONXiLa.jpg

robgilmo

I tensioned the string up a step or two and the noise went away, brought it back down and the noise came back. So lifting the saddle up possibly didn't do anything except tension the string.

robgilmo

Could this be coming from where the string passes through the bridge plate? Or perhaps a loose grub screw? All the grub screws are touching the plate and if I press hard down on the saddle its still there.
I guess I need to swap the saddles around to see if the noise follows the saddle.

impmann

Ok - adjustments aren’t ever going to improve cack pickups.
Sorry to say this but the ceramic magnet pickups fitted to these were some of the worst Fender ever fitted to a Fender branded guitar. 
I’m not a fan of Iron Gear/Squier CV pickups personally, however a set of this would be a massive improvement and then you can mess about with pickup heights.
Bridge block will help - a good cold rolled steel job will make a big difference too but imho, that’s more likely to improve the articulation rather than add warmth.

jimboflojo

I was going to suggest iron gear. Although I can only speak from experience on the tele pickups - I'm well happy with them, they are sure to be a massive step up from them ceramics- plus they are pretty cheap. I think robwright is still selling a bunch of them, that's where I got the tele ones.

57Deluxe

Schnozz said:

This is why I fell out with my Strat, but you come back to it and I think you just fall in and out of love with different Guitars.

...Except Teles, Teles are THE shit ALL the time 

FTFY

impmann

Funkfingers said:

 So are its solid cast saddles.

Those aren't cast saddles. Nothing wrong with them other than the chrome is a bit blingy for me...

As for the block... worth a read of this thread and talk to Kev

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/124615/replacement-steel-tremolo-block-for-strats#latest

CaptainBb

Take your rig to a store and try out the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster pedal.

poopot

@robgilmo not wishing to highjack your thread but I have these up for grabs... would certainly be an improvement over what you have!.
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/126828/fender-tex-mex-single-coils-set-for-sale#latest

Fez

 My tuppence worth - Upgrading the pick ups would be worth it Oil City Stone Tones is a great shout but often with pick ups you have to try them in the guitar to find out if they suit it. Certainly a baseplate on the bridge pick up. After that the changes become more subtle so you may not see so much difference by swapping to a stainless steel trem block. Another thing that some people do is go up a string gauge and tune down to Eb or even D.