Not sure if this is in the right place but having only ever played a 25 year old Epiphone Les Paul copy (22 of which it has spent in the garage), I have today got a Fender Player Strat! Beyond pleased I am!
A few questions though. How do you manage to strum or more particularly palm-mute without accidentally turning the volume knob down? And how far in do you screw the tremolo arm - so it’s loose or firm or personal preference?
Cheers!
I’ve only read about people having this problem. I’ve never experienced it on my strat-type pictured at left, so I don’t know what to tell you.
Not really a great answer here but, if you work your way through grade 1 and 2 and watch all justins into vids you will find answers to those. G2 for palm mute cant remember where the tremelo part is , sorry
R.
Thanks both. Have watched all those vids before but didn’t take much of those points into account at the time. Will look through them again.
I recently played on my dad’s Pacifica and it’s definitely a thing. Not too often, but sometimes I still hit the volume know or the pickup selector while struming. A bit annoying.
Huh. I’ve had that guitar for seven years, and I’ve never experienced the problem. I wonder what I do differently?
Maybe you just play differently. I started and mostly play on acoustic and my electric is SG, so I never had any knobs or switches in that area and that might lead to me playing in a way that makes me hitting that knob on S-style.
Re the trem arm being loose, you can buy small compression springs. You put one in the hole and then screw the arm in until there is enough tension to just hold the arm in place. I haven’t got the part number with me, but search fender tremelo arm spring and that should find it.
Have fun with your new guitar.
On s-type guitars, my biggest issue is hitting the pickup selector.
Cheers,
Keith
Thanks Tony. Will look into that. Thanks all.
I would say personal preference, but most people* seem to prefer that it is stuff enough to stay in the position you move it to, but not so stiff that you can’t move it.
Cheers,
Keith
I just ditched the arm and locked the tremolo, I’d rather have tuning stability.
Same!
Yes, that’s annoying. I think that LP pickup selector placement js just lerfect. You can’t accidentally hit it, but if you need to change pickups quickly it’s very easy to do.
I’ve been thinking about this, and wonder if it has to do with how high or low you “sling” the guitar. If you wear it low, like so many of the “rock gods,” your strumming arm would be more straight down, thus closer to the bridge.
I wear mine pretty high, so my strumming arm is more bent at the elbow, and I tend to strum between the neck and middle pickups, which keeps me pretty clear of the knobs and switch.
Thanks. I wear it reasonably high but your solution is still right of course. I’ll need to strum closer to the neck. For palm muting I’ll just have to look at the position of my fingers and see if there’s a way of staying away from the volume pot.