Fender Stratocaster Plus US Guitar

Overview of this Fender Stratocaster Plus

A good old woman Fender Stratocaster Plus from the 90s came to the Esprit Guitare violin workshop for a major overhaul. Several problems detected, however, in particular at the level of the metal head nut, which posed problems many problems to the various guitarists who have owned this model.

This series is equipped with a Wilkinson nut. Quite quickly replaced by the LSR Roller Nut, more reliable but which also had defects. In fact, the problem with these roller or ball saddles is the wear of the rollers (or balls) caused by the friction of the strings. The parts end up losing material and no longer fulfill their role or modify the height of the strings (this is the Wilkinson problem) and therefore the tuning of the guitar.

Beyond a certain level of wear, the strings are so low at the nut that they touch the frets, causing buzz, friezes and extraneous sounds.

Work completed

We start with a good big cleaning of the body and the neck, just to see things more clearly. Then check the mechanics and screws, dust removal and check the electronics, dismantling and cleaning the easel. Then, checking and adjusting the fret leveling, polishing the frets and installing new strings. The insert of the metal nut being fixed to a fixed width (yes: it’s metal), the installation of new strings implies respecting the tension provided by the manufacturer (bigger, it won’t work; thinner, it vibrates!).

Finally, we move on to the adjustment. And this is where it gets complicated. As the metal nut has aged and is filled with mechanical parts (three rollers per string), it no longer fulfills its role correctly.

Bottom line, it vibrates everywhere, causing buzz… The only solution (apart from replacing the nut with something more conventional), wedge the rollers and give a little more angle to the nut. It’s surgical.

Once these interventions have been made on the nut, the adjustment is done without problem: action and intonation.

Conclusion

Once properly adjusted, the handle is easy and comfortable. Pretty quick. The sounds are powerful and fine. We find the typical Fender slamming sound. The (original) electronics are very efficient. The knobs offer a real range of use over the entire travel (this is becoming rare!) and the microphones with their covers give a modern look while being precise and well defined.

This excellent guitar (like all its sisters in the series) sounds great despite a design flaw: the nut which ages poorly. Nothing insurmountable, however. A nut changes. This is what Fender did on the following models, by trying the LSR Roller Nut, then returning to more basic, but more reliable nuts, by varying the manufacturing material (Graphtech, bone, plastic, brass, carbon, etc.). Certainly simpler and less “high tech” (although carbon is still very classy ;-)), these nuts have the great advantage of not having any mechanical part that could cause an unwanted vibration.

Photos

The Esprit Guitare workshop

The Esprit Guitare lutherie workshop welcomes you by appointment for maintenance, repair, setup or customization of guitars, bass, ukulele and more 😉
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Esprit Guitare – a passion for instruments in Martinique.

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