String Tension Puzzle...

[Danley]

Brain teaser: If I have a Strat and a CP Jazzmaster, both set up with Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies...

Why does the Strat appear to have the lower string tension and easier play feel? This, even as the Strat is actually set up with higher action at the moment. One would think, and it's often believed, that the reduced break angle on the Jazzmaster would make it the easier playing, slinkier guitar.

[rumfoord]

Ooh good one. Probably magic. Errm, I guess that'd be mojo. Never mind.

I would not have guessed that you'd find that. But here are some wild ideas..maybe if the neck of the CP is shimmed combined with the shorter length behind the bridge (compared to original JM spec) there could be enough extra break angle to win out over common sense? Also, weak or low number of springs in the strat? The break angle over the nut?..due to string trees and such?? Fret height??? Oh, possible that the action of the 6th string is higher on the strat (that's where I measure it)..but the rest of the strings actually have lower action (because of the individually adjusted saddles..especially if the two have different neck radii)???????

[arkivel]

I have identical sets of 11s on my Jaguar, Jazzmaster, and Strat. The Strat seems to have the most tension followed by the Jaguar, and then the Jazzmaster. Go figure.

[Axeman52]

Is the nut higher? are the frets rougher? These things can give the impression of higher tension - a higher nut means you need to fret harder especially lower down the fingerboard, and you get friction when bending if your frets aren't as smooth as they could be.

[Kent]

How do the vibrato springs' tensions compare on each guitar?

[Danley]

Hmm, interesting observation on the vibrato strings... I haven't opened the trem cover of the Strat, but the trem feel is very, very stiff, and it's flat against the body. It's actually an MIJ trem spring for the Jazzmaster, which seems stiffer than the US unit on my Jaguar.

Neck relief and nut height are about the same between them... Both guitars have frets that are well worn-in, not in a way where it's a noticeable impediment to playing/setting string height etc.

Neck is pretty well shimmed on the Jazzmaster, unsure of the Strat, but it'd be my intuition that the 90 deg. break angle of the Strat would be difficult to compete with. Although, I actually run the Jazzmaster without a string tree (two on the Strat). Have to measure the action at different points on the neck...

[rumfoord]

On a JM, the strings behind the bridge act like a spring. And I think it's the break angle that contributes to the ..spring constant or something something physics. So I think the break angle of a strat is not really as analogous as you'd think. It's more the behavior of the spring behind the bridge. On a strat, it's actual springs; and on a JM, it's bendable (springy) strings.

But anyway, I totally would have guessed that the tight vibrato action on the strat would indicate less slinkiness. So: mystery not solved.

Maybee... depending on your right hand position, the change in response at your right hand could make your brain think that the tension of both or even just your left hand is more/less slinky. It sounds like the difference you're talking about is greater than that. But it's possible that your right hand lands in a slightly different spot when you play each guitar..because of the way each sits or hangs on you. I haven't checked, but my guess is that my right hand on a strat would land a little bit closer to the neck than on a JM. And that would make the response of my pick against the strings feel slinkier.

[spacecadet]

Did you actually test the nut height or just eyeball it? If you eyeballed it, I'll bet it's still the nut. "About the same" by eye can mean a drastically different feel - it only takes a millimeter or so at the nut for a guitar to go from silky smooth to basically unplayable. And of course there are gradations in between.

I've got three Jazzmasters that I'm still working on - from the factory their nut slots looked like they were the same height when strung up, but they actually weren't even close. And they all felt very different as a result.