[dutchman063]

should the sustain block be touching the guitar at all when in its neutral position or should there be a gap in there?

thanks

[allthumbs]

Sustain block?

[dutchman063]

[X4StringDrive]

I'm not qualified to answer this, but by doing a quick search of "sustain block" looks like there is a gap. Just trying to help
maybe try googleing your particlular model?

[allthumbs]

Ah. I see. Sorry. I have never had to adjust the trem on my strat.

[jon_stggt]

For mine (Aria STG) there must be a gap or the block would hit the guitar body when pulling the bar "up". The pivot points are the only contact it has for normal use. In my case I don't use the trem so I adjusted the block so the whole thing rest on the body.

[allthumbs]

I thought about it more last night. The block has to be free floating to maximize the vibrations from and back to the strings. Contact with the body of the guitar at any point would dampen those vibrations killing the sustain.

[OldG]

Get the bridge to sit flat against the body ,and the block should take care of itself.

I fix my bridge with a wooden block in the gap, as I don't use the trem... the contact with the body helps sustain imho

[eXperiment63]

If you are blocking the trem, yes, the contact helps sustain. But if you have it set to float or semi-float, if it makes contact the sound will deaden because of the ending of the vibration of the block.

[allthumbs]

True dat. A big difference between a blocked trem and a floating trem.

[OldG]

sounds contradictory to me... blocked or not, surely contact is contact - one way or another. stopping the block vibrating in isolation will make the strings vibrate longer - thus, increasing sustain surely?

Anyways, if a strat block is touching the body inside - its gotta be almost unplayable with the bridge set in at the resulting angle, Dutchman's guitar needs a setup for sure, if the block is close to touching the body....