Hi,
I have a stratocaster copy (it was a christmas present - my first electric guitar :-P), but it has this slight problem. Whenever I use the whammy bar I hear a sort of popping sound. My guess is that one or more of the strings are getting caught on the nut then releasing with a little pop (the pitch is comparible to the pitch when you pluck strings between the nut and the tuning pegs). How can I prevent this from happening?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Saryu
Take all the strings off and file the little grooves on the nut ever so slightly. That should let them flex smoothly.
Try lubricating the nut, string trees and bridge saddles to see if that solves your problem first. You can use light oil or grease or even wax on the string trees, graphite on the nut and graphite or oil on the saddles. If you still think a string (or strings) are catching after doing that, then just use the correct size string for each slot in the nut and work it back and forth in the slot to smooth it out. If that doesn't fix it, check your saddles for any burrs, you could use a small wound string to polish that out also.
Good luck.
I almost forgot, make sure that you lubricate the contact points on your trem and that the springs are correctly installed. That should really take care of 99% of the usual problems. You didn't say that your strings were de-tuning, so I assumed that they were installed on the tuners correctly.
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