ST Series Guitars

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Published on Monday, 04 November 2013 00:00

Written by Frank J. Pasquale

I have stated on several occasions that my mission statement when I began my career as a guitar tech/builder was “Perfecting the Strat”. On the initial reading that can sound like a very arrogant statement and it is not meant to be so I want to take a moment here to clarify what I mean.  I make no reservation that as a player and a builder I lean strongly in the “Leo Fender” camp as far as design and concepts go.  This is in stark contrast to the “Les Paul” camp and the designs he initiated back in the mid 50’s with Gibson guitars.  Every form of modern guitar building finds its roots in one of these two camps.  Either you favor the bolt on style neck with a 25 ½ “scale of a Fender or you prefer the set-in neck with a 24 ¾ scale of a Gibson or some modern variation of those two. I have set up camp in the Fender style of guitar design because I believe it to be the truest form of the electric guitar.

Today we take for granted the radical changes that Leo Fender made when he introduced his guitars.  Up to that point in history people were struggling to get a microphone to amplify an acoustic guitar without feeding back.  Les Paul decided to make a Solid Body version of an acoustic guitar to avoid the feedback. His concept worked but his design was based on a Gibson Acoustic guitar which featured  a glue in set neck and the shape looked very similar to an acoustic guitar. They eventually slimmed it down and we have what became the classic Les Paul Guitar that we know today.

At this same time Leo Fender was working on the problem of getting the guitar to sound louder in a big band setting and he began modifying a Spanish style pedal steel guitar. However  he  brought in entirely new concepts. He used bolt on necks rather than glue in necks because they were more cost effective and could be replaced easily. What he didn’t know at the time was that they also allowed much more precise adjustments when doing final set ups.  He brought in radical new shapes that no one had ever seen before, namely the Telecaster and his ultimate crowning glory The Fender Stratocaster.  These were clearly something new and extreme back in the 1950’s. Today we take these concepts for granted because they have become part of our guitar culture but back then they were revolutionary.

One of the other radical concepts Leo brought to the design table was the Syncronized Tremolo Bridge.  This was a concept that was largely ignored by Gibson in their initial solid body designs. Some of you will argue with me stating that the Bigsby tremolo was available on some early Gibson models but I will tell you to go write your own blog because I’m directing the conversation here.  The Bigsby may have been available on some Gibsons but Leo Fender made the Syncronized Tremolo a household term (at least in guitar households) by making it standard on his new revolutionary Fender Stratocaster.

The concept was simple. By using a bar and springs you could lower the bridge and therefore lower the pitch of all the strings to create a vibrato effect while playing and then return the bridge to the original position and have it return in perfect tune.

While the concept was simple the application was not. Every guitar player since 1956 has had that same experience at some point when you lower the bar. You get  a cool tremolo effect only to have the bar return and the guitar be completely out of tune sounding like a total mess.  I always found it ironic that Fender call it the “Synchronized Tremolo”. It was called that because all the strings would detune at the same time and interval but the return to pitch was anything but synchronized; it was mass anarchy. 

So the idea for a tremolo bridge was born and made available to the masses. And it was used with great effectiveness by bands like the Ventures and Dick Dale and lets not forget Jeff Beck.

But there were some design flaws in the original Fender concept and like any growing mass conglomerate they took every step they could to ignore the problem and continue on with production…for over 50 years. Yep that’s right the Fender “Syncro Trem” you buy today is pretty much the same one you would have bought in 1950 (except today its made in Mexico or Indonesia…But THAT is another story!).

So what were the flaws? There was not one MAJOR flaw but there were a series of several minor ones.

First there was the flat headstock. Remember when I stated that Leo designed his guitars with bolt on necks because it was more economical? Well one of the things he did was to use flat zero degree headstocks rather that the 11 degree headstocks that were common on guitars at the time.  This way he could make more necks using less wood. This had both a positive and negative effect. The positive was that the necks were more stable because angled headstocks were weaker and susceptible to breaking. They were more stable from a tuning perspective because changes in temperature and humidity affected angled necks more greatly than flat necks.

However there was a problem. In order to get the strings to stay in the nut slot you needed tension on them to hold them in place. The 11 degree headstocks created this tension naturally and the zero degree headstocks had none. So Leo created this tension artificially by using string trees to hold down the strings into place.

The string trees were small flat pieces of metal that were tightened down between the 1st and 2nd and the 3rd and 4th groups of strings at the headstock.  They put artificial tension on the strings and allowed them to stay in the nut slots.  One problem was solved but another was created. The string trees would bind on the strings when the tremolo bar was used and this would snag the strings and would not allow them to return to pitch.

This would also put increased amounts of pressure across the nut and would cause the strings to bind at the nut as well as the trees which just compounded the issue which leads us to our second problem; the Nut.

The nut material that was used on early guitars was usually made of bone which has its own unique tone to it but as the 50’s steamrolled on and we were still reaping the benefits of the Post War Industrial Revolution things became all about change. Technology was advancing and we all embraced the new age with open arms. Plastic became the new norm and Leo Fender was happy to embrace it with open arms.  Today we take plastic for granted and we even use it as a derogatory term .To say something is made of “plastic” is to imply it is cheap and ineffective. For instance the phrase “Chasing Dragons with Plastic Swords” implies a pointless and futile exercise.  But back in the 50’s it was “Space Age- Cutting Edge Technology” . It truly was the latest rage. So therefore the nut material on the Fender Production guitars was now being made of the much less expensive and far more practical plastic.  This too would prove to be a pointless and futile endeavor.

The problem was that the plastic didn’t have the same lubrication properties as the vintage style bone material and therefore the strings would snag at the nut and when the tremolo bar was used they would not return to the proper pitch.

The string trees and the nut material are two small factors that have a tremendous effect on the tuning stability of the early Fender style guitars. A third problem is the bridge itself. The early Fender bridges were made to be as practical and economical as possible. They were a simple piece of stamped metal with holes and screws and springs. They were mounted with 6 screws mounted into the face of the guitar at the front of the bridge with a series of springs on the back of the guitar mounted to the back of the bridge. Fortunately for the sake of history The Fender standard bridge has not changed in almost 50 years. Some would argue that this is the best way to design and mount a bridge. They would say that Leo nailed the design on the first try.  I would NOT be one of those people.  I have spent too much time at my workbench trying to get Leo’s original design bridge to work effectively and consistently. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to make a standard Fender bridge work effectively and consistently is to replace it with a Hipshot Bridge. Sorry Leo but an upgrade is definitely in order.

The next issue with the Fender design in not a flaw as much as it is a shortcoming. In fact it was 2 frets too short. But you have to remember that the guitar world was different back then.  It would still be 20 years until players like Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai would come on the scene and change the way the instrument was actually played. The need for a higher register wasn’t common back then.

 The early Fender models featured only 21 frets. This was later expanded to the 22 fret models that we have today because they found they could add the extra fret without having to make the necks any longer.  Everything Fender did in the early days was always tied in with economics. Fender necks measure 25 ½” from end to end. This allowed you to cut 7 neck blanks from a 15’ piece of wood. If the neck was expanded to 26” you could only get 6 necks because the last board would be too short.  A modern 24 fret neck on a Jackson or an Ibanez is 28” long by comparison.

 
So these were the design flaws and shortcomings that came with the Fender designs of the early Stratocasters and most still continue to this day. The Fender guitars that were made at the Fullerton plant in California were nonetheless still top notch cutting edge technology for the day and could still be considered to be high quality despite these issue. However as the company grew and expanded the began to ship production to Mexico and overseas and these flaws became more and exaggerated and the end result usually ends up on my workbench with me trying to figure out why it won’t stay in tune.

So as a result of this I decided to start my own line of signature guitars dedicate to eliminating these flaws and thus to “Perfect the Strat”.

Thus the PASQUALE  USA CUSTOM ST SERIES GUITARS were born.

STM 1000 Signature Series

STC2000 Signature Series

The ST Series was designed to be the best possible version of a classic 50’s era electric guitar with all the modern improvements that have come along since then.

The first thing we did was add the missing frets. Every PASQUALE USA CUSTOM GUITAR comes standard with a full 24 fret neck. We added the length to the neck to allow full access to the higher register frets without being encumbered by the heel.  To do this we lengthened then neck and contoured the heel. Then we added an exposed spoke wheel truss rod that adjusted at the heel. This allowed the face of the headstock to be clean and free from holes or cover plates. This also allowed the guitar to be set up while in tune and under tension to allow the best possible neck adjustment.

Once the physical dimensions were in place we set out to upgrade everything else. I have spent 20 years trying every type of bridge and piece of hardware I could find to come up with the best possible combination of elements to make PASQUALE CUSTOM GUITARS superior to other brands.

Our first acquisition was a Hipshot Products Endorsement.  I have tried EVERY type of Standard tremolo (non- locking) bridge that is on the market and have come to the conclusion that the HIPSHOT US CONTOUR bridge is the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.

When it comes to looks, feel, tone, and stability there simply is no better bridge that you can find. It is also proudly made in the USA and I strive to keep all the components of PASQUALE CUSTOM GUITARS  made in AMERICA.

Originally we matched the US CONTOUR bridge with a set of GOTOH standard mini tuners but we recently switched over completely to HIPSHOT Locking Tuners. The GOTOH tuners are extremely well made and consistent but the HIPSHOT Tuners are a superior product.

The next element to improve was the nut.  Our proven material of choice in GraphTech TUSQ XL nut material. This is one of those modern advances in technology that Leo Fender sought after when he originally switched to plastic nuts back in the 50’s This advancement has come along in the last 10 years or so and has really improved tuning and stability in ways that traditional nuts cannot.

 
A traditional solution to “snagging “at the nut, whether it is bone or plastic is to use powdered graphite mixed with oil in the nut slots. This will help lubricate the slots and prevent snagging.  By way of comparison the Graph-tech material is 1000 time slipperier than graphite and you don’t  have to worry about re-applying the graphite every time you change strings. 

 
That is itself is a reason to switch but another reason is that the Graph-tech nut really helps balance the tone. Bone nuts tend to be brighter while plastic nuts tend to be warmer but the Graph-Tech nuts have a well- rounded tone.

We also extended this concept to include Graph-Tech string trees to replace the standard metal string trees on our ST Series Guitars with zero degree headstocks as well to solve the problem of “string snag” there as well which leads me to my last design change, the headstock angle.

I truly believe that a zero degree headstock angle is the most stable form that is available. Whenever possible I would always prefer this because it is much stronger and resists changes in temperature and humidity better. However that is not to say that angled headstocks are bad. First of all they look really cool but in this case they are actually preferable. 

The biggest problem with tuning on a standard Fender Stratocaster is by far the string trees. The nut slots can be cut perfectly and the nut material improved upon but at the end of the day the string trees can still present problems even with the Graph-Tech material.

The solution to this is a 7 ½ degree angle on the headstock to create natural string tension without the use of string trees.  This is less of an angle than Gibson, Jackson and Ibanez guitars have which use an 11 degree angle. The7 ½ degree angle provides the proper amount of tension on the strings but is less severe than the 11 degree angle so the neck is stronger and more stable.

All of these changes factored together work to create an excellent guitar that is well balanced both physically and sonically that holds it tuning and performs consistently night after night.  We use this combination of design factors on all of our PASQUALE USA CUSTOM ST SERIES guitars and can offer this on our Classic or Modern shapes as well as any custom shape you can think of.