First strat , what string Guage do you use ?

I used 10-46 for years but switched to 9-42 a couple of years ago and really like the feel much better.
Floating trems are very stable if set up properly but can take a bit of time to get right. Adjust the bridge height to 1/16" between the bottom of the trem plate and the body. Make sure to loosen the strings before adjusting the posts or screws otherwise you can damage the edges.
Get the base plate is as close to parallel with the body as you can (err on the side of pitching up at the saddle end). This can take quite a bit of time as you need to adjust the trem claw screws and retune til you get it right.
I have 2 guitars with tremolos, a PRS CE24 and an American Deluxe V-neck Strat, both set up this way and I have no tuning issues with either of them. They are as stable as my hardtails..
 
I have been playing (almost 40 years) and pretty much a Gibson guy always used 10's, so when I got my first Strat about 4 years ago I automatically put 10's on though nothing of it. As time marched on just had a feeling "maybe I should try a set of 9's". But kind of dismissed it and never did.

Then last year I got my hands on a Tele that I ended up buying, new from Fender and needless to say it had 9"s. While I was trying the guitar even before I though about buying it. The first thing to cross my mind was "I'm putting 9's on the Strat when I get home".

Since I ended up liking the 9's on the Fender's so much I ended up putting them on my Gibson's but in the long run ended up putting 10's back on.

I have a Taylor I uses 13's on that and a Takamine that has 12's.

I also have a couple of Ibanez's in storage with 10's on them I think I will break one out and put some 9"s on that, since it is a Fender type scale length.

John
 
I always used 9's. I do a fair bit of bending / vibrato, so it's easier. If it's OK for Lukather, it's definitely OK for me. 10's or heavier never did it for me anyway, and there's certainly no tonal benifit whatsoever, as Billy Gibbons would attest to... (although I don't think I'd trust 7's as much as he does haha).
 
Those equal tension D'Addario's 10's bend so easy.

My vintage trem stays in great tune to. I have it resting. It was setup by Tom at Joe Glaser's shop in Nashville. The setup kicks ass.
 
I use 10's on my Strat and 11's on my LP. That's the sweet spot for me. The same gauge will be slightly tighter feeling on the Strat, but the difference is not quite as much as changing strings size. The longer scale length only adds about a pound of extra tension per string.

Coming from Les Pauls, you'll probably want to set it up flat against the body. With it floating, the bridge will pull up slightly when you bend notes, pushing the rest of the strings a bit flat in the process. It also makes tuning up more of a pain too since raising the tension on one string makes the others go slightly flat. You have to keep going back and forth across the strings until they are all balanced out correctly. That takes some getting used to. On the plus side, vibrato sounds more natural with it floating since you can pull both up and down to wiggle the note. Finger vibrato is mostly subtle upward bends, so using the blocked trem for downward only vibrato doesn't sound quite the same. The trade offs are bridge lean when bending and if you break a string, your tuning is completely hosed. With it blocked against the body, it tunes and plays just like a fixed bridge. You often get better transfer to the body too which can give you a bit more sustain and fatness on some guitars. Just make sure you choose your bridge float position before you set your intonation. It's all interdependent.

I'm the opposite of you, I played Strats for many years and then got a Les Paul. One thing I will say is Strats are without question more comfortable to hold. Those body contours just hug you like long lost lover. Les Pauls and Teles sort of dig into you with their hard edges. Tonally though, nothing beats owning them all.
 
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I use hybrid 9's on almost every electric guitar I have...

Same here. I use Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkys (09 to 46) on pretty much every electric I have, both Strats and humbucker guitars. For me it's a good compromise between bendability on the high strings and meat on the lower strings when playing power chords. The only exception is my PRS 245 SE with the non-adjustable bridge. I use the same D'Addario 09 set that it came with from the factory, since the intonation is right on with those gauges.

And enjoy your new Strat! I played for over 40 years before finally warming up to the Strat, but for the stuff I'm playing these days, it just fits great. Now I have four of them, lol.
 
DR Tite-Fit 10-46
There's no other string for me.
There was a time I'd agree with you. That was all I'd use. But then I started seeing strings that wouldn't intonate, sets with two G's instead of a B and a G...

If they get their quality-control act back together and keep it there for a while, I just might switch back,
 
@Rex , for awhile you'd get strings with some tarnish too but now they're better than ever.
 
@Rex , for awhile you'd get strings with some tarnish too but now they're better than ever.
Cool. Thanks, Matt. I'll have to give them another go.

When did you see things come around? I'm wondering whether I should wait for the store's inventory to flush out.
 
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