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OK, awile ago I got my MIM strat and loved it, it has (I think) a hybrid set (9's). Now, when used the trem then it stayed in tune REAL well. Now..

I brought it in for a setup and now its 100x better (I was stupid to think it was good before the setup!) and I got 10-52's put on.

Now, with even small (VERY small) trem use, you can hear the strings quot;clingquot; at the nut (s othey're getting caught in it right??) and then it throws it off tune and its pissing me off.

I rubbed an HB pencil on the slots (there was no nut adjustment on the setup BTW) but I did NOT loosen the strings before I rubbed the pencil in, so it might have not gotten all in.
is there anything I can do to help!!!?????????

Would taking a VERY fine sandpaper and putting it in the slot and giving it like 2 passes through do anything?? or is that too dangerous.

thanks in advance.

Also, the guys back in the day that used the trem heavily and stayed in good tune (with vintage trems) wrapped their strings around the posts a certain way, does anyone know the best way to wrap the strings for maximum tuning stability??

P.S. Def Leppard kicked ass last night.!!

The nut slots need to be widened to accomodate the larger strings, they are binding. I'd recommend having a tech do it if you aren't experienced with it.

Yeah, I dont want to bring it in (and the guy at the local shop doesnt like screwing with the nuts....that sounds bad eh?), how do you do it?? (I have a crappy guitar I can practise on that I dont use and is worth about $20).

Get a good set of nut files from stewmac and check out some online tutorials. There's tons of information on www.projectguitar.com

the easy way to do it is to take the part of the string you cut off when installing them and rub it through the nut a bunch of times until it slides through easily. make sure to keep it on a slight angle down towards the headstock though, not flat through...look at the nut slots you'll see a slight angle to the slot.

-Mike

Were you using 9-46 strings before you switched to 10-52s? Sometimes the thinner strings cut a narrow groove on the nut and when you switch to a heavier string, the string will try to fit into that narrower groove but may get stuck because it can't quite get in yet. A movement in the trem will loosen up the string and throw you off tune. That's one of the reasons I have an LSR nut on my Strat. Using a sandpaper to open it up will help, but just make sure you don't overdo it. This may also happen at the knife edge underneath the bridge.

Thanks guys, I was going to rub string fragments through it too. I'll try in a couple days and see what happens.