Why Your Stratocaster Sounds Better in E Flat
I’ve recently been trying to get my Rondo SX Stratocaster copy to sound and play better.
I bought it because it definitely has “mojo” (if you play guitar, you know what I mean), but there were a few issues as well.
After a lot of fiddling and a bit of fixing, I finally had it playing pretty decently. But it wasn’t until I lowered the tuning by a half-step — from E standard to E-flat standard — that the guitar felt and performed at its best.
And it turns out, I’m not the only one to have noticed this. It’s a common observation that Stratocasters just work better in E-flat tuning.
But why?
While in my opinion there is always a bit of mystery when it comes to why any guitar plays or feels well, I’ve identified four reasons why I think tuning down makes so much sense when playing a Strat.
(Note: To tune a guitar to E-flat, tune each string, starting with the lowest in pitch and ending with the highest, to the following notes: Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Bb-Eb. The video below shows you how.)
