Fender Squier Strat tune up

Steve Frost · From: Scarborough,Maine

I bought one of these lower end guitars recently, and I'm wondering if you have some advice on setup. I doubt they spent a lot of time fussing over these $150 guitars at the factory . I don't think the truss rod was even tightened when I got it. I'm curious about pickup clearance, action at the 12th fret... or whatever you care to tell me. It's not a great guitar, but I'd like to give it it's best shot. Whatta ya know?

Ron Randall · From: Dallas, Texas, USA

I found a lot of good info on Fender's website. They call that sub-site (Mr Gearhead)? I think you can download how to setup tremelo bridges, hardtails, etc. Intonation, fret clearance, it's all there.

IF not, email me and I'll dig it out.

Ron

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

I bought a squire strat years ago. It's a very nice guitar. Some guys in the old band thought it sounded better than my American strat or my G$L tele.

As for setup, that depends on personal preferance. The neck needs to be bowed a hair outward (.005 as a guess) so that when you look down the neck from the body the strings at the middle of the fretboard are a little higher than at the nut by the tuning keys.

As far as height of strings off the neck, I like to keep them just higher than a thunk. That is, they ring clear, but any lower they would make a thunking sound when fretted and picked.

Same deal for the pickup. Close enough to be hot but not close enough to thunk. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules.

Just tweak it till you like it.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Best "Tele guy" I ever worked with played his Squier all the time. He left his paisley Burton home cause he didn't like it as much.

Now he plays a "Music Man". Damn nice guitar.

Buster Newberry. Miss his "gigging" for sure here in Portland OR. Still see him all the time tho..

EJL

Ulf Edlund · From: Umeå, Sweden

Hi Steve.
I've allways played "cheap" guitars myself, and if you know how to tweak them they can be just fine instruments. I'll share some of my personal preferences.
I never use the tremolo so i prefer to add two return springs to it, (there is usually three original) and adjust it as tight as possible so the bridge rests against the body. That prevents the guitar from going completely out of tune if a string breaks, and i believe it improves the tone and sustain a bit too.
Just as Ken says, the truss rod should be adjusted so that the neck is slightly bowed.
A simple method of checking the neck is to hold a string down at the first and "last" frets.
Then you should have a small gap between the string and the frets in the middle of the neck.
The height of the strings is a personal thing but i use to recommend "as high as you can cope with". I think that goes for string gauges too; the heavier strings, the greater sound, intonation and sustain.(and pain)

My personal opinion on pickup height on Tele's and Strat's is "not too high".
But again thats just my opinion on something that varies between every player.

Uffe

JB Arnold · From: Longmont,Co,USA (deceased)

I biught one of those and had it set up for bottleneck. Tuned it like my dobro and I play it with fingerpicks. Nice funky, swamp kind of sound-Fogertyish, if you get my drift. I like it.

JB

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David Doggett · Posted 23 Jun 2003 5:50 am

Steve, I bought one of these for my kids (red of course) and play it occassionally myself. Other than the things said above, I had a hard time getting the adjustable bridges set up so the guitar played in tune when fretted. I kept adjusting the bridges until the fretted note at the 12th fret was in tune with the harmonic at the 12th fret. When that was finally right, the wound string bridges were quite a bit out of line with the plain sting bridges - that is typical for guitars and will depend on the string guages used.

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

A lot depends on your style of playing. Of course, intonation is the firsrt place to start--make sure the 12th string harmonic is the same as the fretted note. Use a good tuner, and set this while holding the guitar-
NOT while it's laying on a workbench. As far as string height(action), this is strictly up to you. If you bend strings a lot, you'll want your action higher, so the strings don't go "BLLLAAAGGHHH!" when you bend 'em so far. As for string gauge, the bigger the better. Just leave the third unwound, unless you just want to do first position chord work. As far as neck relief, a little goes a long way. Don't overtighten the truss rod, I've seen a lot of 'em broken. And most country players want their pickups nearly touching the strings, but if you see a picture of Stevie Ray Vaughn's old Strat, the pickups are almost flush with the pickguard. Again, try and see what YOU like. One of the wonderful things about these guitars,, you can screw 'em up, and then screw 'em right back together! Part of the learning thing. Have fun!

Larry Beck · From: Pierre, SD

As mentioned above: http://www.mrgearhead.com/faq/telesetup.html

Cheers

Jack Francis · From: Queen Creek, Arizona, USA

About 4 years ago I had some extra money and decided that a new Strat would make me happy.

I went to a number of music stores in this area and tried American made Strats with different pick-up configurations.

None really got me excited, so I tried the Mexican Strats, same thing.

My son brought to my attention a Squire, Pro-tone model, ash with a very nicely executed sunburst. The quality of the workmanship on the guitar was flawless, however, I wasn't crazy about the tremolo on it, so I had them install an American tremolo.

It is now my main axe on our strictly country gigs. The pick-ups are so bright that I can't use it on a gig that has me playing any southern boogie or blues.

This particular model is no longer being made, but if you find one you'll be amazed compared to most other American made Strats.

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