I just bought my Mexican strat and I love it, but I put some new strings on it today, boomer TNTs, and I noticed something that I dont know if its ok or not. after I put the strings on and tuned it, I noticed that the (excuse me, I am new to guitars and dont know the right name for what I am about tosay) part where the strings come out where you hook the whammy bar up to, is kinda pulling away all by itself, and I also noticed that the little screws are coming out a little. Is this ok, are the screws suppose to look like they are out a little? it is ok that there is that tension on it? Sorry about the crappy quality of the pics, they where taken with my cell phone.



this is the little screws coming out a bit.




This is the part that is coming out from the tension?


thanks for looking

Pull the back plate off and drive those screws into the body until she lays flat. Detune first so your strings wont lose their elasticity. Other thing to do is to ad the 4th and 5th trem springs.

Its like tug-a-war with a piece of tape in the middle of the rope. To keep the rope in the center, gotta have equal strength on both sides. Thicker string guage, the strings are stronger, so you have to counter that tension by tightening the thingy that the springs hook onto.

(I'm not much for terminology either)

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-Kc
"Payin' dues."

Kevin means the claw screws in the back. They are the two screws that put tension on the springs you will see back there,

Since you are new to guitars, there is this thing that you are about to discover called "set ups". Virtually all electric guitars (and even most acoustics) need to be "set up" to one degree or another for them to play properly. As there is -A LOT- of info both here on the Fender website and on the internet in general, I won't go into too many specific details but typically a good guitar set up involves (or can involve); neck bow/truss rod relief adjustments, bridge adjustments which included saddle height (this contributes to "action"), spring tension (on guitars with trems such as yours), setting the intonation (moving the saddles back and forth so the guitar is in tune with itself), etc., etc.. Most of these things are not terribly difficult to do and many folks (myself included) do their own setups but some folks opt to have a professional guitar tech do them instead (if you don't know which end of a screw driver to hold on to, take it to a tech! LOL!).

It's hard to tell from your pictures here but it looks like your guitar needs a really good setup to adjust the problems you're having. If you want to try this yourself, a good place to begin is here on Fender.com...look under "Support" and then go to "Setup Guide". You can also simply Google the terms "guitar setup" and you'll find a ton of stuff. You could probably even look on Youtube for some "how to" vids as well. If you should choose to take it to a tech, I would suggest shopping around first and asking lots of questions...not all guitar techs are created equal and there's a lot of hacks out there who really don't know what they are doing! In this case I'd recommend sticking with a larger store that's a Fender authorized dealer and/or service center so that if they f something up you'll have someone to complain too.

Good Luck!
Jim

FireForge1979,

The "thing pulling away by itself" is called the bridge, and it's normal for it to pull up from the body. It's supposed to do that. When you move the whammy bar, it rocks the bridge against a pivot. The space that you see allows the whammy bar to be pulled up a small amount. If the space wasn't there, you would only be able to push the whammy bar down. Put the whammy bar in and watch what the bridge does when you move the bar.

All this stuff is adjustable and must be setup to match the guage of strings you are using. At this point I recommend you get a professional setup. This includes adjusting the tremolo, string height, and intonation, among other things. Later you might try learning to do it yourself but I strongly recommend you get a pro setup right now. Pick a brand/guage of strings that you like and stick with them, since the setup might need to change if you change guages.

Yes, you need a solid setup. But the question you are asking about is 'float'. Do a search in the Strat forum on "float". Then decide if you want to float or go with no float. Then take it to someone who can do the setup, and tell them you need a full setup and you do/don't want the bridge to float.

There are tons of people on each sides of the fence regarding the float debate.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Sort of sounds like you put on a heavier gauge of strings, which caused your bridge to move up from the body. If it's a heavier gauge, you'll need a "setup" for your guitar. Or.......just put on a set of strings that are the original gauge that you originally had on your guitar.

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"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."-John Wayne

Theres nothing wrong with your guitar as others have said. The bridge is suposed to be that way. If your guitar plays like you like it and it stays in tune and doesent have any fret buzzing leave it be if not get it set up with the strings you intend on using.

If you dont know what youre doing Just take it to a setup guy for the first time