Ok so I just restrung my new Aerodyne Strat but I can't help but notice the bridge tilt that wasn't there before when I bought it.

My question: is this supposed to be on an angle or is the bridge meant to be flat on the body of the guitar? and how do I go about fixing this? should I have held the bridge down when restringing my guitar??

Here are a couple of pictures to illustrate what I mean.




Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi !!
Thats absolutely normal !! the gap should be 1/8 or around that so the bridge floats nicely by the way nice strat congrats!!

sweet guitar! and ya your fine don't worry

Thats directly from the support section of this site. Your fine as long as the bridge is raised no more than 1/8".

Hi tabaluka: while it is fine for the back of your bridge to "float" around that height above the face of the body, the fact that it is a new development and not done intentionally may indicate a small potential issue.

I presume you have restrung with heavier gauge strings than those previously on the guitar, right? That would be what has pulled the bridge up higher than before. No problem in itself, but the movement of the bridge will have slightly changed the action (height of the strings above the fingerboard) and will have undoubtedly altered the intonation. You will very likely find that when tuned to pitch the strings are now no longer in tune when fretted at the 12th fret. Within which case you will need to reintonate the guitar.

Ask if you need advice on how to do that. Perfectly simple...

Cheers - C

Hi Ceri thats exactly what has happened! I put 10-46 gauge strings when the originals were 9-42. The bridge was originally flat against the body of the guitar but after a change of string gauge, the bridge is now 'floated'.

I'd be grateful for any advice on reintonating my guitar. Cheers!

Hi again tabaluka: best advice is to have a careful read of the whole of Fender's setup guide, especially the sections titled "Action" and "Intonation (Fine Tuning)":

http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster.php

You need an electronic tuner to get it right, and remember, if the string is sharp when fretted at the 12th you need to move the saddle slightly away from the neck, if it is flat the saddle moves towards the neck. And do be sure to detune your string before making saddle adjustments.

Good luck - C

Thanks for all the help. Just one question - does it matter whether I adjust the action or intonation first? or won't they affect each other?

cheers

Hi again tabaluka: do everything in the order the Fender setup guide indicates. So action comes before intonation. The reason being that adjusting the action will always throw the intonation off, so the latter has to be done afterwards...

Cheers - C