Pardon my amateur questions but... I've got a MIJ Strat that has pretty low action but I noticed the back of the bridge is flush against the body. I've read it should be about 1/8 inch up off the body. If you want to set the action low, does that mean the bridge will be lower than 1/8 inch or are there other adjustments that affect how high or low the strings are?

The string saddle height, pitch of the neck angle, and depth of the nut slots all contribute to action height.

If you goto "Support" at the top of the screen, you'll find setup guides for the various guitars and what can be adjusted.

Cheers.

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MIM Std Tele, MIM HSS Strat, Homemade Mongrel Tele, Blues Jr, Champ600, coupla pedals...sweeeet!

The answer to your question is "no, you can have very low action with and without a floating trem". A lot of us have the bridge set flush (non-floating). If you want more info on the pros and cons of this (beyond your specific action question), then you can do a search on "float". Hope this helps...

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The 1/8" bridge height is suggested for tremelo users who like to use the tremelo to go up a step by pulling back on the tremelo bar vesus bending the string. There is nothing wrong with the bridge being flush with the body.

You can get a similar affect on a non tremelo guitar by pushing down on the strings behind the nut.

Thanks for the info. I just took a look at the bridge and see where the saddle heighth can be adjusted so, as you both have indicated, there's more to it than just the bridge height. I'll check out the setup instructions to learn more. I'm starting work on some surf songs so the trem will be important... I might take it in to get a setup done if the tech will let me watch so I can learn...

A floating trem doesnt lend itself well to ultra low action. The reason being when you pull back on the trem the strings can choke as the trem lowers the break point on the saddles slightly. I set my action from around 3/64s on the high E to 5/64s on the low E at the 12th fret. You can still get good pull up without choking but you cant set much lower than that.

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Okay, thanks. Even though the action is low now, I don't feel like it needs to stay that low for me.

One other question -- any idea what size strings would have on the guitar originally? Its a MIJ Strat purchased new in 1989 or so... I'd like to restring it with the original size strings before I have it set up.

probably 9's if its not a vintage reissue. They have 10's.

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Thanks. I don't think its a vintage reissue -- just a standard MIJ Strat I'm pretty sure.. I'll try to post pictures later tonight..