To set you guitar to Fender specs do you use a capo for measuring the action. In Dan Erlewines book he sais to put a capo on first fret and measure at 17th. On the Fender website there is no mention of a capo.
So is the capo on or off?

I believe the Capo is on the 1st fret just like Mr. Erlewine. That's at least what it says in the factory manual that came with mah strat ^^

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Capo off for string height. Capo on for neck relief, and the string pressed at the 17th fret too. Although I depress the 15th and set the measurement between the 8th fret and the underside of the string to .008".



No mention of a capo.

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No no and no

You always fret at the first fret when setting string hieghth.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

I wish Fender would confirm this. Anyone from Fender out there?

If you can wait until tonight I can scan the page from the official Fender manual that came with my Strat. That has the instructions and a diagram showing the strings fretted at the first fret.

Because you want the 1st fret height relative to the last fret height thus ensuring that your truss rod is not over or under adjusted.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

ICS not being funny but my above quote was from the online fender instruction manual here
http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster_setup_guide.php.

I just dont see whats so hard to understand about it. If your attempting to set your guitar up yourself and struggling. Its time to take it to someone to do it for you.

I largely discount a lot of what Dan Erlewine has to say. He works for a shop and his job is to sell you stuff. Not maintain customer satisfaction then secure repeat purchases of $2K+ instruments.

The last bit of hogswash I read of his was some garbage about no tone like a perfectly straight neck under tension and that fretbuzz in that case didnt matter.. Well a necks under constant tension anyway. It was a whole sales pitch geared up to sell a fretboard straightedge for $72. I made 2 for £3.50, one for 25.5" scale and one for 24.75" scale. I set about straightening the neck on my baja tele and hating fretbuzz put the neck relief into the frets. As opposed to the usual method of frettops parralel to the fretboard and relief put into the neck. There was no difference in tone at all. It was just some sales pitch to convince people they need his tool, then sell it to you at a extortionate price.

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No no and no

Go to support at the top of the Fender Webpage
Click on Manuals
Click on Instruments
Click on Fender electric gutars and basses (current)
A MANUAL WILL SHOW ON YOUR SCREEN
Scroll down to the bottom left corner of page 12 of the manual and you will see the diagram of a capo at fret one direct from Fender.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

String height matters not if you capo or not. It is about if they ring/buzz and feel comfortable.

When doing a truss adjustment, you must capo the first fret

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

I guess you are right. If the setup guide dosn't mention it then it's not meant to be there. I have heard many others say to use a capo but they must have got the idea from Dan's books.
I am going to go with the capo off method.

Thanks

I went to the guide. Yes the capo is on for checking neck releif.
My question is about string height (action). They have a picture of this as well with NO capo. page 13
This confirms this for me now.
Thanks for the link to the guide.

Edit
===

It's interesting with this guide the suggested string height is different as well.
string 1-4: 5/64" (2mm) +/- 1/64 (.4mm)
string 5-6: 3/32" (2.4mm) +/- 1/64 (.4mm)

Glad it helped, remember that's to check the "straightness of your neck" not your string hieght (that's a more personal thing and should be adjusted to your personal taste and fretbuzz tolerance)

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

That diagram is for checking the relief. The diagram on the next page is for setting string height, and no capo is used.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Sorry I didn't say "relief" Voodoo.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Excellent advice gents.

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10-4 good buddy, over and out!