I think a am ready to move up from 9's to 10's. I their anything I should do besides change the action. I have 3 springs on my trem, do I need to add a forth?

Almost without exception changing:
1. String gauge
2. String brand
3. String material

will require a complete setup. Set up instructions can be found here:
http://www.fender.com/support/stratocas ... _guide.php

The number of springs you have on your trem is relevant mainly to how easy or hard the trem movement will be and secondly to the gauge of string you use. Putting 10s on instead of 9s will not mean you need another spring, but you will need to adjust the spring tension as the setup guide indicates and to your preference for the bridge height. Fender recommends 1/8 of an inch above the body, many prefer the bridges level with the body. This is a personal choice, but level with the body limits tremolo use to only diving.

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2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

Almost without exception changing:
1. String gauge
2. String brand
3. String material

will require a complete setup. Set up instructions can be found here:
http://www.fender.com/support/stratocas ... _guide.php

The number of springs you have on your trem is relevant mainly to how easy or hard the trem movement will be and secondly to the gauge of string you use. Putting 10s on instead of 9s will not mean you need another spring, but you will need to adjust the spring tension as the setup guide indicates and to your preference for the bridge height. Fender recommends 1/8 of an inch above the body, many prefer the bridges level with the body. This is a personal choice, but level with the body limits tremolo use to only diving.

_________________
http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

markara, will changing string brands but not gauge really require a set up?
Why's that?

Now that's funny.

If you were going to 11's then sure but in my experience jumping up one gauge size will not require a change to the setup. Changing the brand will definitely NOT!

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I would say from experience that 9s to 10s might call for some tweaking with any guitar that has a trem though you could try it and it might play fine. I have to agree with the change of brand as carrying things way to far. On my Teles I could go from 9s to 10s and not have to do a thing but some Strats are sensitive and may need a set up.

From personal experience I recently did that and I had to adjust the spring claw in the back and adjust the neck a bit. The intonation seemed ok and that was the one thing I was counting on fixing. If you like a little play in the bridge then you should have more than enough room to adjust the spring tension claw.

You may need to do a set up after putting on a heavier guage string.

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Nut slot should be ok. Changing up to a thicker gauge should hurt. You will have to reset innotation though, follow your owners manual and make sure your tuner can tune one octave higher...

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Ok. true, you may only be talking about adjusting the spring claw, but the reason is that from brand to brand the strings will have differnt tensil strenghts. What this means is, and just for example, a set of EB 9's, nickle plated steel, the E string will come in tune with a pull of x number of lbs of force pulling on the bridge. A set of nickle plated Fenders on the same string will have a pull of y number of pounds when in tune. The end result is that you bridge will go from being 1/8 of and inch above the body to something else, higher or lower.

The same holds true when changing from nickle plated steel to pure nickle.

So while a "complete setup may not be required, almost always there will be some adjustment needed and yes obviously the more radical the change the more radical the adjustment.

The engineer in me knows that a guitar is a mechanical system. So that means there is a zero sum game involved. Changing part of the system will have some affect on the rest of the system and will require offsetting additional changes. For example, if all you do is tighten the spring claw to adjust for the extra tension of heavier strings, that will have at least some impact on the neck which may in turn cause the neck to need adjustment. Once that is done you may need to reset action, pup height etc.

9's to 10's is not a minute change. http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f21/strin ... 73846.html
Here is a quick chart someone posted show D'Addario tension for different gauges.

Moving from standard 9's @ 85.13 lbs of tourque to
standard 10s @ 103.59 lbs of tourque means that the guitar has to be adjusted to some extent for an additional 18.46 lbs of tourque. This is a 22% increase in the overal tourque of the system. Be it the claw, the neck, the action or whatever, physics is defied if no change is applied. Something has to give.

Of course, personal preference or indifference can come into play and no action is taken. That does not mean that it is not needed.

_________________
http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam