The first two strings on my Strat, from the 1st fret to 5th fret, when you play them they sound dead, is this a neck relief problem? If so, how do I do it as I have never done something involving the truss rod relief.

It could be a number of things causing the problem. It's highly unlikely to be a neck relief issue if its only affecting 2 strings out of 6.

First off put fresh strings on, secondly try raising the height of the two bad strings.

If you've never done any trussrod adjustments before this isnt the place to learn. Dont touch the trussrod.

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No no and no

If thats the case, then can somebody suggest to me what the problem could be and how to fix it?

From your description it sounds more like the string height of the two strings is too low or that the strings are just dead.

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No no and no

It could be one or a combination of several things (in no particular order):

1. The height of those strings at the bridge are too low.
2. A mild reverse warp.
3. A twist in the neck.
4. The nut for those strings are cut too low.
5. The frets are messed up.

With a new set of strings installed, I'd first check the height of those two strings at their respective bridge saddles and adjust as necessary. If this doesn't help, see if the first two strings are slapping off the affected frets. If so, try loosening the truss rod a little bit and see if this begins to clear up the problem. If this doesn't help, see if the two strings are literally sitting on the first fret. If so, at this point, I'd take it to a COMPETENT tech for evaluation and remedy.

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You dig?

Slightly of topic...

Martian,

Congrats on reaching 4000+ posts!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Wow, I hadn't even noticed, thank you!!!

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You dig?

"A little" being an eighth or quarter turn anti-clockwise.

Honestly though, because of the variety of different issues this could be I have a feeling the visit to the tech might be the top suggestion in this particular case. The hands and eye can quickly diagnose a problem it could take pages here to describe.

+1 on the "COMPETENT" tech bit. We want to make this better - not worse.

Good luck - C

EDIT: ha! Congrats on 4000 also! Man, there are a lot of high value contributions amongst that lot...

Thank you so much!!!

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You dig?