Hi Everyone,

I have a 2009 MIM Strat. I shipped it recently as I was moving overseas and had the strings loosened. (Which I'm not going to do again) Once I got the guitar and tuned it there was a terrible buzz, especially on the 6th,5th and 4th strings.

After looking at the neck I realised that it had no bow at all. And I pick hard so it's pretty bad. I need to adjust the truss rod. i checked a few I had at home and none of them fit.

So I was wondering if any of you guys would know the exact size Allen Key it needs. (The slots at the headstock btw).

Thank you in advance.

You'll need a 3/16 Allen key for adjusting the truss-rod.

I would suggest buying "The Fender Stratocaster Handbook" by Paul Balmer,
ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-2983-2

It's an invaluable book if you are going to perform your own maintenance on you strat. Valuable tips and how to's in addition to specs as well as warnings as to what not to attempt unless absolutely sure of the adjustment process.

In addition check out www.stewmac.com They will have any specialty tools needed to adjust your strat, as well as how to video's and specs.

It would be of great advantage for every guitarist to pick up a set of metric and SAE Allen wrenches as over yur life time you'll no doubt own more than one guitar.These sets are only around $5 each at hardware stores.Cruztools makes a Groove Tech kit that includes not only allen keys but just about everything else needed for guitar maintenance for around $50-money well spent for such an indispensable kit and it also includes a set up guide.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Thank you very much 53magnatone. It worked like a charm I'm shopping for the book at the moment and will be ordering soon.

guitslinger I will be buying a tech kit real soon. A bit tired of having to look for the right allen key or screw driver and what not.

Cheers guys.

One annoying item I should mention.
My MIM strat had different hex key adjustment screws in the bridge saddles, in case yours is the same get a new set, either all metric or all english.
After searching for a bit, guitar center had them in stock, it's a little detail but when it came time to readjust the saddles according to the neck radius, different sizes drove me nuts..

Thanks Mate.

I do have a problem now though. I adjusted the truss rod which definitely gave me bow. And now when I put a capo on the 1st fret and press the last fret I seem to have enough clearance around the 8th fret area.

However the higher I go in the neck I still seem to get some buzz I don't really want to increase the action from the saddle because it might be way too much.

Any ideas fellas?

+1 to Paul Balmer's Stratocaster Handbook. Unfortunately, I have misplaced my own copy. Therefore, I can not give you exact measurements, due to my bad memory. Somebody here can easily fill in the blanks for us, but here's what I am thinking:
You issue is now a combo of truss rod and saddle height from what you describe. You probably overtightened the truss rod a bit, which is easy considering only a quarter to half turn is the difference between a good setup and a bad one.
If you counted the degree of the adjustment you made to the tr, divide it by 2 and back it off accordingly. It takes a while for the neck to completely settle after an adjustment.
Raise the saddles in small increments to achieve the lowest height possible without buzz. If the string are not low enough on the higher frets to suite your tastes, assuming the truss rod is within spec, you may have a raised fret or two.
Let us know how you get on.