I have an American Std. Strat. Its my first strat. I am trying to set it up and my bridge is a little higher than what i want. I mean the angle of the bridge.. its like a quarter of an inch off the body and i want to know if thats normal. if not how do i fix it. I know this is a stupid question but i have a tele its nothing like this guitar. help me! i have a gig at a church at 4:30 today

That's a bit of short notice to"get you to the church on time"to paraphrase an old musical.I think that 1/4" is wee bit too far above the body but to do any adjustment to the bridge/body spacing would involve removing the back plate and adjusting the spring tension and then most likely you'd have to redo the intonation as that would affect the saddle to nut distance. I prefer to have my bridges "decked"-that's flush to the body and that's not a complicated process but is a bit time consuming to get perfect. First you slacken your strings and tighten the screws holding the string claw a couple of turns at a time and then retune up to pitch.You may have to do this several times before the bridge is decked but just as the bridge makes contact with the body that's when you have tightened it enough. To tighten it too much would cause the bridge to hit the body hard and make a clunk whenever you use the vibrato arm.After you have that all set you most likely have to reset your intonation.I imagine that for today you may have to make do with it as it is as it could take up a bit of time to get it balanced and intonated perfectly.I hope this was of some help,good luck with it.Keep on Pickin'& Grinnin'.BTW there's no such thing as a stupid question but there can be stupid answers-that's what you have to look out for lol.

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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.

Hey khall hope you got your Strat in shape before church. For reference check out Fender's Strat setup guide: http://www.fender.com/support/stratocas ... _guide.php

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

Khall, you didn't happen to change the gauge of your strings by any chance?

That's what happens to the bridge when you go larger ...

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Guys thanks!! That helped out alot!! Thank you for the tips! I got it ready and made do. I did go to a larger string from a 9 to 10. I want it "decked" so ill play with it and figure it out! This is my first strat and i am still figuring it out not just setup but tone too.. thanks again! God bless!!