Hi Guys,

I just got myself a beautiful 2005 American Standard Strat, and I am loving everything about it. It's just such a beautiful guitar to play. I would like to change the strings though because the ones strung right now could use a change.

Considering this is my frist Fender and I play more than I know the technical aspects of my guitar, I decided to take quick look at the strat setup guide. They talk about tuning keys there and I can't for the life of me figure out if I've got Locking tuning keys or Standard Keys.

The shop I bought them from describes teh tuning keys as "Staggered Tuning Keys"

Can anyone advise me on this?

Thanks,
Olivier

PS I am really loving the action that the guitar has right now. Is there any potential advice you may have for me to get the same action when changing the strings?

Hi osmeier, welcome to the Forum.

Your Am Std comes with staggered, non-locking tuners. The staggered bit means that if you look at the height of the capstan onto which the string winds you will see the ones for the top strings are lower than the others. It increases the breaking angle across the nut slightly and means you only need one string tree rather than two, which is sometimes reckoned a nice thing.

Non-locking means there isn't a knob on the back of the tuner to screw the string firmly in place in the capstan. That is a handy feature on tuners that have it - and doesn't matter a jot if you don't have it. Don't worry about it.


So long as you restring with the same gauge that's on there now the action will stay the same. Your Am Std will have come with 9-42 gauge strings.

Every six or twelve months it can be a good idea to have the "setup" redone on the guitar, to keep things like action at their optimum. But if it's playing how you like it right now I doubt you need to worry about any of that yet.

So change the strings, play it and enjoy it!

Cheers - C

Hello Ceri,

thank you very much for your quick reply. Good thing that there are others like you who are upto speed with all the technicalities of my guitar. I will definitely have the "setup" re-done in about 12 months or so (not quite sure what that entails).

Can the setup be done by any reputable guitar shop or does it have to be sent back to Fender for that? Being in Switzerland I'd have to stay without my guitar for a long time I am guessing if it has to be sent back to Fender.

Thanks again though for answering my original questions.

Cheers,
Olivier

Yes. Any good reputable guitar shop can do the "setup" for you. If they have done Fender guitars in the past. I would ask that question of how many they have done. No need to send it back to Fender. The setup guide is pretty straightforward and can be done by yourself if you have the proper tools which are not very hard to come by.

-T

_________________
-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Thanks a lot for the confirmation Tyronne. Perhaps by then I am confident enough to take care of the setup myself however I doubt it. Changing the strings already is a task which I am wary of enough to worry about messing something up.

Have a good one,
Olivier