i would end up havnig to change the bridge out, not sure im gonna do that. im gonna go to home depot today and get a nice ruler that measures in 64ths so i can get the action height set up properly though.

I can appreciate your personal interest in 'modding' that guitar but it's such a 'sweetheart' looking piece I wonder shouldn't you let it be. The Roadhouse was designed specifically to satisfy a Texas Blues feel. That's quite a find for something lurking inside a closet. Some have done better, but have also been placed under arrest for it.

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"Another day in paradise!"

well once i get it setup to my specs then ill see, i just hate when a guitar keeps slipping out of tune. im used to floyd roses so this is new to me lol. but no worries, im not doing any mods that will destroy the credibility of this guitar.

fender doesnt even make their guitars with those box bridge saddles any more and they leave out the g,d string tree now too dont they?

[quote="gconley]fender doesnt even make their guitars with those box bridge saddles any more and they leave out the g,d string tree now too dont they?[/quote]
Go to the Guitar Parts section and scroll down. You find them listed as 'bridge saddles '86-'07'

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"Another day in paradise!"

just got the bridge saddles adjusted to a comfortable playing position. my measurements are from the bottom of the string to the 17th fret...

low e is at 2/32''
a string is at 4/32''
d string is at about 4.5/32''
g string is at about 4.5/32''
b string is at 3/32''
and high e is at 2/32''

i couldnt find a 64'' ruler at the hardware store so i just bought the 32'' ruler, it was the smallest they had. i tried my hardest to keep the ruler straight on the fret so i could get as accurate of a reading as possible.

sounds great and plays pretty comfortable for my liking. still some slight buzzing towards the neck though. but overall a huge improvement from where it was at.

any suggestions are fully welcome, im new to setups. ive been watching a lot of videos on youtube that help a lot.

......make sure the neck is true....that it doesn't require a truss rod adjustment....if so, you'll have to reset the string heights and intonations. In the matter of string trees.... the new guitars with the staggered tuners won't have them. The staggered posts take over for the trees.

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"Another day in paradise!"

im not sure about the neck, it looks more straight than back bowed or front bowed but im not sure. maybe i can get a pic of it and post it.

to check relief, here's what I do. First, remember a guitar string under tension is a perfect straight edge (shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line).

I capo at the first fret. I put the capo right over the fret to reduce any "up bend" of the string over the fret but it's not all that important.

Then, I fret the string at the 17th fret on electrics. On acoustics, I do 14 or 12th depending on where the neck meets body.

At the half way point (about fret there should be a tiny gap of aprox .010". Automotive feeler gauges are great for this. If you don't have them, check the gauge of your guitar strings. your high E should be .009, .010 or .011 depending on what you use. To be honest, any of them will work for this as .001" one way or the other isn't even something you're going to be able to adjust anyway.

If your gap between fret and bottom of the string is greater, give about 1/4 turn to the right (tighten) on the truss rod nut. If there is not sufficient gap, loosen it about 1/4 turn.

Caution, sometimes it takes a bit for the neck to settle in. I usually tweak it 1/4 to 1/2 turn, let it sit for a few hours, play it a bit, and check again.

If you're getting buzzing in the first 3 or 4 frets, you probably do not have enough relief in the neck. If your buzzing is in the middle of the neck, it's probably too much relief. That is assuming you don't have a high fret somewhere causing problems.

Depending on how much you have to tweak the truss rod to get the proper amount of relief, you may or may not have to readjust the saddles and intonation. Small adjustments won't cause a problem. If you're way off, yes, you may have to do the saddles again.

When it gets to Strat specific stuff like the trem and springs, I defer to some of the guys here who really know their strats better. Tuning stability is sometimes caused by not enough spring tension in the trem. I never use a trem so I have all of mine decked.

Your strings that are 4/32 (8/64) could probably be brought down to 3/32 or even 2/32 depending on how aggressively you play. I have both of my strats set at 4/64 (2/32) but I'm not an overly aggressive player (that's what volume knobs are for...).

All of this stuff is just guidelines. In the end, it's what feels comfortable for you.

can't say I get my kicks doing set up work, but I know what works for me and am too darn cheap to pay someone to do what I can do myself.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

jeff thanks a lot man, i really appreciate the help. i guess my problem was that i was just trying to eye it instead of doing it your way and the ways i have seen on youtube. im curious as to why you fret at 17 instead of the last fret though? ill post a truss rod video of this italian guy who seems really knowledgeable with setups.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_qZ_QGX ... ure=relmfu

now i was always under the assumption that all guitars should have a slight up bow to them but its actually slight relief(back bow) that they need.

finally nice to start doing this stuff myself and learning a lot in the process. its actually fun.