I just bought a MIM Strat off of ebay. Its my 2nd fender. I also have a Mustang. Anyway the bridge on the Strat is angled down. What I mean is that the bridge is sticking up off of the body about 2 or 3 milimeters on the end where the intonation screws are . The side that is toward the pick ups is normal(its flush with pickguard. Can somebody tell me whats causing this?..Is there any way to adjust the bridge to make it flush with the body? I have looked on ebay and other places and cant find any other bridges that are like this.

Sounds like your tremelo system needs to be adjusted. Unless you want to make it a "hardtail" setup and flush with the body of the guitar, it will be slightly raised.

Hey, Rob. Mine was never slightly raised, then again I may have set it up differently than most.

Cheers.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Short answer is Yes, you can adjust the bridge flush to the body, but whether you want to do that would depend entirely on whether you want the whang bar (the so-called "tremelo") to be functional. Question here is: Do you intend to use the whammy bar at all??

The problem, from what you describe, appears to be that the trem is misadjusted in relation to the string gauge that's on the guitar, or that the original owner had it locked down for his/her own playing style and tried to loosen it back up when they sold the guitar to you, to restore the proper trem action. But, obviously they didn't know how to adjust the bridge properly. Here are a few tips:

1. Take the trem cover plate off the back of the guitar and look inside it. You should see at least 3 tremelo springs attached to a "claw" plate at one end and the end of the bridge at the other end.

2. Decide what gauge of string you want to use (.009, .010, etc.) and restring the guitar with the gauge you prefer. Tune it up to proper pitch, then back each tuner off 1/2 step or so, so that there's some slack in the strings.

3. IF you intend to USE the whammy bar, begin tightening the two screws on the claw evenly, a few turns at a time. Retune to pitch and observe the height of the bridge at the body. You should have approx. 1/8 inch of clearance when it's properly adjusted and you need to repeat the procedure as needed until you have it close. There should be a small visible gap between the bridge and the body, so that the trem can float as it is intended to. The bridge should not be snugged up solidly against the body wood, if you want the trem to work the way it's supposed to.

4. If you want to lock the trem down (hardtail), the easiest way is to buy and add two more trem springs, then back the claw screws off a few turns, so that the bridge is solidly contacting the body. You'll still be able to push down on the whammy, but not pull up on it. To lock it permanently, you'll need to add something like a small block of wood in the cavity between the tremelo block and the guitar body.

5. If this sounds like too much work for you, or you don't feel like you can do it yourself, take the guitar to a qualified tech and have him/her do the work. The cost should be modest, most places. But you need to make your decisions before you do this, or have someone else do it for you.

I hope this will be helpful.

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"It's about sound and sound alone. Looks are irrelevant. You can have the best-looking guitar on earth, but if the sound isn't there it is nothing more than a beautiful piece of trash. The sound it makes is the soul of any guitar."

That is about right for a factory adjustment. It is called a "floating bridge" due to the fact you can raise or lower the pitch. Some guys do not like that so they tighten the springs in the back of the guitar so the bridge will lay down flat on the body. On almost all my guitars I have them floating, except my Clapton Strat, which comes with the tremolo flat and blocked, and a couple other ones. See this 62 Reiisue below. You can see the bridge is up about 1/8 inch.

Here is what Fender says about their bridges: "Allowing the bridge to float freely (no tension on the tremolo arm) using the claw screws in the tremolo cavity, adjust the bridge to your desired angle—Fender spec is a 1/8" (3.2 mm) gap at rear of bridge. You'll need to retune periodically to get the right balance between the strings and the springs. If you prefer a bridge flush to the body, adjust spring tension to equal string tension, while the bridge rests on the body (you may want to put an extra 1/2 turn to each claw screw to ensure that the bridge remains flush to the body during string bends). "

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

if i just wanted to lock it permanently, do i need to do the springs and screws procedure you described first or can i just do the wood wedge inside the body?

are these wedges sold anywhere or is it a carve it yourself type process?

Hi calloy: you could just screw down the trem claw or you can put the wood block in there as well to make things extra solid. Either way is fine.



I haven't seen them sold but they're easy to cut out of a scrap piece of wood yourself. Here are some measurements as a guide:


And here's what it will look like cut out, and in place. These ones are made from ash, but any wood will do:


Good luck - C

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okay, thanks ceri.

the pics helped me understand a lot better

Thanks guys, and or girls, this helped me a lot. I posted this topic because this is my first Fender Strat. I have Mustangs and Jaguar, so I was not familiar with working on my Strat. All your replies make it clear to me now. Thanks, Eddie.

I just recently black my '79 ash Strat (stripped to the bare wood and years of sweat) and added a brass shim. The guitar resinates wonderfully.

You don't need a block of wood, just put 5 springs in the tremolo compartment and tighten the claw up until the bridge is butted up against the body. I challenge anyone to say they can tell the difference between that and having a block in there.

This talk of wooden blocks only came about because of Eric's guitar, no one as far as i know ever did that to their strats. If they wanted it without the trem they just put 5 springs in and tightened it all the way in.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

I can and I did.

Actaully both my home built Strat and '79 Strat were set up with the 5 string thing and adding the black of wood and some brass did change the sustain up the guitar.

I didn't think it would make a difference, but it did.

I have two ideas about this.
1. The vibration from the block travels through the body better when there is direct contact with the body.
2. The spings have less tension on them, so they vibrate more, causing more sound.

Again, I believed as you, but it turns out that I was wrong. I can feel the guitar vibrate more now than I could two days ago.

Very odd thing, according to everything that we can gather here, EC never used a wooden block in his Strats before either (hard for me to believe). Yet, we are told that Fender came up with this idea of using a wooden block because EC requested it.......? And there are/were indications (from Fenders website also) of the block being an original thing on Blackie, although everyone says that a wooden block was never used on Blackie.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.