DIY: How to Set Up a Fender Stratocaster

Next, set the action by adjusting the height of the saddles. Saddle screws can vary, so use the wrench that came with your guitar. For this Strat, I used a .050" hex key.

1. Tune the guitar to pitch.

2. Place a capo on top of the 1st fret.

3. Measure the action at the 12th fret using an action gauge or precision metal ruler as described in Step 1.

4. Beginning with the 1st string, turn the height adjustment screws located on either side of the saddle to raise or lower the string to your preferred height.

For a modern Strat fretboard with a radius of 9.5"–12", such as on this guitar, official Fender specs are 4/64" for both the 1st and 6th strings. However, string height is personal, so this measurement will vary according to your technique and string gauge. After each adjustment, retune the string you’re working on and re-measure the action at the 12th fret.

5. Repeat this process for each string until you have the action where you want it. The goal is to keep an even arc across all six strings that matches the radius of your particular fretboard. (Many repairmen and players eyeball this, but if you want to be precise about matching the fretboard radius, stewmac. com sells metal radius gauges designed for this purpose.)

For this guitar, I set the action at the 12th fret to 3/64" for the 1st string, graduating to 4/64" for the 6th string. These measurements are a little higher than I typically use, but the action felt comfortable to the owner and worked perfectly for his beefy .012 gauge set.

Okay—we’re making progress! After setting the saddle height across all six strings, we shift our attention to the nut. Nut and Saddle is important guitar parts. It’s important that the string height is correct here too. When the action is too high at the nut, the strings will go sharp when you fret them and the guitar will be hard to play.

1. Remove the capo.

2. Tune the guitar.

3. Beginning with the 1st string, measure the distance between the bottom of the string and the top of the 1st fret. The height should measure 1/64" for the 1st string and graduate to 2/64" for the 6th string. Each thicker string should be slightly higher than the one before it.

4. To lower a string, you’ll need to cut its slot deeper in the nut (Photo 15). For this job, use a correctly sized nut file. (Nut-slotting files are available from online suppliers, including Luthiers Mercantile, Stewart-MacDonald, and even eBay.)

Slowly cut the slot, paying very close attention to the angle of the nut file. It should match the descending angle of the string, from the face of the nut to the post where the string attaches. If you cut too shallow or too steep of an angle, the string won’t seat properly in the nut, causing both tuning and sonic problems.

Make sure the string doesn’t stick in the slot. It should move in and out freely without binding. If it sticks, gently roll your file from side to side in the slot to open it up. After a few passes with the file, place the string back into the slot, retune, and again measure the action at the 1st fret.

5. Repeat this process for each string with the proper nut file for each gauge.

Because our bench Strat was now equipped with heavier strings than before, I needed to widen several nuts slots, but it didn’t take long to get the strings to sit where I wanted them.

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