Is my strat bridge too high

Lands Leaving

And will this cause any problems? The action and intonation are perfect and tbh I don't want to have to mess about with the guitar too much, I have another one to restring and clean today!

Dord

Yeah, it looks like it. How many springs do you have in the back?

-=al=-

looks a little but if it works for u f it

Lands Leaving

3 springs at the back, but I'm gonna go with al's advice out of total laziness. It sounds perfect and I don't wanna spend an hour or so sorting out the setup again. Just wanted to be sure it wan't doing any damage.

Cheers for the help

CianRyan

Waaaaay to high.
It'll be a combination of the tension springs in the back and the gauge of strings you're using.

You can fix it yourself but it;d be worth getting it set up profesionally.
The strings will sit much nicer and it'll be much nicer to play once it's set right.

CianRyan

Lands Leaving wrote: »

3 springs at the back, but I'm gonna go with al's advice out of total laziness. It sounds perfect and I don't wanna spend an hour or so sorting out the setup again. Just wanted to be sure it wan't doing any damage.

Cheers for the help

It could be doing the neck dammage.
That's where all the pressure is going to be. The springs can only take some much of it away.

feylya

CianRyan wrote: »

It could be doing the neck dammage.

How?

-=al=-

its up to you but i set mine up to float and have a slight angle on it... lower it a bit but i like mine to have a slight angle but not as extreme as that... depend what way you use it, ive a strat and i dont use a trem with it so its set up flat and perfect to the body so its nice tuning stability, and my other strats setup to float, ive an ibanez with the same strat type trem floating, but its up to you what you wana do i guess!

but it is hassle and i hate setting up bridges since im such a perfectionist about it set it up for what you want it to do

Alanstrainor

It looks pretty high to me. I'd just tighten the screws in the back of the guitar that the 3 springs are attached to. That'll lower it a tad, not too much work involved.

novarock

Do you use the Trem bar a lot? If not I would have the bridge flush to the body for tuning purposes..

Johnny Storm

If you are happy with the action and intonation, then leave it the way it is. It wont cause any problems AFAIK

It looks OK to me in the first 4 pix (although a bit on the high side), It does look too high in the last pic?

Fender factory spec is for one-eighth inch gap between the body and the back end of the bridge plate.

See here:- http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster.php

The 1/8 is not written in stone and if you like it higher go for it. If you want to lower it down then screw in the two claw screws in the back where the springs are (or put on another spring).

Remember that the springs in the back and the strings are always in balance and the point of balance determines how high or low the bridge is. So if you change the spring tension with the claw screws you will have to retune the strings and if you are not happy with where the bridge ends up you can find yourself re-iterrating the process all day :rolleyes:

If you want to avoid that, jam something under the bridge of the height you want (I use a stack of business cards 1/8 inch tall). Tighten the claw screws too tight. Tune up the strings. Slowly unscrew the claw screws a little bit at a time, a little bit on one screw then the other. Do not touch the tuning. If you do it right, at a certain point the business cards will fall out from under the bridge, the bridge will be in balance at the height you want and the strings will be in tune.

Dord

Also I think you'll have to redo the intonation on the guitar if you adjust the spring tension.

Lands Leaving

CianRyan wrote: »

Waaaaay to high.
It'll be a combination of the tension springs in the back and the gauge of strings you're using.

You can fix it yourself but it;d be worth getting it set up profesionally.
The strings will sit much nicer and it'll be much nicer to play once it's set right.

The strings actually play really really nicely as it is.. that's half the reason I don't wanna touch it, I can set it up well enough myself, I just worried I could do it damage if I left it high, if I can't it's grand as it is until I change strings again. Can't figure out how I managed it though. I changed strings -9's for 9's and set the intonation and the bridge jumped up half an inch!

-=al=- wrote: »

but it is hassle and i hate setting up bridges since im such a perfectionist about it set it up for what you want it to do

Yeah me too, it's never good enough usually. It's perfect except the bridge is like that... never good enough!

novarock wrote: »

Do you use the Trem bar a lot? If not I would have the bridge flush to the body for tuning purposes..

I use it the odd time and I like having the option so I don't want it flush, handy as it would be. The tuning actually stays fine, as good as my tele anyway, and that has no trem.

Johnny Storm wrote: »

If you are happy with the action and intonation, then leave it the way it is. It wont cause any problems AFAIK

It looks OK to me in the first 4 pix (although a bit on the high side), It does look too high in the last pic?

Fender factory spec is for one-eighth inch gap between the body and the back end of the bridge plate.

See here:- http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster.php

The 1/8 is not written in stone and if you like it higher go for it. If you want to lower it down then screw in the two claw screws in the back where the springs are (or put on another spring).

Remember that the springs in the back and the strings are always in balance and the point of balance determines how high or low the bridge is. So if you change the spring tension with the claw screws you will have to retune the strings and if you are not happy with where the bridge ends up you can find yourself re-iterrating the process all day :rolleyes:

Yup, too much work altogether!


Cheers for the help everyone, I'll leave it till I change strings next and sort it then.