Spotblog402

• Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Chart
• String Height On Stratocaster
• Fender Stratocaster Nut Replacement
• Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Calculator
• Strat Nut Slot Height
• Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Bars
• Stratocaster Nut Slot Height To Fretboard

Also called string height, adjusted on the Strat bridge. This step requires you to have adjusted the truss rod first. If the nut slot is too tight and narrow, i.e. You are using thicker strings than the nut s used to, your guitar will get out of tune when you’re using the vibrato or when bending and shaking strings.

This is a “top-down checklist” for the assembly of a solid-body electric guitar.
It can help you to build a guitar with specific sound and playability characteristics. Please read licence and the contribution guidelines before contributing.

1. I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (https://www.youtube.com/editor).
2. John Carruthers shows us the proper way to adjust the Nut on a Stratocaster. This video is step 3 of a 4 part series. Videos include adjusting the Truss Ro.
3. For proper string nut slot depths, use the feeler gauges. Measure the height of the first two frets by laying a straight edge across them and sliding different combinations of feeler gauge blades under it until they touch the straight edge. Record this measurement (let's say 0.035' for an average, somewhat worn fret height).
4. .018 height over first fret for the nut height 4-6/32nds over 17th fret for bridge height depending on which strings you use and how low you like your action. That is a very generic setup that a lot of people can do with. I do my personal guitars a low as humanly possible because thats what i like.

Table of Contents

Sound and Playability Influencing Factors

Component	Sound*	Playability*
Guitar Neck	+	++++
Guitar Body	+	++++
Guitar Electronics	+++	-
Strings	++	++
Scale Length	+	+
Woods (Body, Neck and Fretboard)	+	+

*influence ( “-” stands for little, “++++” stands for very strong)

For example, for building a solid-body ‘jazz-sounding’ guitar you have to choose (top down by importance):

• vintage or jazz pickup with convenient po­ten­tiomet­er and capacitor values
• flatwound strings
• massive neck, hollow body with wood such as mahagony
• shorter scale length

Guitar Necks

Neck thickness, neck width, neck contour and fret wire size affect playability and are a matter of personal taste. Important for good playability is balanced interaction of these components. Thicker neck often creates warmer tone.

usacustomguitars.com/necks - many neck shape and thickness combinations
musikraft.com - additional information for understanding of neck features.

Neck Profile

Neck Profile is the combination of contour (C, U, V , asymmetrc) and thickness (.0750' - 1')

Contour	Thickness	Warmoth*	Fender*	Gibson*
D	thin	Wizard	D Shape
C	thin/medium	Standard Thin	C Shape (AM Std)	Traditional C
C	medium	59 Roundback	Deep C	Round C (1959 LP)
U	thick	Fatback	U Shape (Vintage Tele)
V	thick	Boatneck	V Shape (Vintage 52 Tele)
asymmetrisch	medium	Wolfgang	Modern C

*warmoth - Warmoth Neck Profiles
*fender - see “NECK SHAPE” Filter
*gibson forum - Gibson Neck Profiles

Neck Nut Width and Nut Slot Spacing

Category	Neck Nut Width	e1/E6
Many Fenders from Japan	41 mm (1-5/8')	approx. 34 mm
Standard	42,9 mm (1-11/16')	approx. 35 mm
Acoustic analog	44,5 mm (1-3/4')	35 mm till 37,5 mm
Superwide (Warmoth)	48 mm (1-7/8')	approx. 40 mm

The real e1 to E6 string spread can be controlled not only through nut width, but also by slot spread in the nut. For example, 44.5 mm wide nut can have e1 to E6 distance between 35 and 37.5 mm.

Category	String spacing	e1/E6	e1 to edge	Neck nut width
Narrow string spread	7 mm	35 mm	4.75 mm	44,5 mm (1-3/4')
Medium string spread	7.3 mm	36.5 mm	4 mm	44,5 mm (1-3/4')
Wide string spread	7.5 mm	37.5 mm	3.5 mm	44,5 mm (1-3/4')

Neck Heel Width and Mounting

Most guitar parts manufacturer adopted Fender’s® neck heel and neck pocket dimensions:

• 56 mm (2-3/16') - Width
• 76 mm (3') - Length
• 16 mm (5/8') - Pocket Depth

These dimensions are not a standard. Only careful measurement ensures that your parts will be compatible.

Strat necks have a rounded base to their heel and Tele necks have a squared-off base to their heel, which makes it difficult to interchange the two types of necks across various bodies.

Standard Fender heel mounting is done with 4-Bolt Holes - 1/8' (3mm) diameter (spread of 2' x 1-1/2').

Fretboard’s Radius

Smaller radius means a more rounded shape.

• 7-1/4' - “Vintage” Fender®
• 9-1/2' - “Modern” Fender®
• 10' - Gibson®/PRS®
• 12' - Ibanez®
• 16' - Jackson®
• compound (10' - 16') - Warmoth® and others

youtube.com - understring radius gauges - video demonstration of three different gauges used for guitar setup and fretwork: standard, notched and understring.

Fret Sizes

Title	Width	Height	Example
Small	narrow	low	vintage Fender
Me­di­um	narrow	high	many Martins
Medium Jumbo	wide	low	many Gibsons
Jum­bo	wide	high	moderne Fender
High Jum­bo	wide	very high	many Ibanez

lutherie.net - provides an excellent manufacturer/sizes overview.

Common Neck Head Shapes

• 6L - Fender Style - left in line
• 6R - for left-handed
• 3L/3R - “Gobson Stype”
• 4L/2R - “Musicman Style”

Tuner Holes

• approx. 8,7mm (11/32') - “Vintage Fender Style”
• approx. 10mm (25/64' = 9,9mm) - “Sperzel Style”,
• approx. 10mm (13/32' = 10,3mm) - “Planet Waves Style”
• approx. 10mm on top and 8,7mm bottom - “Schaller/Grover/Gotoh Slyle”

Small holes can be enlarged with a sunk. Big holes can be retrofited by adapter bushings.

Guitar Bodies

The sound of electric guitar depends mainly on the vibration behavior of the string itself and the reproduction characteristics of the pickup. The vibration behavior of the string depends (very little) on wood. The body itself is very thick compared to the neck, that is why the body wood type and form have very limited influence on the sound of electric guitar.

music.stackexchange.com - how much does electric guitar’s body physics affect the tone and playability.

Body Shapes

The shape of an electric guitar can historically be divided into the following categories:

• ST (Strat)
• T (Tele)
• Single Cut (LP)
• Double Cut (SG)
• Hollowbody
• Other Forms

Bridge And Pickup Routing Overview

• Flat Mount Hardtail (Strat/Tele/Schaller)
• Tremolo (Strat)
• Tune-O-Matic (Gison)
• Other (Jazzmaster®, Jaguar®, Bigsby®, Kahler®, Line 6, etc)

Picture left to right:

• American Standard Tremolo Routing and Single Coil Strat Pickup,
• Vintage Telcaster Routing and Single Coil Tele Pickup,
• Tune-O-Matic Style Routing and Habucker Pickup

Flat Mount Strat Routing

Model	E/e	Sites holes Ø	Sites holes distance	Bridge hole Ø	Bridge holes distance
Strat Vintage	57 mm (2 1/4')	3.18 mm (0.125')	10.5 mm (0.413')	3 mm (1/8')	21 mm (.827')
Strat Vintage Narrow	54 mm (2 1/8')	4.78 mm (0.188')	10.5 mm (0.413')	3 mm (1/8')	21 mm (.827')
Strat Standard	52.83 mm (2.08')	3.18 mm (0.125')	11.3 mm (0.446')	3 mm (1/8')	22.6 mm (.89')

Flat Mount Tele Routing

Model	E/e	Sites holes Ø	Sites holes distance	Bridge hole Ø	Bridge hole distance
Tele Vintage	54 mm (2 1/8')	3.18 mm (0.125')	10.9 mm (.429')	3 mm (1/8')	21.6 mm (.85')
Tele Standard	54 mm (2 1/8')	3.18 mm (0.125')	10.5 mm (0.413')	3 mm (1/8')	32.4 mm (1.267')

Flat Mount Schaller Routing

Model	E/e	Bridge hole Ø	Bridge holes distance	Dimensions (LxWxH)
Schaller 47X	51 mm - 55,5 mm	3.18mm (0.125')	approx. X	73 x 49 x 12(15) mm

Tremolo Routing

Modell	E/e	Holes	Hole Distance	Hole Ø
Mexico Strat	52,4 mm (2 1/16)	6	52,4 mm (2 1/16)	3 mm (1/8')
Vintage	56,36 mm (2 7/32')	6	55,9 mm (2.2')	3 mm (1/8')
American Standard	52,83 mm (2.08')	2	55,9 mm (2.2')	9,5 mm (.375')
Floyd Rose (“recessed”)	53 mm (2-3/32')	2	74 mm (2.913')	9,91 mm (.390')
Schaller 2000	53,5 mm	2	56 mm	10 mm
Schaller vintage	53,5 mm	2	74,3 mm	10 mm
Wilkinson (“recessed”)	54 mm (2-1/8')	2	55,9 mm (2.2')	9,7 mm (.382')

callahamguitar.com - technical specifications of some coustom parts.

Tune-O-Matic Gibson Style Routing

Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Chart

Model	E/e	Bridge	Tailpiece	Tailpiece Top	Tailpiece Bottom	Tailpiece Ø
Tune-O-Matic	ca. 52 mm*	74 mm (2.91')	approx 82 mm*	38 mm (1.49')	41 mm (1.61')	approx. 11 mm (0.44')

Instead Tailpiece - there may be “strings through the body” drillings.

Other Rare Bridge Variants

• Wrap-Around (bridge-tailpiece combo - the strings are installed through the front side and wrapped around)
• Jazzmaster®
• Jaguar®
• Bigsby®
• Kahler®

Pickup Routing

• Single Coils (Strat)
• Single Coils (Tele Neck)
• Single Coils (Tele Bridge)
• Humbucker
• Wide Humbucker *
• Mini Humbucker
• P90
• Lipstick Tube
• Jazzmaster

*Wide Humbucker (same as Seymourduncans “Trembucker” or Dimarzios “F-spaced Hambucker”) can be used for guitars with larger sting distance with standard “Humbucker Routing”. Measure from the middle of the high string to the middle of the low string, directly over the pickup. If the distance is greater than two inches or 50mm, go for a Wide Humbucker.

Exact specifications can be found on the manufacturer’s website like:

bareknucklepickups.co.uk - dimensions

In addition to classic HH routing (2X hambuckers), there are the following variants: - SSS (Strat, Nashville Tele)

• HSS (Strat Humbucker im Steg, Modern Player Tele)
• HSH (Strat),
• HS (Strat, 72 Tele)
• SS (Tele),
• HP90 (Yamaha Pacifica),
• S (Tele Esquire),
• and some other exotic combinations

Tuning Machines

Tuning Machines Options:

• Configuration: 3L+3R (Gibson style), 6-in-Line (Fender style), 4L/2R (Musicman style)
• Diameters of bore holes for axis (see chapter Tuner Holes)
• Ratio - for 1x winding around the shaft head - 1x rotation necessary.
  Larger ratio (1:18 > 1:14) allows finer adjustments.
• Standard vs Locking - with locking tuners strings are inserted through the axle bore and fixed by a screw from the outside

Bridges

Guitar bridge has large influence on playability (mainly through string spacing). Wider string spacing is better for finger-picking style, narrow spacing gives easier control when playing leads with distorted tone. Bridge Routing chapter above describes common bridge categories with string spacing specification.

Bridge form and material have also some influence on sound.
Good manufacturers provide detailed product information on their pages:

ABM - indicates that Bell Brass and Steel shape the guitar sound with character, while Aluminum acts largely neutral in the transfer of tone.

Hardware Parts Checklist

• Jacks & jackplates
• Neck plate (neck-to-body)
• Pickguard or pickup mounting rings
• Screws for all parts above
• Control plate (only for for standard tele)
• String ferrules (String-thru Top or Bottom - if you use “string through body” instead of bridge)
• String retainers. Happy Little String Trees
• Strap holders

For each screw, the hole must be pre-drilled to the core diameter (not outer diameter)

Electronics

Electronics exerts greatest influence on the overall sound of a solid-body electric guitar.

buildyourguitar.com - The Secrets of Electric Guitar Pickups by Lemme - “If you know the resonant frequency and height of the resonant peak, you know about 90 percent of a pickup’s transfer characteristics. Some other effects cannot be described using this model, but their influence is less important”.

Frequency response of a magnetic pickup may look like this

Sound group	Resonant frequency	Resonant peak	Example Pickup
bright	3 - 6kHz	high peak	Fender single coils
powerful	2 - 3kHz	medium high peak	Gibson PAF
mellow	1.5 - 2kHz	low peak	Rolling back tone pot

Following topics change resonant frequency and resonant peak:

• Pickup Properties - position and height of frequency peak vary from type to type.
• Electronics Wiring Options - Hambucker coils are switched in series by default, switching them in parallel or using only one of the coils will increase resonant frequency and the sound will have more treble.
• Potentiometer and Capacitor Values changing provides also simple way to change resonant frequency and peak.
• Cable capacitance - longer cable will lead to lower resonant frequency.
• Amp input impedance

Pickup Properties

• Dimension and product group - see chapter Puckup Routing
• Wiring: 1, 2, 3 or 4-Con­ductor (4-Con­ductor allowing most flexible wiring)*
• Position: Bridge, Neck, Midd­le
• Symmetrical vs asymmetrical connection type
• Output: low(vintage), medium, high (vintage used often for jazz and blues)
• Passive vs. Active (Active often used for distortion sound)
• D.C. Resistance: indication how much output a pickup will have
• E.Q. chat: A general idea as to the Bass, Mids and Treble.

seymourduncan.com - pickup selector
dimarzio.com - pickup picker

Classic humbuckers are asymmetrical. They are internally wired in series (i.e. serial - brings more power) in opposite phase (less noise). The current multi-Con­ductor PUs offer the option of switching the coils differently using push / pull pots, mini switches, toggles, mega switches and rotary switches, and allow broad control over the sound directly on the guitar.

Con­ductors	Connection Type	Coil Split	Seriell/Parallel	Phase Switch	Example
1x	Asymmetrical	Humbucker Mode	Seriell	No	Shadow AZ48
2x	Symmetrical	Humbucker Mode	Seriell	Yes	Fender Wide Range (Mexico)
2x	Asymmetrical	Humbucker & Single Coil Mode	Seriell	No	Benedetto B6
3x	Symmetrical	Humbucker & Single Coil Mode	Seriell	Yes	viele aktive PUs
3x	Asymmetrical	Humbucker & Single Coil Mode	Seriell and Parallel	No	PRS 59
4x	Symmetrical	Humbucker & Single Coil Mode	Seriell and Parallel	Yes	all 4-Con­ductor PUs

Sound Control with Switches

Switch	Coil Split	Seriell/Parallel	Phase Switch	PU switch
Toggle Switch	-	-	-	y
Blade Switch “Fender”	-	-	-	y
X-Way-Blade “Megaswitch”	y	y	y	y
Mini-Switch SPDT(ON/ON)	y	-	-	-
Mini-Switch SPDT(ON/OFF/ON)	y	-	-	-
Mini-Switch SPDT(ON/OFF/ON)	y	-	y	-
Mini-Switch DPDT(ON/ON)	y	y	y	-
Push/Pull-Pot DPDT(ON/OFF/ON)	y	y	y	-
Mini-Switch DPDT(ON/ON/ON)	y	y	y	y
Drehschalter	y	y	y	y

• Coil Split - “Single Coil Sound”
• Seriell/Parallel Schaltung - “double Single Coil Sound”
• Phase-Switch - “Out of Phase Sound”

SP = Single Pole, DP = Double Pole, DT = Double Throw

Example: “Seriell/Parallel und Coil Split at same time” are possible with 4 Push/Pull Pots, 4 Mini-switches (i.e. duncan triple shot) or by 5-Way Blade Megaswitch

open.guitars (german) - Hambucker Conductor/Coils switching options.

Electronics Wiring Schemas

More wiring schemas from:

Potentiometer and Capacitor Values

Sound group	Pot	Cap	Examples
standard hambucker	500K	0.047mF	most hambucker equiped guitars
bright	500K	0.022mF	some guitars (U.S. FAT Tele)
brighter	500K	0.01mF	some custom models
brightest	1M	0.01mF	some custom models
standard singele coils	250K	0.022mF	most strat & tele models
jazzy	250K	0.047mF	some teles (ASAT BluesBoy)

http://www.planetz.com/guitar-tone-capacitors-material-types - comparison of tone capacitor material types and capacitance values.

Volume and Tone Potentiometer Options

Group	Pot body Ø	Bushing Ø	Bushing length	Shaft length	Example
standard	24 mm	8 mm	10 mm	19 mm	most fender guitars
mini	17 mm	7 mm	10 mm	‘>’ 17 mm	many jazz guitars
long	24 mm	8 mm	20 mm	27,5 mm	most Gibson LP guitars

• Resistance: 250K, 300K, 500K, 1M
• Taper: Audio, Reverse Audio, Linear, Balance
• Shaft Type: Knurled, Round & Plain
• Shaft Diameter: 6 mm (0.236 in), 6.35 mm (0.25 in)
• Shaft Length: 17mm, 19 mm (0.75 in), 27,5 mm (1.125 in)

Potentiometer Knob Styles

There are 3 common styles of knobs:

• bell
• speed
• domed

philadelphialuthiertools.com - Choosing the correct knob for your guitar or bass.

Active Pickups Electronics

Active Electronics tries to reduce dependancy from the shielded cable and amp input impedance. However, that needs power to operate, and that’s its biggest drawback.

String Height On Stratocaster

Custom Buffers (german) - used to decouple the guitar electronics from the sound influencing effects on the shielded cable.

Strings

Depending on following options your sound will be more bright or more mellow:

• Construction (Flat Wound/Round Wound)
• Material (Steel/Nickel) and
• Tension

Most manufacturers use following naming convention to describe tension of string set:

Name	‘e’ site approx.	‘E’ site approx.
Extra-Light	.008	.039
Light	.009	.042
Regular	.010	.046
Medium	.011	.052
Jazz	.012	.054
Baritone	.013	.056

There are also other hybrid sets available - like “Light Top/Heavy Bottom” and “Balanced Tension” combinations.

daddario.com - you can choose between bright and mellow sounding electric strings.
ghsstrings.com - also bright vs mellow overview, and tension guide (pdf)
thomastik-infeld.com - good jazz and blues strings

Scale Length

A guitar’s scale length is length of string between the nut and the bridge.

Scale has a relatively low impact on sound and playability of the guitar. (Compared with other parameters such as strings or pickups).

Longer scale length sound and playability characteristics:

• quick response, crisp attack
• transparent sound with well-defined basses and heights
• larger finger spread
• higher string tension at constant gauge

Shorter scale length sound characteristics:

• warmer
• more sustain and longer decay

Common Scale Length:

• 572 mm (22.5') or shorter - 3/4 & some travel guitars
• 596,9 mm (23.50') - Fender Jazzmaster/Jaguar guitars
• 629 mm (24.75') - many Gibson guitars
• 635 mm (25') - many PRS guitars
• 648 mm (25.5') - many Fender guitars
• 650 mm (25.5) - typical classical guitars
• 686 mm (27') or longer - Baritone guitars

Woods

Woods	Sound¹	Weight²	Used for³	Looks
Alder	bright	medium	T/B	bright, simple
Ash	bright	medium	T/B	bright, simple
Basswood	neutral	light	B	bright, simple
Bubinga	bright	medium	T/B/N/F	red, often grained
Ebony	bright	heavy	N/F	dark
Maple	very bright	heavy	T/B/N/F	bright, often grained
Koa	warm	medium	T/B/N	dark, grained, attractive
Korina	warm	medium	T/B/N	grained, attractive
Mahogany	warm	medium	T/B/N	red
Poplar	neutral	medium	B	bright, simple
Rosewood	warm	medium	T/B/N/F	dark
Sitka Spruce	neutral	light	T/B	bright, simple
Swamp-Ash	neutral	light	T/B	bright, attractive
Walnut	bright	medium	T/B/N	gray, attractive
Wenge	bright	heavy	T/B/N/F	dark

¹ Sound: the diagram for effects on tone stands mainly for acoustic instruments and NOT for solid body guitars, where other components have much larger impact on sound. Thus, a mahogany electric guitar can sound bright despite the representations below.
² Weight may vary for the same variety.
³ Used for: T - Body Top | B - Body | N - neck | F - fretboards

frudua.com - graphical examples for body and neck woods showing relationship between wood hardness, its density and tone.

This is a handy guide to setting up your Fender Stratocaster guitar. We will go through the most critical adjustments that affect the playability of your Stratocaster.

Before you start adjusting:

Be sure that you take a measurement of all settings before you adjust anything. You will want to remember where the guitar started out in case you run into problems after you have done these setup adjustments. I have a guitar that I setup exactly to the following adjustments and after it was adjusted I could not intonate the low-E string. So I had to move it back toward the starting point on the adjustments to get it to intonate properly. You can go to our Factory Setup Adjustments page to look at what the adjustments were from the factory on a sample American Deluxe Stratocaster. Also, leave your factory measurements in the comment section of that page for others to use. Let’s get started!

Tools you will need:

• Set of automotive feeler guages .002″-.025″ or .05 mm-1 mm
• Ruler with 1/32″ and 1/64″ increments or 0.5 mm increments
• Lubrication such as Big Bends Nut Sauce
• Phillips Screwdriver
• Allen wrench for truss rod

Lubrication

If you want the best performance out of your Stratocaster you must lubricate. This is where our Big Bends Nut Sauce comes into play. The most important areas to lubricate are the slots in the nut, the bridge pieces anywhere the string touches and the pivot points on the tremolo. Whenever I change strings I clean the nut slots, bridge and tremolo slots and the pivot points on the tremolo. Then I use just a small amount of lubrication in each area. This greatly increases tuning stability and makes the guitar smoother to play.

Tremolo Adjustment

The two most common types of tremolo found on Stratocasters is the 6-screw Vintage tremolo and the Two-Point Knife Edge tremolo found on the American series of Stratocaster.

You will first want to adjust the front edge of the bridge so that it is level with the top of the pick guard. I don’t like to have the front edge flush to the body as I don’t like it to dig into the finish of my guitar. So I set the front edge level with the top of the pick guard. On the Two-Point tremolo simply adjust the pivot screws until the front of the bridge is level with the pick guard. To get a good view of this you can pull back on the tremolo until the bridge is flush with the body and then look at the front edge of the bridge.

Here’s a good performance enhancing tip for the 6-point Vintage synchronized tremolo. To level the front of the 6-screw tremolo pull the tremolo arm up until the back of the bridge is flush with the body. Then loosen all six screws at the front edge of the bridge plate until they measure 1/16″ (1.6mm) above the top of the bridge plate. Then tighten only the two outside screws back down until they’re flush with the top of the bridge plate. This will make the bridge pivot on the two outside screws while leaving the four inner screws in place for tremolo stability. It’s a way to simulate the action of the more expensive two-point tremolo.

After you have the front edge of the tremolo adjusted you want to adjust the back edge of the tremolo. To do this, remove the plate on the back of your guitar to access the tremolo springs. Then adjust the screws that secure the tremolo claw to the body tighter or looser to change the gap at the back of the tremolo. Fender recommends a 1/8″ (3.2 mm) gap between the body of the guitar and bottom of the bridge. You will have to adjust the spring tension with the screws on the spring claw, re-tune the guitar and then check the gap at the back of the bridge. It may take several adjustments and tunings to get the gap right. Remember, if you ever change string gauges you’ll have to perform this adjustment again.

Another good thing to remember is to lubricate the pivot points on the pivot screws at the front of the tremolo. Just use your Big Bends Nut Sauce for that.

Truss Rod Adjustment

Next you will want to adjust the truss rod. Most Stratocasters use a Bi-Flex truss rod which allows you correct neck curvature in either concave or convex positions. To check the adjustment make sure the guitar is tuned properly and then affix a capo behind the 1st fret of the guitar. Get out your feeler gauges. The adjustment specification is as follows:

Most Fenders use the 9.5″ to 12″ radius so you’ll be shooting for a .010″ (0.25 mm) gap. You’ll be using the “go”,”no-go” approach. So get our your .009″, .010″ and .011″ feeler gauges. With the capo set behind the 1st fret, hold down the low E-string at the last fret on the neck. Then slide each gauge between the top of the 8th fret and the bottom of the sixth string. The .009″ gauge and the .010″ gauge should slide through with no resistance while the .011″ gauge will slightly move the string. If you need to adjust the truss rod do it in 1/4 turns and then recheck the adjustment. Sometimes after you let the instrument sit overnight the adjustment will change slightly as the neck settles in. Remember to never force the truss rod! If you encounter excessive resistance during this adjustment your truss rod is maxed out. If this happens you’ll have to take your guitar to an authorized Fender Service Center. This adjustment will greatly increase the playability of your guitar.

String Height (also known as Action)

After you’ve adjusted your tremolo height and truss rod it’s time to adjust your Stratocaster string height. String height, or action, is highly customizable on the Fender Stratocaster. That’s good because almost every player needs a custom string height to suit their own personal playing style. I am very aggressive with my lower strings when I play rhythm so I like my low strings set at a higher action to get rid of unwanted buzzing. I also like to play very lightly and quickly when I solo so I like my higher strings as low as possible for increased speed. You can see the recommended Fender adjustment for string height in the table below. I would suggest using that as a starting point and then listen to the strings as you play the guitar unplugged. If you hear the strings buzzing and vibrating a lot, then simply raise the action on that string.

To check the string height first make sure your guitar is properly tuned. Then use your ruler to measure from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string at the 17th fret. Then, use the allen screws in the bridge saddles to adjust the height of the string. Make sure you adjust each side of the bridge saddle evenly so that it stays level with the bridge or tremolo plate. Then re-tune the guitar and listen to it while you play. Make any tweaks after you play it for a few minutes and listen for rattles or buzzing. Bass side strings are the E-A-D string and Treble side strings are the G-B-E strings. I like to adjust each string a little lower as I move from bass side to treble side so they get a little closer to the fret on each string. Fender string height specs are in the table below:

Pickup Height

Now that your string height, truss rod and tremolo are all in adjustment it’s time to adjust your pickup height. If you have your pickups too close to the strings the magnetic pull will cause the strings to vibrate in an elliptical pattern instead of a circular pattern which results in problems with the guitars tone and loss of harmonics. You want your pickups close enough to have good output but not so close as to affect the vibration of the strings.

To perform the measurement simply take your ruler and measure the distance from the top of the pole piece to the bottom of the string on the first (high E) and sixth (Low E) strings of the guitar. After you make this adjustment you will see that the pickup will be angled closer to the 1st string and farther away from the 6th. There’s no need to measure the distance of each pole piece as the pole pieces are not individually adjustable.

Fender Stratocaster Nut Replacement

In the table below you’ll find the Fender specs for pickup height adjustment but here’s a tip. I like to move the pickups quite far away from the strings and listen to how the string sounds through an amplifier with0ut any influence from the magnetic pull of the pickups. Then I like to raise the pickups until they are very close to the strings and listen to how the magnetic pull causes tonal changes and loss of sustain. Then I back the pickups off until I can hear that they are no longer influencing the vibration of the string. This way I know I’m getting the highest output without any magnetic influence on the string. Here’s the table with the Fender specifications for pickup height adjustment:

Lace Sensor pickups have little to no magnetic pull on the string. I would suggest putting them very close to the string but don’t let the string vibrate against them. I would also suggest pulling them away from the strings a little bit and listen to the difference in sound. You may like them a little farther away from the strings.

Intonation

First of all you may be asking, “what is intonation”? Intonation affects how well your guitar plays in tune along the entire length of the fretboard. Have you ever noticed that after you tune your guitar it still sounds off when you play chords or notes and the higher you go on the neck the worse it sounds? That’s because your intonation is not set correctly. In theory, the distance from the inside of the nut of the guitar to the middle of the 12th fretwire should measure the same distance as the middle of 12th fretwire to the bridge saddle. But, if you do this adjustment by measuring with a ruler it will still sound off. So, we have to adjust the intonation with a good tuner or you can simply use your ear if you have a good ear.

Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Calculator

Before you adjust intonation make sure all your other adjustments are done. That means truss rod, string height (action), pickup height and tremolo height all have to completed before you do intonation. To adjust the intonation tune your strings to standard tuning. Then starting at the 6th string play the open string and the play the note an octave higher at the 12th fret. The pitch should be the same. Your ear, or tuner will tell you if the octave note is sharp or flat. If the note is sharp use a Phillips screwdriver and move the bridge saddle farther away from the nut or toward the back of the bridge plate. If the note is flat, move the bridge saddle closer to the nut or the front of the bridge plate. Adjust the bridge saddle to compensate for flatness or sharpness until the note at the 12th fret is in tune with the open string note. Do the same for all six strings and your guitar will be properly intonated.

Strat Nut Slot Height

Finishing Up

Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Bars

Once you have completed all the above adjustments your Stratocaster should play very comfortably and stay in tune very well. Whenever you change strings I would check all the adjustments and adjust any that are out. If you do these adjustments with every string change your guitar will always play it’s best. Leave any questions or comments in the comment section below.

Stratocaster Nut Slot Height To Fretboard