strat bridge at an angle

[Leeroy_uk45]

ive had my mexican fender for around 4 years now and to be honest its something ive never been too bothered about but after reading a few things on the net i was wondering whether or not my bridge should be at an angle?

is this normal on strats? im pretty sure its not, ive seen a could of my friends teles and strat copies but their bridges rest flat the the guitars bodies. Ive never had any tuning problems but the way its set up at the moment means you cant use the trem arm to pitch a note played any lower than a fret, where as pitching it higher, you can hit at least 3 or 4 frets higher using it.

ive tried to adjust the screws in the back of the guitar in order to sit the bridge back but hasnt really made any difference

if this isnt normal, id appreciate any advice you could give me in sorting this out!

regards

leeroy

[rockonn91]

well, i dont have a strat, so i dont know anything for sure.

but if its working out for you with no intonation problems... hey, whats the big deal?

a question though- is it angled up or down?

[pure]

from what im reading, it sounds like the back of the tremolo bridge is floating off the guitar, not flat. thats perfectly normal. if a tremolo was flat on the guitar, you cant lift the tremolo to make the note higher pitched, so the more your bridge is floating, the more range you have for getting a higer note. also, the more the bridge is floating, the less range you have for dive bombing, or getting lower notes. so its all up to your style. there's nothing wrong with a floating bridge. if you want to make it flatter, get a screwdriver and then wrap some pliers around it and open the back and tighten the screws to lower the bridge. i'd de tune a bit cause it could snap your strings cause it makes the strings tigher. also de tuning makes it easier cause theres less string tension. hope i helped.

[Leeroy_uk45]

brilliant, thanks for your help, its put my mind at rest a little!

cheers!

[pennyanmurph]

Hey leeroy-

I have the same thing going on with my Mexican strat, and it doesn't seem to be creating any problems so far. The guy at the guitar shop said it was fine, and that, like pure said, it was all up to how you wanted to play.

[markc2005]

you could always add another spring if you want the bridge flat

[pure]

you could always add another spring if you want the bridge flat

not necessarily. i have 3 springs on the back of my strat and i can get the bridge flat, all i have to do is keep tightening the screws at the back.

[aschleman]

The ideal Strat setup should be a floating trem setup... for most styles of playing. It sounds like your bridge may be floating a little off center though... Since you can sharpen notes a lot more than flattening them. Normally you would want it slightly offcenter the opposite direction... Atleast, that's how Fender would set it up at the factory. If you find yourself not using your trem that often... I would highly suggest putting the other 2 springs on there and just leaving the bridge flat against the body. This gives much much much more tuning stability. But you sacrafice the efficiency of the trem itself. A number of flags are raised by your issue though... Some things to consider... If you ever chage your strings to a higher gauge... it will cause your bridge to sit at an even greater angle... and if you already have your trem springs screwed in as far as they go... you're going to have your hands full trying to set that up. Ideally though, you don't want to screw your springs in so they are taking all the load of the strings. Right now it sounds like the tension of your springs is greater than the tension of your springs... It should be an even trade off.... But, if it's not bothering you that much I would just say save yourself the worry and make due until you need to fix it.