FENDER STRAT HELP!!!!!!!

[sadromanticghost]

Well..hi!....i've just been bought an American Fender sratocaster..the guy in the store told me to play the guitar for 10 days and then come back to the store for the final..adjusting.But the strings are very high from the fretboard..and i can not play as i used to...how can i change the height of the strings..i'm afraid of making something wrong..can you tell me how..is there a site with pictures to see??????thanks a lot!

[Bardsley]

If you're going to be taking it back to the store to get it set up properly, I can't see any harm in you fooling around a bit by yourself first. The bridge saddles are where the main action adjustments take place. You will see to tiny screws that hold up each saddle, and they can be adjusted with a small allen wrench. Turning the screws anti-clockwise will lower the height of the string. Make sure that you keep the saddle level by turning each of the support screws the same amount. Once you have lowered them a bit, tune the strings again (they will have gone flat), then check at the higher frets to see if they buzz. If they buzz too much for your tastes (I don't like any, and make sure you check how they sound when bent) then raise the saddles a bit. Otherwise, they should be fine. It's possible your truss rod needs some adjusting, but I must say it's probably easier if you stay away from that for now. The mr. gearhead link at the fender website http://www.fender.com gives pretty good instructions about setting up your guitar if you want to have a full try at it.

[bosveldbees]

If you fool around with the height, your guitar's inclination and intonation might get screwed up. It's better to take it to a pro.