Fender Stratocaster Setup Part 9 of 9: String Intonation

[mlbdrumsyahoo]

Great! Very helpful! Will recommend your videos to friends. Easy and saved $60.

[jeffersononetwo]

@mlbdrumsyahoo Awesome! Thanks man ... I do appreciate your comments and support!

[rzaker]

Thanks Jeff! My Mexican Strat was way off. I followed you videos and its like a new guitar.

[jeffersononetwo]

@rzaker That is killer to hear! Thanks for the feedback man ... that is really cool! Now you have something that is better than ever ;)

[crayolahalls]

Thank you Jeff. I have really been upset with my Strat's sound recently. I was going to go pay a shop to tune it up. I spent a couple hours with your videos and my tools and it sounds brilliant again! THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE EFFORT!!!!

[jeffersononetwo]

@crayolahalls Thanks for the report back! I'm glad you stuck with it and got that Strat set up properly ... I bet it feels so much better now too --- keep rockin!

[TheLeeloo78]

these vids are huge lifesavers, thank you Jeff.

Greetings from the Netherlands.

[jeffersononetwo]

@TheLeeloo78 Awesome bro ... thanks so much for watching & commenting!

[WesBarrSnowball]

Wow Jeff, with your help I got my cheapo Samik strat copy sounding great. your passion for guitar comes through these videos, very engaging. now i'm done its time to plug in and alarm the neighbours. thanks for sharing your expertise.

[jeffersononetwo]

@WesBarrSnowball That is killer to hear bro!  I'm glad these videos were helpful -- many thanks for commenting and sharing your story!

[yoshitoJuarez]

This series of videos was so huge for me... I feel like a got a lot of hands-on learning of my strat just from going through all these steps. I've changed strings before, but never thought about any of the other stuff. It feels and sounds better than it ever has before. Thanks for putting the videos up!

[jeffersononetwo]

@yoshitoJuarez You're welcome man! Glad you stuck through it and got something out of it --- thanks for the comments!

[jeffersononetwo]

@yoshitoJuarez Awesome bro! I'm glad I could be a help to ya ... hope things are still going well for you -- keep it tweeked ;)

[skiizalot]

Do you make your written procedure available?

[jeffersononetwo]

@skiizalot Yes ... check out the "SHOW MORE" info section ... there is a link to the procedure.

[ajsalgadosnr]

my high e is flat any where past the 3rd fret.. ive tried do all this its still flat.. MIM HSS strat.

[jeffersononetwo]

@ajsalgadosnr You may just need to start over with some new strings ... check the Scale Length (measure inside nut to 12th fret - double that number ... then measure inside of nut along the 1st string to the point on the saddle where the string sits. Move the 1st saddle to that doubled number distance from the nut.

Now get the others in tune pretty much but the 1st spot on - with the saddle in the proper measured place, you can adjust the saddle height to get its intonation perfect - carry on

[uzi592]

just finish watching all nine parts of this fender strat setup and it helped me out a whole bunch!!! thanks bro for da info now ima go hook up my mim strat =] this is the only vid i found helpful on youtube! so thanks for sharing this very much appreciated!

[jeffersononetwo]

@uzi592 Thanks for your comments on this video series! I'm happy to hear that they made a difference for you ... keep on rockin!

[voodookook]

Thanks Jeff!!! From the NC coast.......I'm going to get on them in the AM!!!

[magikbezdupy]

Great, foolproof presentation covering entire subject ;). I'm with my fat strat '94 for 7 yrz now, never will get rid of it :), think it's most universal guitar for all kinds of music. Thanks to you altogether people will save thousands of dollars, euros, rubles etc. all around the world :), that's the spirit of internet, and huge thanks for keeping it alive.

[jeffersononetwo]

@magikbezdupy Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad I'm able to help people out with this ... I just finished up a sweet setup on a nice Jackson this evening :)

[LEGstudios]

Hey man, thanks so much for taking the time to make and post these videos. I've been playing for a while, but knew very little about all this stuff until now. I was always unsure about it and never did it, but this time decided to do it myself and I'm so glad I did! I've set up my guitar and it's playing great, thanks to your videos. Thanks again!!!

[jeffersononetwo]

@LEGstudios Awesome!! I am really glad to have been a part in helping out ... as always, you can email me if you run into any trouble & I will try to help if I can. Otherwise, have a great time keeping that baby in good shape!

[Eldererr]

wait do i need to do this when i bought my new guitar or my new guitar is already setup?

[12466Adrian]

Thank You so much....dude I was able to setup my Big Apple Strat myself from A-Z...you were right not as hard as I thought. Thanks again for taking the time to make these it took a lot of work Im sure. Good luck my friend.

[jeffersononetwo]

@12466Adrian That is awesome! Thanks for the feedback on this ... I appreciate your comments!

[MattCoop13]

OK, im tryna go ahead and do this but when my strings are perfect, the 12th fret is out on some of them, so do i need to adjust the saddle on those? and if so what do i do about the harmonic too. I have four guitars and the main problem on all of them is th high E string. By the time i play a E barre on the 12 fret, the high E is so out it sounds like perfect E major 7!

[ramiabuhamra1]

Thank you so much ! :)

[jeffersononetwo]

@ramiabuhamra1 You're quite welcome - anytime!

[StonyRC]

Excellent setup guide - I've always been scared to touch my Strat and left it up to my local music store. It isn't as complicated as I thought and I'm going to do it myself from now on. By the way, which tuner do you use. Thanks for posting these videos.

[jeffersononetwo]

@StonyRC Thanks for the great comment, Stony! Glad to hear you will take this on ... it will be a good experience & I bet after a couple of times (get the tools) you'll have it better than they ever did. I use a Planet Wave strobe tuner mostly now, but I also like the simple digital ones with the needle - almost every shop has one for less than $20 - small & great for setups!

[secretgoldphish]

Excellent videos! Thank you so much for taking the time to make them, very informative and concise.

[jeffersononetwo]

@secretgoldphish You are quite welcome ... glad you found them helpful!

[colombobogota]

dude honestly thank you for taking the time to do this awesome tutorial, i have a question though... what if you do all that and you do it right... and you still have fret buzz??? how much fret buzz is acceptable??

[jeffersononetwo]

@colombobogota Thanks for your comments, and your question ... fret-buzz is sometimes difficult to eliminate completely. Usually the culprit will be the low E & A stings - especially if they are larger than 9s and/or the tuning is less than standard. I've recently been working a buzz issue with an ESP EC-1000 - same issue. Get a straight neck (Gibson technique is fret 2nd & 16th low E, let string sit on all frets with truss adjustment) ... if all is as best it can be, then pick attack is next.

[karrolllopez]

You made setting up my Strat extremely easy, You should be a teacher. Seriously :)

[jeffersononetwo]

@karrolllopez That is awesome!! Thanks very much for your kind words ... if I ever leave the Aerospace business, perhaps I will get into some kind of teaching -- thanks again for your comments!

[MrMollyMoll]

Thanks for this. I followed your steps almost to the letter (I like a floating bridge) and now my Strat sounds sweet.

[jeffersononetwo]

@MrMollyMoll I'm happy to hear that, Bro! Thanks for sharing your comments and for sticking with it!

[Psyk078]

Hey Jeff, thanks for the excellent vids, clear and precise. Rock on!

[jeffersononetwo]

@Psyk078 Thanks for your positive feedback - very much appreciated!

[dannonmarsh]

Thenks for the videos- they're very helpful. One question- I have a MIM strat with Vintage Noiseless pups. I followed your videos, I put brand new strings on, The action is low with no buzz. But the low E string, anything i play below the 7th fret, has a "hollow" sound. Almost sounds like it's muted and doubled all at once. I've examined all over and don't see anywhere where the string is hitting a fret or anything. I tried raising the saddle, but that didn't help either. Any ideas?

[dannonmarsh]

Sorry, that should be "anything above the 7th fret on low E." Especially noticeable 12th fret and up.

[jeffersononetwo]

@dannonmarsh I know what you are talking about - this phenomenon occurs from time to time on many guitars. It can be caused by many things ... the nut at the neck may be worn down if the guitar has a lot of play time on it - it could be a saddle that has a twisted spring on the rear not allowing it to contact properly - it could be bad strings - or even the pickup height. I would adjust the bass side pickup height up & down from 'normal' and see if that helps. Check nut good when changing ...

[grahamgfm]

Yes as I said b4 I like your style. You can restring my teles anytime.Keep up the good work.

[jeffersononetwo]

@grahamgfm Many thanks, Graham!!

[ozzyozb]

I have the exact same guitar and I was not sure how to do a set up thanks to you its not bad at all....the world needs more people like you in it...again thank you so much!

[jeffersononetwo]

@ozzyozb Many thanks for your awesome comments!

[masterbaker1]

Thanks jeff, i learned a hell of a lot from these video's, your a great teacher!

[jeffersononetwo]

@masterbaker1 You're welcome! I'm glad you were able to get something out of these :)

[beltonian]

Bravo & brilliant! I just got a mint 1991 Mexican Strat - my first Strat. My rear springs are all parallel to each other - yours converge on one end - perhaps a different year model. I've seen where one can insert a small length of proper diameter clear, plastic fuel line INSIDE of the springs and it deadens the spring, eliminating that cracking spring noise. Your checklist - any way you can provide a copy to be printed out? Again, thank you! Well done. T

[jeffersononetwo]

@beltonian I am thinking of putting some tygon-tubing on my springs too - they are noisy. send me your email and I will reply with the URL to download the PDF procedure I wrote.

[IPUNTGNOM3S]

I watched through all of your 9 videos and they were if not the most helpful thing I have watched on TV or Youtube. I am a beginner on guitar, got a black stratocaster on christmas and have already learned alot of songs Fast Learner (: It has regular pickups except the bottom has double and not a tilted one. 2 nobs instead of three as well. Would the guitar still work the same if i stopped at the restringing or is it mandatory to the rest as well?

[jeffersononetwo]

@IPUNTGNOM3S Thanks for watching! It is not mandatory that you perform all of these steps, but at some point down the road you are bound to come to the realization that your guitar needs a proper setup performed on it. These videos are intended for those people who feel comfortable tweaking their guitar and setups - as a beginner, you should be fine for now - by the next Christmas you may be wanting to do some more setups - keep watching & keep rockin!

[GuardianoftheTower]

It's that easy to adjust the intonation?

[jeffersononetwo]

@GuardianoftheTower It's not that bad to perform the intonation ... I think intonation fears are over-rated ;)

[mjfan123085]

What about oiling the bridge and saddles? Fender's strat setup guide mentions using 3 in 1 machine oil to lube those contact points on the string.

supposed to help it keep tune better like the chapstick in the nut,

also if i were to use heavy gauge strings for drop tune playing, would a 52 gauge fit the nut? would I need to file it larger?

thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[jeffersononetwo]

You're right, 3-in-One oil is mentioned -- it is great for the steel saddles @ the string contact points. It will help prevent the metal on metal degradation. It's a bit messy, smells strong, and has some minor safety issues about getting in contact with skin (though i have many times) so i typically don't mention it.

You will likely have to file that nut & couple next to it -the problem is, you'll file too much if you are not careful and it will be hard to go down in gauge (to like 9s) again.

[Maxreverse]

Jeff....thanks for taking the time out to create these videos. Awesome instruction. My Strat is finally setup properly!!

[Posoloaca]

thanks man....I had no idea how to do this until now....great video!

[SphericMojo7]

Thanks for the effort in putting this series together. You will be helping many people by taking the time to edit and upload these videos, and I'm sure everyone appreciates the work. Happy playing and cheers!

[Mongo148]

thanks so much for putting up these videos.

i also have a mexican made stratocaster, and for a while when i was looking for how to set up the guitar, i seemed to find a lot of conflicting information. i was able to use these videos together with the specifications on fender's websites, and it looks like everything is done properly.

these videos helped more than i could have imagined and i now have a fully set up stratocaster! :D

[jeffersononetwo]

Man, that is an awesome comment! Thanks much ... I'm glad you were able to get yours set up properly and that the videos helped some. If you have some of the measuring tools I use, then you are set from now on to keep your Fender in tip top shape! Let me know if you ever have any questions!

[Mongo148]

yep, i have the tools, and it worked perfectly, my strat plays better than ever! if i have any questions i'll be sure to ask! thanks!

[iamJROD]

My open strings tune good, but know matter how many times i turned the screws the rest of the fretted notes stay sharp. I turned the screws all the way to.

[nathan0902]

Can you help me change my string gauge from 9's to 11's? Thanks! =P

[jeffersononetwo]

Sure can ... you planning to drop tune? 11s don't do much for bends & such ;) With distortion amps, sooner or later, most players end up back with 9s :) The videos should get you started ... I will be happy to work with you on email as well - give it a try ... buy three packs of strings, get a ruler and feeler gauge if you can, and give it a try. I will email you something to help with the videos ... check your email.

[dantheman1015]

if anything try switching to 10s first

[mac24666]

hey, im having a dilema i checked my guitar and the 12th fret wasnt in tune with the open string and then i watched a video that said adjust it towards the pickups but it didnt intonate properly and the screw came off. luckily the screw went back on but im still having trouble intonating it.

basically in short the high e b and g are flat on the 12th fret but they are reallly flat do u think u can help? i need some.

[mac24666]

btw it a ,mexican tele

[jeffersononetwo]

If the note is sharp, the saddle needs to move back - if it is flat, then the saddle needs to move towards the head of the guitar (shortens or lengthens the string). U sound correct in moving them towards the pickups/headstock direction - sounds like the saddles may not be in the correct 'scale length' position for the guitar, if u run out of screw adjustment. U need a tape measure to start out with-measure from inside nut to 12th fret.

[jeffersononetwo]

... double the number u get from the ruler to the 12th fret (12.8" ?) - doubled, that would be 25.6". From inside of nut to front of high e saddle = 25.6in. Set the B saddle back from the e just a little - the width of the B string, actually. Just a few thousands of an inch - the rest will all move back slightly so they aren't in a straight line. Restring, tune, stretch, then start with intonation again - saddle need to be in right place to begin with. email me if this doesn't help you bro!

[mac24666]

im afraid to say you've lost me, but i heard somewhere hat it happens when the strings get old and ive had em for a while but when i restring them this week can i intonate the guitar after i put the strings on? or does it have to be set up already. btw im new to intonation and stuff.

[jeffersononetwo]

Ahh sorry man ;) Yeah, old strings are tough to keep in tune sometimes - get u some new ones and go through these videos ... I will email you a procedure I wrote to setup the Fender. Go through as much of this series as you can then, certainly, intonate after you get it set up - strings stretched, etc ... check your inbox!

[dbf678]

Hei dude, thank you so much! I thought my guitar was dead because i tuned it up and the sound on the 12th fret wasn't good and now i see it's all about the intonation!

Another thing: when I buy new strings and put them on, do I need to check the intonation again? I mean, you you use the same strings you use the last time (brand, tension, etc) shouldn't it be right?

Hopping to hear from you! Diego, Portugal. Europe.

[jeffersononetwo]

Hey Bro - Intonation is something that will make a difference, especially as you go up the neck - it keeps the octaves in tune across the whole neck. Theoretically, yes, a new set of strings exactly like the last should be pretty good on intonation - but after you get them stretched good, and maybe even the next day after playing, you need to verify the intonation - it shouldn't be off much, if any. Always good to check the numbers and see everything is at its best :)

[dbf678]

Thank you man! You seem to know a lot. I'll begin the set up of my old strato in a few days and I'll get to you if I have more issues I can't resolve. Keep rockin' and making the guitars world a lot easyer and better!

[dbf678]

Hei dude! Just stopped by to tell that my strato is impeccable! Thanks for all your help with the intonation!

[jeffersononetwo]

Awesome! Thanks for the kind words Bro! I'm here anytime ... Rock on!

[colinbythesea]

Bought a stringless strat from eBay and didn't have a clue. I now have a lovely sounding guitar. Best set up videos I have found - THANKS

[jeffersononetwo]

That's awesome, Colin! Can't get better than that - whoo hooo :) Thanks for the comments and congrats on the killer setup from scratch!

[TubeFil]

Hi, thanks again for those strat setup videos, they're really helpful.. cheers from Slovakia, EU ;)

[jeffersononetwo]

You are most welcome bro ... cheers from the States!

[111112963]

thanks man! i needed to know how to that for months.

[mjv50]

very helpful and clear,thanks

[jeffersononetwo]

Thanks for the comments Bro! Glad this was helpful ...

[gerard7829]

Thanks for an excellent series. But, where did you get that nice precision ruler? I've searched all over and can't find a decent ruler with enough precision for measuring 4/32, etc.

Thanks again -- if I can find a ruler I'm going to tackle my own setup!

[jeffersononetwo]

Hey Bro: you can find them at Lowe's or home Depot, for example ... check lowes . com for 'General Tools & Instruments

6" Pocket Ruler' ... 32 & 64 Inch increments for $2.29 - you need one of these! Rock on!

[deraileddash]

Another great video. Thanks so much. :)

[adris8]

Are you using Fender California Cable? Lol i have the red one. Nice vid, good explanation.

[jeffersononetwo]

Nah, I have all Spectraflex Original braided cables - lampcord pattern. Seem to be decent cables ...

[Shelbones01]

how much were those ernie balls you got?

[jeffersononetwo]

I think they are around $3.99 USD ... that would be about $4.95 CAD for you ;) Per pack ... I always try to have 2 or 3 packs in stock if i can ... just in case I don't want to go to the store when I need to change.

[iamJROD]

I put new strings on mine,but when I turn the screw clockwise it still reads sharp,and I cant turn the screw no more,I reached the end. Now what?

[jeffersononetwo]

If you have the headstock the way i do in the video, counter-clockwise would tighten - it depends on how you look at it and if you did the knot like I talked about. You didn't cut the strings yet, did you? You may not have given it the 'two peg' slack before tightening?

[rsbn23]

thanks for the step by step vids. I'm going to do my own Strat setup!

[jeffersononetwo]

Awesome! That's what I like to hear :) Send me a comment or message if you have any questions or run into any trouble. I'll be happy to help if I can ...

[korsmonaut]

Impressive work man.