# Upped my string gauge and now action is high - strat



## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I just switched from 9's up to 11's on my Tokai strat, and now the action is a bit higher than I would like, especially in the middle of the neck (12th fret area).

Where should I start? At the bridge?

The truss rod adjustment is on the heel of the neck - I've never touched that before.

Not sure I've ever had the neck off, come to think of it. Is it as simple as loosening the strings, removing the screws that hold the neck in place and then adjusting the truss rod? Is it righty-tighty, lefty loosy like a wood screw?

Is there anything to worry about when re-attaching the neck? Or does it just drop back into perfect alignment as the screws are tightened?

Sorry, newb questions, i know.


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

Sounds like you have to tighten the truss rod a little bit, if you have to take the neck off just be sure to put everything back just as you found it just to be safe (and yes righty tighty lefty loosy). You might need to adjust the spring tension for the bridge or add another spring depending on how much the heavier gauge stretched the springs that are already in place. Good luck.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Morkolo said:


> Sounds like you have to tighten the truss rod a little bit, if you have to take the neck off just be sure to put everything back just as you found it just to be safe (and yes righty tighty lefty loosy). You might need to adjust the spring tension for the bridge or add another spring depending on how much the heavier gauge stretched the springs that are already in place. Good luck.


If your trem bridge is set up to float, U will have to adjust it for sure but first...........
Check the neck for straightness by holding down your low e string at the first and last frets, have a look at the mid point of the neck and see how much clearance u have between the string and fret, u should have almost zero clearance here,.010 of an inch....no more.
If u have a bigger gap at the mid point , first make sure U are tuned properly and then U will have to adjust the truss rod by tightening clockwise with 1/8 increments of a turn or so, shouldn't take too much. Once the neck is straight u can remove the back cover and tighten the springs with the phillips screws at the claw, this will bring the bridge back down .It's important that you will have to keep retuning as u do your spring adjustments.
I set up for a semi tone of stretch when the bridge is pulled back to make contact with the body and the neck almost dead flat. Lots of good stuff on the tube for trem adjustments, depending on your taste. Cheers, d


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2013)

Before tightening the truss, loosen it off a bit first to make
sure the nut is not seized (I learned this the hard way and
snapped the rod).


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

this is how I see it...
the strat probably has a floating bridge ( at least I think most do).
Weather the bridge was foating or flattened on the body before the string change, the extra tension from the heavier strings 
will raise the bridge higher then it was before causing the higher action.

Either way, my fix is this.....
If the bridge was floating before, tighten the claw so that it reaches the same floating point or to where the action is back to normal.
If the bridge was flat on the body before the string change, tighten the claw ( thats that thing at the end of the springs on the back of the guitar)
so that the back of the bridge is touching the body again.

If your action is still too high, I would then lower the saddles of the efected strings before I would use the trus rod to set string hieght.

Trus rod adjustment is for neck relief and theres plenty of info about that.

keep on rockin
G.


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2013)

Good points. The neck should still be 
checked for bow or relief as well.


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## Moosehead (Jan 6, 2011)

GTmaker said:


> this is how I see it...
> the strat probably has a floating bridge ( at least I think most do).
> Weather the bridge was foating or flattened on the body before the string change, the extra tension from the heavier strings
> will raise the bridge higher then it was before causing the higher action.
> ...


^^^^^^^^^
What he said, who the heck adjusts the neck relief to fix a bridge issuesigiifa good way to screw up a guitar.

A small amount of truss rod adjustment can go a long way. 
Once you get the bridge sorted out you can get the action in the sweet spot if its not to your liking with some fine tuning at the truss rod.

I've added a spring to bring a floating bridge back a bit but going up 2 guage sizes will definitely need the claw tightened.

tip: give each screw the same amount of turns


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Agreed.
The truss rod adjustment is more to do with compensation of neck angle to the body.
If the neck is "set" properly, the fretboard can be dead straight and will perform very nicely. 
U should be able to get away with 3 springs, hopefully...(my preference for tensioning). Some springs are shorter than others so it depends on the springs u have on hand.
At the claw ,the springs hooked to the middle 3 and at the trem block, one to each corner and to the center hole in the block. 
If u have the claw cranked all the way to the body and U still can't get the trem down low enough (with the guitar tuned to pitch) then obviously, you'll have to back off the claw and add a fourth spring. As Moosehead mentioned, try to keep the claw as parallel to the cavity as possible.
One more thing...if the trem is the older style with anchor screws , a tip....back off the string tension, remove all of the springs so the trem bloc is pulled all the way forward.Then back off all of the phillips screws at the front of the trem plate to the point where the heads are no longer making contact with the trem plate. Then tighten each screw back down just to the point where the head begins to make contact and u can see the trem plate start to compress, repeat with the 5 remaining plate screws, replace the springs, tune to pitch and adjust the claw to give the amount of float u desire. As mentioned , I set the trem plate for a semi tone of pull, which is roughly 1/8" to 3/16" of space between the bottom of the trem plate and the surface of the body.
If it's the newer style, knife edge design, it's even more critical that the height of the anchor posts is equal to prevent the trem plate from binding.
Fine adjustment of the individual saddles will get u the rest of the way to a good feel and minimul fret buzz.
A bit of pencil lead/graphite powder scraped into the nut slots and u should be good to go.
This is all assuming that we are talking about a strat style bridge and a neck with a good fret set.
30 plus years of doing this stuff for a living, you learn and hopefully later in life.....you remember!!! 
Cheers, d
PS...while you're at it, might as well give the neck screws a good snuggin' up before u tune to pitch.


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## Schmart (Jun 7, 2011)

The truss rod adjustment has nothing to do with compensating for the neck angle to the body. That is just plain wrong.

A slight amount of relief helps to prevent buzzing when playing on the first few frets. 0.010" is a great place to start but if you have a light touch you can get away with less.

If you have gone up two string gauges you will need adjust the springs of the trem and the truss rod. You will also need to intonate the guitar and you might need to adjust the nut slots too. 

Fender has some great setup guides on their site. Google Fender Strat Setup Guide. I think a number of their measurements were done with a capo on the first fret though. 

Dan Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair Guide is also a good read.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Schmart said:


> The truss rod adjustment has nothing to do with compensating for the neck angle to the body. That is just plain wrong.


Think twice before you say something plain wrong... If you have a neck with a relief, and you take that relief out, you've effectively lowered the headstock and therefore changed the angle of the relationship between the strings and the body.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

I've set up two of my guitars that have vintage style Strat trems with 11's. First order of business was to set neck relief. As mentioned, .010" is a good starting measurement. 

Next order of business was setting the trem springs to balance the increase string tension. I like mine flush. With one of the guitars, I was able to achieve this with adjusting the claw. For the other, I had to add springs - it's got 5 now!

After that, bridge saddle heights (taking care to match the fingerboard radius!) and then intonation.


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## NGroeneveld (Jan 23, 2011)

Jimmy_D said:


> Think twice before you say something plain wrong... If you have a neck with a relief, and you take that relief out, you've effectively lowered the headstock and therefore changed the angle of the relationship between the strings and the body.


Neck angle is different from relief. A Les Paul neck is set at 4 degrees in relation to the body. A strat neck is bolted on at 0 degrees in relation to the body. In other words there is no neck angle on a strat. Putting a set of strings on causes a bend in the neck and raises the headstock. So in that regard, yes, the angle and relationship between the strings and the body does change, but neck angle, (as defined above), does not change. Les Paul necks are angled in relation to the body, strats and teles are not.

The OP would probably have the same issue if the guitar had a hardtail bridge. The heavier strings are going to pull the headstock up more.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Greg Ellis said:


> I just switched from 9's up to 11's on my Tokai strat, and now the action is a bit higher than I would like, especially in the middle of the neck (12th fret area).
> 
> Where should I start? At the bridge?
> 
> ...



 Hi Greg. Getting back to your initial concern. It sounds like u have a truss rod adjuster like this??









 I am aware that there will different approaches to this topic, in any event, I will offer a few suggestions.
Option 1
Remove the pick guard and see if there is a cavity in the body at the butt of the neck to allow access to the adjuster,if so, you're good to go.









 If not , option 2.
 Loosen all of the strings , enough so that u can part the strings on either side of the neck at the heel. U may want to put a capo at the first fret to keep your strings secure.
 Then loosen the two screws closest to the head stock. Try 3 or 4 turns initially, no more.
 Now start to loosen the two screws closest to the butt of the neck. A couple of turns each,alternately.
 (It may take a few turns to get the neck to tilt back.) 
With a bit of gentle pressure on the top of the neck it should start to tilt exposing the adjustment screw.
If the neck fit is tight and it doesn't want to move, you will have to coax it.
Slide a soft rag (with enough thickness to protect the frets) under the strings at the 5th fret, give the neck a gentle tap there with the heel of your hand. At this point you should be able to tilt the neck back far enough to adjust the neck. Have a look for any shim stock in the neck pocket and if present, be sure it is back in the same spot when u are done and oh yeah, u can remove the rag now.
At this stage u should have the truss rod adjuster accessible so the next step is to place a straight edge(ruler) on it's edge between the g and d strings, spanning the 2nd and 15th fret (with a 12" ruler).
 A longer straight edge would be an advantage giving you a longer span between frets.
If the ruler is metal , be careful not to nick the frets while checking for gap/relief.
Note the amount of gap at the widest point and then proceed to carefully tighten the truss rod(clockwise) until the gap between the fret(s) and ruler is gone. Again, it should not take too much tightening to achieve the result. 
 At this point you will have to tighten the neck back down and tune back up to pitch.
 If there is still too much gap after checking with your ruler, U will have to repeat the procedure until u get a satisfactory result. 
Note: if the neck will not flex and straighten with truss rod tension, you may have to seek professional help.

Option 3 is a permanent fix for access and would involve removal of the neck and pick guard.
 If your guitar is pristine and want to keep it that way, U may not want top go this route.
 If u are handy and comfortable doing so, you can use a Dremel tool








to shape a groove into the pick guard and body to allow a tool to reach the truss rod adjuster. This would be a good option if U plan to experiment with string gauges down the road.
 If u are careful the end result is a good option and will allow future adjustment with the guitar tuned to pitch and will give far better and quicker results than the trial and error method described above.



















cheers, d


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Schmart said:


> The truss rod adjustment has nothing to do with compensating for the neck angle to the body. That is just plain wrong.
> 
> A slight amount of relief helps to prevent buzzing when playing on the first few frets. 0.010" is a great place to start but if you have a light touch you can get away with less.
> 
> ...


I guess there are different approaches to the same problem.
Thanks for adding the additional info which I neglected to mention re: possible string relief at the nut and lastly intonation.
As well, I admit taking things for granted sometimes, so to clarify and keep myself out of the dog house, yes, I would agree that the number one function of the truss rod is to keep the neck straight under tension and that an adjustable truss rod allows one to use different string guages and adjust the neck accordingly.
I have being doing my set-up's with a straight/flat neck approach which involves more of the neck angle to the body and adjustment there, along with string height adjustment (goes without saying) and using relief only when nesessary to fine tune a set-up.

This works for me, but may not be the norm.
IMHO.
Everything about the neck and neck angle and relief,string height etc. are all interconnected and they all are related by the common denominator,angles.
As well..for those who approach this topic in a similar fashion,( not many it seems)I found some good reading here.
cheers, d

Dogwood Guitars | Exploring Common Guitar Myths

Explain Why CF Guitars Don't Need a Truss Rod [Archive] - Page 2 - The Acoustic Guitar Forum

One

The Complexity of Truss Rod Adjustments - Telecaster Guitar Forum

Voodoo Guitar Lab Blog: The Trouble With Truss Rods

A good educational debate, none the less.9kkhhd


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## NGroeneveld (Jan 23, 2011)

I should also add to my post that strat neck angles can be changed by shimming.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

IIRC you're a self-proclaimed newbie, so I would recommend fiddling with the spring tension & saddle height as outlined in previous posts, but anything beyond that (i.e. truss rod tweaks & shimming) might be worth taking to a pro luthier.


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## NGroeneveld (Jan 23, 2011)

Roryfan said:


> IIRC you're a self-proclaimed newbie, so I would recommend fiddling with the spring tension & saddle height as outlined in previous posts, but anything beyond that (i.e. truss rod tweaks & shimming) might be worth taking to a pro luthier.


One of the issues as mentioned above would be strings fitting the nut slots correctly. The OP might want to get that checked out as well.


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## NGroeneveld (Jan 23, 2011)

Some good reading there alright. Personally I would put the article by the Dogwood Guitars guy at the bottom of this list though. The way he insists that flat necks are the only way to go contradicts just about everything else I've ever read on it, including the other articles you posted on your list there.




loudtubeamps said:


> I guess there are different approaches to the same problem.
> Thanks for adding the additional info which I neglected to mention re: possible string relief at the nut and lastly intonation.
> As well, I admit taking things for granted sometimes, so to clarify and keep myself out of the dog house, yes, I would agree that the number one function of the truss rod is to keep the neck straight under tension and that an adjustable truss rod allows one to use different string guages and adjust the neck accordingly.
> I have being doing my set-up's with a straight/flat neck approach which involves more of the neck angle to the body and adjustment there, along with string height adjustment (goes without saying) and using relief only when nesessary to fine tune a set-up.
> ...


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

Thanks guys; lots of great advice.

The trem springs etc are a non-issue for me. The bridge is cranked down flat to the body and blocked with a chunk of wood. All done by a prior owner.

There's a stub of a broken trem bar wedged in there tight - I've tried to take it out before and failed. I should have mentioned all of that at the start.

I checked the neck relief by fretting at first and last frets, as was recommended - I don't have any sort of suitable feeler gauge, but i would eyeball it as somewhere between a B string and a G string (i.e. definitely more than 0.010). Sounds like it may be worth the time to try a truss rod adjustment.

There is certainly room to drop the bridge saddles a bit more too.

Another project for the weekend.


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