My New (Used) Squier Strat...

Nils...I have NOTHING to measure with! You need a feeler gauge...I don't have one. As of now my guitar is useless

EDIT

I did follow Wes's instructions

You can do it without a feeler gage.

Use a business card to rough in the neck relief.

Use a ruler or a dime for the high e and 2 dimes for the low E for the string height

Both of those will get you playing again.

THEN go buy some feeler gages and a 1/64 increment ruler so you have them on hand and can do the final adjustments.

Nils...I have NOTHING to measure with! You need a feeler gauge...I don't have one. As of now my guitar is useless

EDIT

I did follow Wes's instructions

You can do it without a feeler gage.

Use a business card to rough in the neck relief.

Use a ruler or a dime for the high e and 2 dimes for the low E for the string height

Both of those will get you playing again.

THEN go buy some feeler gages and a 1/64 increment ruler so you have them on hand and can do the final adjustments.

Listen Nils..beginners shouldn't be messing with this crap. This is NOT a job for a beginner. I am not messing with it. I already had 2 of my new strings pop on me. This is something that should be taught in person and NOT over the internet. And since I have NO ONE I am not touching it anymore. Let the damn thing collect dust!

Nils has it. A business card or even thin cardboard from a box of cereal is about .020" (twenty-thousandths).

Don't freak out. Your guitar is not ruined. Just take your time and go slow. You will be glad this happened when you are finished. This is how you learn to setup your guitar yourself. Everybody has a little trouble at first. Don't worry, you will get your guitar right.

If you don't have gauges, use your eyes. You know what good action looks like. :D

This is NOT a job for a beginner!

Get through this once and you will not be a beginner anymore.

Mike, don't get all bummed out over this. Honest, just take your time and follow each step slowly and you will do fine.

With what has happened so far we are convinced it is the neck relief so focus on that and adjust it just a little bit at a time. That MUST be done first anyway. Then you can get the action right.

Mike

I know this is sensory overload, but the most likely reason your strings snapped is because you are not giving them slack before you start winding. Pull the string taut from the bridge and then through the tuner. Now, BACK THE STRING OUT ABOUT 1- 1 1/2 INCHES. Give more slack for the bass strings than the treble. Then start winding.

If you do not give strings this slack, they become tight immediately. You cannot even go one wind without the string being overtightened (and way over the correct pitch) without the string breaking.

Just think carefully about what everything does. When you tighten the truss rod, it makes the neck very straight and pulls the strings down very low. When you loosen the truss rod, it makes the strings raise up very high.

It is the same with the bridge. You want the bridge to float in the middle so you can use the whammy bar. So the spring tension should hold the bridge level to the body of the guitar when all strings are tuned to pitch.

Action? Raise the saddles or lower them according to your personal tastes.

Don't worry about being a beginner. EVERYONE was a beginner the first time.

I gotta disagree with Sid V on the neck relief though. Usually when the truss rod is overtightened, this causes the neck to be too straight or even convex (headstock bowed down). This will cause fret buzz usually between frets 1-5.

Oooops, I missread it. You are correct.

Still, though, we don't know what string were on it so adjustment is most likely going to be needed anyways.

Mike, don't trip out.

Nils...I have NOTHING to measure with! You need a feeler gauge...I don't have one. As of now my guitar is useless

EDIT

I did follow Wes's instructions

You can do it without a feeler gage.

Use a business card to rough in the neck relief.

Use a ruler or a dime for the high e and 2 dimes for the low E for the string height

Both of those will get you playing again.

THEN go buy some feeler gages and a 1/64 increment ruler so you have them on hand and can do the final adjustments.

Listen Nils..beginners shouldn't be messing with this crap. This is NOT a job for a beginner. I am not messing with it. I already had 2 of my new strings pop on me. This is something that should be taught in person and NOT over the internet. And since I have NO ONE I am not touching it anymore. Let the darn thing collect dust!

I'm assuming you have other guitars. Just work on the strat when you have time eventually you'll get it. Just like playing, you can't be in a hurry. I actually did my Squier after only owning it for two days of course I messed it up, broke several strings, and cursed at it, but I finally figured it out in about a week and now it's no problem at all.
It a very useful skill to have so you don't have to run to a guitar tech every time your axe goes wonky( that can be very expensive) :oops:

I'm assuming you have other guitars. Just work on the strat when you have time eventually you'll get it. Just like playing, you can't be in a hurry. I actually did my Squier after only owning it for two days of course I messed it up, broke several strings, and cursed at it, but I finally figured it out in about a week and now it's no problem at all.
It a very useful skill to have so you don't have to run to a guitar tech every time your axe goes wonky( that can be very expensive) :oops:

And Mike, once you work this out you can save the money on setups to buy more guitars. :D :)

Mike,
Set the guitar aside and cool off for a couple of days.
Remember, you got a good deal on this guitar (meaning you haven't sunk a life savings on it) what better guitar to use to learn something you will need to know anyway. Setup.
Get yourself a half dozen elcheapo sets of strings and when you are calmed down go back at it.
You WILL get it right and once you do you will have the satisfaction of having done it yourself.
When you do decide to work on it again I have one sugestion not mentioned yet. Take a strait edge (like a yard stick or something) and lay it along the top of the neck once near each side and at the middle to check and see if you have any high frets that might need dressing (you will also get an idea of where you are on your neck relief, roughly)

Listen Nils..beginners shouldn't be messing with this crap. This is NOT a job for a beginner. I am not messing with it. I already had 2 of my new strings pop on me. This is something that should be taught in person and NOT over the internet. And since I have NO ONE I am not touching it anymore. Let the darn thing collect dust!
It feels like it's messed up, but in reality a badly set up guitar is no worse (and not much harder to fix) than a shoe with the laces put on wrong. It's just that you understand shoes already. It's not going to be any easier to learn later on either. You'll know how to play better, but won't have a clue how to crank all those little screws into position. In my opinion, it's best to learn to do a setup as early as possible. I recommend setting it aside and playing with it when you have the time. As long as you follow the order "truss rod, saddle height, intonation", then you'll do fine. I know I guy who played for eight years and couldn't set up his own guitar. For all I know, he still can't. It's not hard not to be that guy, although it does get frustrating when you're trying to learn how to do a setup. I think it's one of those things that's learned best just by fiddling with it to become familiar though. I'm kind of militant about learning to do your own setups, but it seems ridiculous to me to pay a guy to twiddle 19 screws for a while when you can learn to do it yourself.

I'm going to change strings on my new Strat copy when I get home, and figure out how to set it up. I figure what the heck, I have five others to mess with if I totally screw it up, right? It's probably got .09's on it now, and I am going to put on .10's. All the screws are right where I can get at them, and I am crazy with small screwdrivers.

I have read the GuitarNuts site about pickup changes and shielding, too, and I'd like to do that myself. According to the site itself it's really easy, but I don't get it. But then, how tough can it be? I can network computer systems across states easily...

Is there a trick to pickup wiring that I'm missing? All I know is that wires go from the pickup to the pots, and to the switch. I have read the walkthrough and I now know what "Star Grounding" is, but then my brain can't follow it. Maybe it's something that I'll have to wait until I get the guitar apart to actually visualize?

I'm going to change strings on my new Strat copy when I get home, and figure out how to set it up. I figure what the heck, I have five others to mess with if I totally screw it up, right? It's probably got .09's on it now, and I am going to put on .10's. All the screws are right where I can get at them, and I am crazy with small screwdrivers.

If you take your time and have the right tools it is not too bad a process. I updated my site on changing strings and setups if you want to take a look at it and let me know what you think. I would love some feedback and recommendations.
I have read the GuitarNuts site about pickup changes and shielding, too, and I'd like to do that myself. According to the site itself it's really easy, but I don't get it. But then, how tough can it be? I can network computer systems across states easily...

Is there a trick to pickup wiring that I'm missing? All I know is that wires go from the pickup to the pots, and to the switch. I have read the walkthrough and I now know what "Star Grounding" is, but then my brain can't follow it. Maybe it's something that I'll have to wait until I get the guitar apart to actually visualize?

Nothing too difficult about changing and wiring pickups. Sometimes the only confusion comes in is when you are replacing 2 wire with 4 wire or the colors are different. http://www.GuitarNuts.com and http://www.GuitarElectronics.com have some good pointers and wiring diagrams. No trick to it. Just find the right diagram for your guitar and follow it closely.

If you take your time and have the right tools it is not too bad a process. I updated my site on changing strings and setups if you want to take a look at it and let me know what you think. I would love some feedback and recommendations.

Your site helped me through it with no issues at all! The graphics were clear, and the text well written. It was a little tricky getting the strings up to pitch, but as I went it got easier. The intonation was really easy, too. I haven't sone anything to the action, yet.
Nothing too difficult about changing and wiring pickups. Sometimes the only confusion comes in is when you are replacing 2 wire with 4 wire or the colors are different. http://www.GuitarNuts.com and http://www.GuitarElectronics.com have some good pointers and wiring diagrams. No trick to it. Just find the right diagram for your guitar and follow it closely.

Shielding is next weekend! I can actually wait longer than I thought to change out the pickups, as the strings that came with the guitar must have been absoulte garbage. Big tone improvement. I used D'Addario EXL110's in my "upgrade" and now it is almost like another guitar. The tone is smoother throughout the highs to bass in a really nice way.

Thanks for all the help provided by your awesome page Nils!!!

Thanks for all the help provided by your awesome page Nils!!!

I am glad it worked out for you. It always feels good to accomplish something like this on your own.

Thanks for the feedback.

Just to go back to the subject of Squiers for a minute....

I loved my squier strat the moment I took it out of the box, only thing I didn't like was the whammy bar....so I don't use it....
The squier tele, on the other hand, is a totally different creature.....
It's so versatile. the range of sounds - from metal to country twang - you can coax out of it is truly amazing.....
It felt better and sounded better than the "real" - ie Fender Tele's I tried.....

Smokindog bought a similar model at the same time, difference is I think he uses his (mostly) for slide.....

And it sounds so SWEEEEEEEET playing slow blues through a 15W cube....the sustain is incredible, the vibrato...it seems to have slightly bigger frets than the strat...is even better....

I would LOVE to hear BB King playing my Squier tele.....

:D :D :D

Vic