Strat Tip on Saddle Adjustent

[Blue Dog]

Hi Guys, Just changed y Squire Strat back to SSS. From HSH in stalled Classic fat 50s. and all classic fender pickups the two center poles in the pickups stick up more then the others a lot. So the saddle needs to be right with the neck . Like if you have a 9.5 radius neck the saddle needs to be at 9.5 radius.. I did not have a radius gauge . So I toke it to the place I got the pickups. to have him set it up.  Guitar center set it up years ago for the H S H setup. The fellow had to put a shim under the neck. so he could raise the saddle up. to get a 9.5 radius. The tip is if your saddle that has the 12 screws that adjust the string height stick up higher  then the saddle itself then the neck needs to be raised. Reason when you lay your palm on the saddle playing. To mute the strings you should just slide your palm forward to the bridge pickup to mute. if the screws stick up it stops you from muting the strings. and you have to slide your palm to far forward. He fixed mine and now it almost flush with the saddle the two E strings are a little high but when you slide your palm up the saddle you can not feel them and it picks the saddle up so when you mute down the saddle you don't hit the volume knob as bad. It slides right over the top of it. So look at your screws and slide your palm up and see if they are to high. and it will help with the muting. .I would have never thought a bout the screws . But it works great now . But now I mute the strings by accident . It will not take long to work it out. But it's a lot easer to Mute . Hope this helps

[Greg Voros]

There is a happy angle for bolt-on/screw-on necks. If you have the screws buried in the saddles, then the guitar would have a super tight feel to it. If you have less of an angle and the screw are sticking up way too high out of the saddle, it can definitely impact your palm muting, but the guitar will have a more spongy Strat type of feel to it. I always try to split the difference, and with that said, I would almost always have the screws sticking a hair past the saddle on the 2 E's as a result.

My 2 cents,

Greg V.