How To Adjust Your Floating Bridge

One of Fender's Custom Shop Master Builders shows us the definitive way to adjust a Strat Bridge

[@johnwriterpoet1783]

Just for starters, that guitar is gorgeous.

[@goodshipharmony]

Dead simple. I changed from .008s to .010s and couldn't believe how high it pulled the heel of the bridge up! Your video helped me immensely...everything is back to normal. Thank you.

[@rafaelki8654]

who tf uses 008

[@RyanGuitarist01]

@@rafaelki8654 I know Brian May used to use 008's back in the 70's/80's. Those were Gold plated 008's but they broke too fast when he used a coin to pick the guitar, he later switched 009's until now.

[@GS-uy4xo]

Billy Gibbons plays 007’s - hard to believe with his super fat tone. Also check out Rick Beato’s vid about string gauge, very informative.

[@ericforsyth]

@@rafaelki8654: The guy mentioned first in this video, Jimmy Page

[@Albert-zh6ps]

Me too

[@hyperaktive8362]

This was of so much help, thank you so much! I've been playing for 5 years but never really adjusted or changed things on my guitars. Now that im starting to dive in to a whole new side of guitar playing, its been intimidating because i have so massive respect for the instrument and cringe even thinking of having to screw up a plate or even changing strings. Again, thank you so much for posting this! Incredibly helpful, short and simple.

[@mart9468]

@HyperAktive how much did you have to detune your strings for this to work?

[@hyperaktive8362]

@@mart9468 I dont have a spesific amount of detuning when doing this, but i I'd say at least an octave down. I normally tune down the strings to where they are unplayable. For me they are so loose they sag down half a string or more of held like you are about to play. the guitar.

[@mart9468]

HyperAktive thanks for the tip👍🏻

[@litemup50]

Thank you very much! I used an old gift card with a piece of paper folded over it. Now my Strat tunes up perfectly!

[@thomastobiassen1569]

I did exactly this and it happen! the thing i used under the bridge slipped off when i did the final adjustment on the wire-screws, and the bridge stayed right in its place! :D Tip: I used 3 visa/master type cards to place under the bridge during the setup. Fits perfectly.

[@tyronewilliams8344]

Very helpful video! I changed the strings on my Strat and noticed the bridge was raising up. By watching this video and following step by step, my bridge is now set perfectly. Thank you George! Thumbs up!

[@adamglegg7202]

This works for any strat style guitar with a floating bridge, worked well for my Ibanez that wasn't setup - even though the store proclaims they setup all their guitars 👍

[@lounettamalakuskie6484]

You know your stuff Pal , on the money; you saved me a trip to the guitar shop.

[@Sky-ns4jb]

This REALLY helped me thank you. My guitar was completely messed up and I tried fixing it for 20 minutes until I found this video

[@Albemarle10]

I have spent months sweating over my strat's floating trem bridge trying to figure out how to keep it down while tuning it I thought I had bought a dud or something - this method is exactly what I needed to do!

[@ChadLewis]

Best video I’ve found on the subject. Thank you for sharing this. Life saver!

[@konanarcher]

What a downright lad this guy is!

[@louism.4495]

Perfect! Got a 90's marlin cheap because of the raised bridge. After watching some youtube vids that plainly just didnt know, I thought I had made a mistake! but you hit it - perfect... 20 minutes later and its sounds so sweet its unbelievable. So happy now...Thanks a million! 🙂

[@DrumBuster16]

Thanks! Bought my first Strat a few years ago at your store. Considered to set it floating after playing it decked for so long lol

[@sonicmojo]

Thank you my good brother it worked like a charm! And I'm pretty stupid when it comes to working with tools and guitars and stuff like this so really appreciate your help! Thanks from the bottom of my empty heart Lol 😂

[@randyrodriguez9865]

Wow very helpful !! I leveled out my Strat bridge following you step by step . Thank you

[@bittersylence]

That's it! No more 9v battery trying to block it etc. Works perfectly!

[@tylerdelatorre8230]

Thank you so much! At first I was worried if I might do something wrong but it turns out it wasnt that hard.

[@Abitofdevil]

excellent video. it helps me a lot, I was kind of scared with my bridge so high! thanks a lot

[@paulbcote]

I've found this video, and the other one by the Italian guy, useful. But to really get it, I've had to build a mental model that conceptualizes the floating bridge as a balance scale, and wit a constant force (weight) coming from the strings; and a variable force coming from the springs. The saddles are one end of the beam, and the end of the block, the other. The fulcrum is the rear side of the top screws. In my understanding, the height of the top-of bridge screws determine the amount of tilt possible in the forward (decreasing pitch) direction. The tightness of screws underneath determines the amount of forward tilt (or the height of the back of the bridge) when the bridge is floating in equilibrium -- this is also the amount of possible sweep in the backward (increasing pitch) direction. There is an important concept of "resting/reference position." There is a little room along the exposed portion of the top screws where the fulcrum might slide. This slide zone leaves variable space for the system to come to rest with the fulcrum a tad higher or lower and the bridge could come to rest out-of-paralell with the body (unpredictable tuning consequences). So here is the tip: to find a predictable reference position, hold the wammy bar diagonally across the strings and apply a bit of downward pressure. This will make the front of the bridge touch the face of the guitar body. So the front of the bridge will be touching the body in contact all the way across (parallel) and the spring tension will be holding the back of the bridge parallel, too. This is an easy way to find the predictable resting reference for tuning and for ending your tremelo phrases. The reason for doing this with the wammy bar diagonally across the strings or turned 180 degrees along the tops of the knobs, is because otherwise, the front corner of the bridge under the fat E string may not get pressed all the way down to the body. Pressing the wammy bar when it is parallel with the strings tends to twist it. Pressing it while diagonal keeps the Front and back of the bridge parallel with the body. I would be interested to have this theory criticized by a more experienced strat technician. .

[@anthonycrook1987]

makes sense to me, just hard to tell on six screw term plate how evenly tightened you have the screws

[@frankyhoringer1344]

Indeed this video was so much help . Specially do this kind of adjustment for the first time . Was a great explanation ,clean easy to follow and understandable. As in whole appreciate the time and effort of the people who make this video. Thank you . Hope to see more in the future.

[@eddierodgerguitarist4763]

Great video, I had this exact problem, I own a Yamaha 612 V. I had to disconnect the springs to get to the screws after 3 full turns. I reccoected the springs and re tuned the guitar, It worked perfectly. Thanks for this video.

[@user-ti9xc6df4o]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It really helped me in setting up my floating bridge.

[@matthewmccully7553]

Picked up a Jackson with a Floyd Rose Bridge, was struggling to tune it until I watched your video. Thanks!

[@Patriot_Drone_Services]

This was a great video from one of the Fender masters. A lot of questions about “what is the height”, does the bridge need to be parallel with the body etc. First some basic stuff, things I see a lot. The tremolo springs in the body of the guitar need to be straight across from the tremolo to their respective location on the “claw”. This is a geometry problem because the spring rate (tension) changes when the two outside springs are set at an angle, they actually lose a few pounds of tension by having them at an angle. The center spring remains at its designated tension rate but now has to do more of the workload to keep the tremolo with an equal tension, but will be out of “balance”. You can see this when you try adjusting the claw, with the outer springs set at an angle, you have to adjust the claw screws farther then you would if the springs were set in parallel. There are a lot of myths as to the performance of the tremolo with the springs set an angle. Keep the springs parallel. Tremolo springs are under a lot of tension, all the time. They will eventually weaken over time. If you break a tremolo spring, replace ALL the tremolo springs at the same time with new springs. If it seems the tremolo needs to be adjusted all the time and you didn’t change the strings, look to replace the tremolo springs, barring there is no physical damage to the guitar or tremolo. The Fender Stratocaster comes from the factory set to a clearance of 1/8” from the bottom of the tremolo plate to the body of the guitar, this is 1/8” on BOTH sides of the tremolo plate. The tremolo should be as near to parallel to the body of the guitar as possible. This can be adjusted at the pivot screws (it doesn’t take a lot of adjustment on these pivot screws). I have seen guitars brought to me with the general complaints that it won’t stay in tune, the action is too high and is generally sounding terrible. The first thing I notice is the pivot screws have been bottomed out, the tail of the tremolo is way higher then 1/8” and completely out of balance for a floating bridge. I ask if there were any changes made to the tremolo? I ask because the customer may have made the changes or it was bought used that way. In most cases, the customer decided to buy heavier strings to get deeper low tones, but didn’t realize by changing the string gauge required the guitar to be completely setup from scratch. So the tremolo was riding way high and to compensate for the higher action, the customer “slammed the pivot screws down to the deck, and slammed the saddles as low as they went. The saddles need to be set so the strings are the same radius as the neck (most new fenders from the late 80’s have a 9.5” neck radius. Now the guitar has the saddles flat, without a radius, and the strings are level all the way to the nut and the guitar just sucks to play. The same thing happens when going to lighter gauge strings, except the tremolo tail lowers. The guitar needs be setup if there is a significant change in string gauges. Small changes won’t require a complete setup change unless the guitar doesn’t “feel” right to the customer, but double checking and making minor changes should be considered. There isn’t a universal, one setup fits all, for string gauges and can/do differ between the string manufacturers. My general rule of thumb is always check the setup when changing strings. Fresh strings can decay over time even if the guitar isn’t played, a bit of regular proper cleaning can prolong stored strings on seldom played guitars, but they won’t last forever. You can go the the Fender website and download almost any owners manual for their guitars. The factory set up is a good baseline playability setup. That being said, no two guitar players are the same. We all prefer certain setups to make playing comfortable, and sound good. Did you know that when a young Billy Gibbons first met B.B. King, they were having a conversation about their guitars. Billy told B.B. about how he used the medium heavy strings. B.B. looked at Billy and said “why are you working so hard to play that thing? get yourself some .08s”. B.B. let Billy play his guitar. That very next day Billy went out and bought .07s. Something to be said about that bit of wisdom. I hope this helps.

[@massimofamularo1976]

yes...in fact bb king plays 11 to 52

[@Nate-gh1hy]

Now I know how to adjust my old Jackson floating bridge. Thanks for sharing this tip

[@mart9468]

Very useful! Got my player strat set up perfectly now :)

[@jcb9342]

wow a lesson from Master Yuri :o

[@tommasosalici8480]

Thank you, this is so helpful and yet so simple. Great!

[@xanhteps8667]

I usually just smash mine down with a hammer.

[@purplejuiceyt2829]

Is it safe?

[@miketns2212]

@@purplejuiceyt2829 totally, 100% safe

[@m.whitleyacton821]

K

[@josephg9245]

thank you so much guys, the bridge moving up was driving me nuts,

[@stephenwhite5658]

Thanks so much been watching videos for 1/2 hr very well explained and easy to do

[@arcticgummibear4500]

Thank You...just the video I needed to see!!!!

You’re the man! I did that on mine Fender Roaodhouse it’s working great now.

[@daniloreyes2]

I used the box of a Fender 10 guitar string. AWESOME VIDEO!!!

[@gravyjones8305]

"In Mother Russia, Gyitar strings YOU." Great video man!

[@roycefaggotter6860]

Thank you heaps for this video, I have had to replace the bridge on my guitar, bought it S/H bridge worn out on threads.

[@jimbuettner5245]

Thanks for this vid, helped me out immensely.

[@seanh3479]

Best video on this topic. Thank you so much

[@varminttank]

Wow this dude is a legend

[@wesangel9989]

I just did same thing before watching the video with no idea what I was doing.. and had it checked out by a guitar center they was wondering who set it up because it was perfect

[@megwatts1903]

My question is: At what height do you adjust the two rocker screws on the front of the bridge? Seems like that would be the first adjustment to make before doing anything else.

[@einarabelc5]

That would change the action of the strings by raising or lowering it.

[@sinasadeghizade4376]

That is a good technique to learn. Thank u guys.

[@ansmfella]

Nice tip! Nicer guitar! Love that finish

[@darioswatchclub8]

5:56 THE MASTERBUILDER HAS SPOKEN! Lound and Clear!

[@malikroberts3330]

I have a player series strat, did anyone else have a hard time trying to turn the screws inside the back?

[@leomartin7430]

Yes, me too.

[@mikej7475]

Check the tip of your screwdriver...if it comes to a sharp point, sand it down a little so it fits inside the screw head better(more), that gives it a better "grip" on the screw.

[@disgruntledwookie369]

You need to take the tension off the springs first, that's why he detuned all the strings at the beginning, it allows the bridge to sit flat on the body and puts minimal tension on the back springs. If you are trying to tighten those screws while the springs are pulling hard against them, you're going to have a bad time, maybe even strip the wood and yank the screws out altogether. In an ideal world, you want to take *all* of the tension off before you adjust. In practice, that's a pain in the ass, so we compromise somewhere in the middle. Don't try to force it because you shouldn't have to, if it takes that much effort then there's too much tension. If you took the springs off, the screws would move fairly easily.

[@malikroberts3330]

@@disgruntledwookie369 I got it that night but thank you i'll remember this for the future

[@dambuster6387]

No

[@jacksontommerup7696]

Thank you so much this video helped me so much

[@Wise_Thinking_All]

U was looking for such information Thank you so much

[@thomaswashington3201]

Very helpful. Thank you. The top screws have nothing to do with the process>

[@Albert-zh6ps]

Hey thanks buddy, my bridge had me pretty worried 🍻

[@agateenchantmentrockwizard5969]

Great tips, thank you 😊

[@jeffhinkle2545]

Wow very helpful. Thank you!

[@Herman-yp9ih]

That’s really helpful ❤

[@daveb731]

Thanks man, really helpful!

[@Happycamper181]

Thank you sir, you are so kind

[@chrisp4039]

Perfect! Thank you.

[@sherifffgreggg]

This helped a lot!

[@tokiesgalore]

Thank you for the video! Well worth the like and subscribe!

[@NorthGermanic]

Very helpful thank you sir

[@majonezoli7927]

Thank you so much!!!!

[@tuco8734]

Damn, thanks a bunch , solved my problem

[@themixmusicandmore6280]

If i want mine to be like a hardtail, could i just tighten the screws for the spring clamp down? Or will it be at too extreme of an angle and mess with the action?

[@waynerozan224]

Left out most important part. What is the position of the string base? So you can both relax and add tension to the strings? It has to move both ways.

[@danclay8229]

So, how far the tremola moves has nothing to do with the set up? If you pull on it and it barely moves you need to raise the bridge height.

[@LZcool]

Thank you George. Great video. What is a good height using credit cards as bridge support? 3 or 4?

[@TheTwangKings]

Spasibo, tovarishch!

[@BadBoy-mv8lz]

Hello, my new American standard Stratocaster 2015 with two pivot screws bridge seems to have the bridge no parallel to the body..the shop put 10 high E gauge string and before it was 9. Now the treble side seems to be lower and in fact the sound of e b g is not beautiful( I had also a little G buzz solved with loosing truss-rod and getting higher saddle). IM scared; till now my classic vibe 50 squier Stratocaster sounds and plays better with more sparkle in 2 e 4 positions , and here in Italy costs 400 euro instead of American standard is 1600 euro. The American strat has the fat hot 50 pickup and they are very hot and powerful and the fender specs of pick up height should be change for them( not 2.4 mm bass and 2mm treble..but it needs to definitely lower the height ).this being said , according to you , should I work on the 2 lateral pivot screws to put the bridge parallel and should I raise a bit the bridge screw or should I work with springs opening the back of the guitar? Thanks

[@zefferan0]

Thanks!

[@norfitz]

Thanks Yuri!

[@georgestoney3532]

Used the back cover lmao

[@FckYourFeelingsYT]

Function over fashion, every time my friend.

[@catsven1973]

Is it better to keep it floating .. or dead in touch with the body ?

[@ronaldb1882]

All preference, friend. Just almost touching is what I’ve seen mostly. I recently went all the way flat to the body, and I didn’t love it. But I’ve heard from others who prefer it that way.

[@willheines4]

Thank you

[@varminttank]

It’s funny you pay a thousand dollars for a guitar and when you get it the bridge is all out of wack 😆

[@xxmatrixflames]

The bridge does that because the gauge of the strings are too much. That’s for every guitar.

[@pageluvva]

Every single guitar you buy, from $200 to $10,000 will need a pro set up. That's just a fact. They're wood, they move.

[@varminttank]

@@pageluvva I know I have about 10 guitars.

[@donnrutherford7059]

Yep and if you play SRV your frets are gone in 6 months cheers

[@adhaskym.a9536]

That is a Fender alright.

[@prmfirestorm0863]

So, my bridge is way high, and the screws on the back are all the way tight. I'm guessing that I need new springs, or my stings are too heavy..? any thoughts?

[@user-ys8wl9st7g]

If they're standard strings and standard tuning the springs probably need replacing

[@nicholasbstone]

add springs, you can have up to 5

[@donjoseph73]

The EVH Wolfgang I got it decked touching the body. Should I bring it up just a little bit?

[@someguy5035]

Seems like you could just loosen the strings a little and tighten the trem springs a little until the bridge comes down. And I don't understand why the bridge did not come back up when did the final step of loosening the trem springs. Someone help me out. If the trem springs are pulling the bridge back down, how can loosening them at the end not bring you back to the original problem?

[@kentucky1519]

So o bought a chea of brand super strat and the string tension on the bridge posts was bending the wood into the pickup cavity an the bridge was moving forward how would I address this issue. It's an hh configuration

[@nickpurvis9798]

This worked like a charm (on my PRS SE, but let's pretend I didn't say that!) Thank you sir!

[@malteholm5651]

My bridge just moves back to where it was. Any solutions?

[@littleninpo]

Thanks so helpful 🙏

[@michaelmartinez-dz6ir]

what is the color of this guitar and what type of wood

Thanks, really helpfull! Suscribed to your channel!

[@nicolasrea2185]

Thank you!

[@TheSergWolf]

Hi from Russia) Привет из России)

[@greenmusic52]

I can't find one video where the height of the front two pivot posts should be in relation to the floating trem.

[@fishermanryan]

Any luck on that one? That's what I'm looking for now.

[@greenmusic52]

@@fishermanryan Not specifically no.

[@paulbcote]

I've found this video, and the other one by the Italian guy, useful. But to really get it, I've had to build a mental model that conceptualizes the floating bridge as a balance scale, and wit a constant force (weight) coming from the strings; and a variable force coming from the springs. The saddles are one end of the beam, and the end of the block, the other. The fulcrum is the rear side of the top screws. In my understanding, the height of the top-of bridge screws determine the amount of tilt possible in the forward (decreasing pitch) direction. The tightness of screws underneath determines the amount of forward tilt (or the height of the back of the bridge) when the bridge is floating in equilibrium -- this is also the amount of possible sweep in the backward (increasing pitch) direction. There is an important concept of "resting/reference position." There is a little room along the exposed portion of the top screws where the fulcrum might slide. This slide zone leaves variable space for the system to come to rest with the fulcrum a tad higher or lower and the bridge could come to rest out-of-paralell with the body (unpredictable tuning consequences). So here is the tip: to find a predictable reference position, hold the wammy bar diagonally across the strings and apply a bit of downward pressure. This will make the front of the bridge touch the face of the guitar body. So the front of the bridge will be touching the body in contact all the way across (parallel) and the spring tension will be holding the back of the bridge parallel, too. This is an easy way to find the predictable resting reference for tuning and for ending your tremelo phrases. The reason for doing this with the wammy bar diagonally across the strings or turned 180 degrees along the tops of the knobs, is because otherwise, the corner of the bridge under the fat E string may not get pressed all the way down to the body. .

[@user-fu1mr3qx3e]

Thank you so much

[@adamrotter1216]

Omg thank you so much🎸🎸👍🏽😎🎶❤️

[@virgomonkey68]

I used a flattened toilet roll card under the trem when releasing strings..but he never stated the “gap” width off tremolo height to body….what is the official gap on these 2 point fulcrum tremolos? Any one want to put it out there who knows there stuff?

[@jbonez0078]

Can you help me,how to adjust the action of that kind of guitar. That kind of bridge. Where can i adjust.. thank you..

[@BurninSven1]

Use a notched straight edge and a straight edge, turn the trusrod to where the neck is almost straight checking with both of them using/checking with a feelergauge to get your prefered relief. Then adjust your prefered stringheight at the 12 fret on bas and treble sides. Then cut your nut slots.

[@Kamikazejets]

My guitar has locking tuners but when do some bendings and use the tremolo, the strings will easily go out of tune. FYI, the guitar only have 2 springs at the back. Which should i do first, tighten the claw or add spring?

[@GS-uy4xo]

Also be sure NOT to wrap around the string posts if you have locking tuners. I purchased a guitar with Gotoh locking tuners and the person had several wraps- it screwed up the angle and gave the guitar a really stiff feel, plus the Gotoh 510 trem was awful until I got rid of the needless string wraps.

[@jesuscardben5140]

Hello, the adjustment of the two pivot bolts is not detailed here.

[@Audiablo]

I had to scroll back could've sworn he said Bam Margera in that list of people he's done work for XD

[@ElevatedKustoms]

Wow amazing yup thanks

[@mikefarquhar5063]

How possible would it be to do a refund fret job on a mate modern C neck? It has a relentless forward bow and the truss rod is far too tight, maybe its the truss rod nut cross threaded, can these be replaced, the adjustment is Allan key at head stock so the truss can't be removed as far as I know, or I'll just get a new neck from northwestern guitars or somewhere decent but won't leave me broke

[@mikefarquhar5063]

Maent refret job,, if the frets can be removed and replaced with thicker bits that go in the slots would that help manipulate the necks forward bow by opening up the fret slots and straighten it out a little?

[@phatblunt8247]

Everybody saying “pickups” it’s kind of annoying because a noob player has probably 0 clue what a pickup is. Anyway great video, I love Fender!

[@fiendswithbenefits6784]

Should I do this everytime I change the tuning on my guitar?

[@Christopher-pd5qz]

Thank you.

[@lunarlitso7654]

Can this be applied to a 6 pin bridge?

[@Nick-je8bq]

But how to adjust tension of tremolos arm? Now it’s too stiff

[@CathMartin-wn4gq]

The one piece I don't know (although maybe it was mentioned) is do you screw the two posts all the way down as far as they go or? Thanks I'm asking about the new Fender Players Strat Bridge for instance.

[@northwales9334]

No, The two leading posts should not be tightened down. The lead edge on the bridge is wedge shaped and tightening those posts down tight would pinch the front edge of the bridge and force the back of the bridge to be forced up and restrict proper movement.