Strat Bridge issue - Help needed

[ebagjones]

So I moved to a new area and took my strats to a new tech (basically the only one in this very rural area). Long story short, he was apparently grossly incompetent because, when they came back, both bridges were flush to the body. I can no longer use the trem to raise pitch, the action sets so low that I have fret buzz up and down the entire fretboard, and the playability is noticeably stiffer on bends.
The reason for my accusation of incompetence is the work I had him do did not involve the bridge whatsoever and, when I asked him about it, he said there was something wrong with my bridges because they were raised and he “fixed” them. I’m assuming despite his advance age he must have not have played much of anything that didn’t have a fixed bridge. Anyways, I’ve been playing for about 20 years but never messed with the stock bridges so this is all new to me. I’m hoping some more experienced folks on the forum can tell me if this is an easy fix and how to do so. I haven’t tried anything yet myself for fear of messing it up further.
I’ve attached a photo for reference.
Please let me know and thanks in advance for everyone’s help that views this thread.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Strat Bridge issue - Help needed

Wow, it doesn't sound like you should take any more instruments there. Adjusting the bridge isn't difficult, and it can be made to raise as well as lower the pitch. I would recommend you learning how to do this (and all other basic repairs) yourself. I would recommend this book for all electric guitar adjustments, and you will have your guitar back to the way you like it in no time. What work did you ask him to do? Did he do that right?

 

[ebagjones]

Re: Strat Bridge issue - Help needed

What work did you ask him to do? Did he do that right?

It was just a pickup swap. I can solder but prefer to have someone else do it. He didn’t do it right either, one had a horrible buzz from a bad ground and I popped it open and the trem ground was just floating around loose. Like I mentioned I don’t know how he can be this incompetent, if he’s been doing this as long as he says and I would assume S-type guitars are probably the #1 thing most techs see.

 

[ebagjones]

Re: Strat Bridge issue - Help needed

Also, I’m assuming that he didn’t bother to mess with the springs or anything in the trem cavity, is it safe to just try and back the 2 flat head screws off a bit and see if that raises the bridge up?

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Strat Bridge issue - Help needed

If you're lucky, he probably just tightened the two claw screws in the trem cavity. Seems that he didn't bother to adjust the action to accommodate so tightening those screws may be all that he did. Go to you tube and search "adjusting stratocaster tremolo" or "floating stratocaster bridge" or any number of related terms and dozens of videos will pop up.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Strat Bridge issue - Help needed

Sorry to hear that...I hope he didn't charge you for that.

There are some really cool resources out there, especially on YouTube. Hopefully it is a super easy adjustment to get it back up to your preference.