Matt300ZXT
Well-known member
I decided to go ahead and pick up that local 2000 Squier Standard Strat for $180. It was in bad need of a good cleaning so I took the horrid strings off, scrubbed the frets with some 0000 steel wool. A looooot of gunk came off and they shined up quite nicely. I even buffed the board in a few places with it, then a few spots on the headstock to get rid of some dirt. Then I hit it with some warm soapy water and a toothbrush and got more crap off and cleaned up the body with some guitar polish. I took the bridge out and scrubbed it after it soaked in warm soapy water for a bit and took the pickguard off. Luckily, it has the routing so I can put humbuckers in it if I want, but that sort of defeats the purpose of getting a Strat for that Strat sound, so I'll likely just get a slick white pearl pickguard and throw some quality SSS pickups in it.
After getting all that done and putting some strings on, it had a big truss rod problem. Like, no frets after about the 6th or 7th position really played. Since I don't have a notched straight edge I had to do the ol' classic looking down the freatboard and while there was some dipping in the middle, like most guitars have, up at the heel, right by the neck pickup, it sat higher, like noticeably. I popped the neck off and sure enough, someone in the past had put 2 small pieces of thick paper, like strips cut off of a business card riiiiiight at the edge of the neck pocket by the neck pickup. I took those out, put the neck back in, tuned it back to pitch and just about every bit of the buzzing is gone.
Now, I am going to have to be careful with the truss rod. I need to crank it a little more to get that dip out to get the neck flatter but it is fighting me to turn it. I can turn it the other way super easy, but turning it clockwise, it is pretty stiff. I'll tweak it a little at a time some more tonight and try again tomorrow after it's had a chance to acclimate to the new room temp/humidity and the adjustments I've already made.
After getting all that done and putting some strings on, it had a big truss rod problem. Like, no frets after about the 6th or 7th position really played. Since I don't have a notched straight edge I had to do the ol' classic looking down the freatboard and while there was some dipping in the middle, like most guitars have, up at the heel, right by the neck pickup, it sat higher, like noticeably. I popped the neck off and sure enough, someone in the past had put 2 small pieces of thick paper, like strips cut off of a business card riiiiiight at the edge of the neck pocket by the neck pickup. I took those out, put the neck back in, tuned it back to pitch and just about every bit of the buzzing is gone.
Now, I am going to have to be careful with the truss rod. I need to crank it a little more to get that dip out to get the neck flatter but it is fighting me to turn it. I can turn it the other way super easy, but turning it clockwise, it is pretty stiff. I'll tweak it a little at a time some more tonight and try again tomorrow after it's had a chance to acclimate to the new room temp/humidity and the adjustments I've already made.
