Fender 6 point vintage trem setup

[LonePhantom]

Hey all. My cousin recently got himself a Squier Affinity series Stratocaster, and I'm going to do a setup for him. I'm fine with 2 point standard trems, and Floyd Roses, but I've never played too much with a 6 point vintage trem.

I'm sure I've seen a great setup thread or article on the web referenced here, but I cannot find at the moment. Can anyone give a a pointer to a good tutorial, or write up one here? It would be much appreciated.

On a side note this cheap Squier he got is actually a great guitar. The neck is a great profile, maple fretboard is always nice, and it seems to stay in tune ok for a cheap guitar. The frets ends are finished nicely too, no cutting up your hands playing. Intonation is good too after a little fiddling. I'm just trying to adjust the trem to it's optimum position and radius the saddles correctly.

There is a dead spot when bending a full step on the 15th fret for the G and B which kind of sucks, but I'm going to work on fixing it.

Thanks all.

With a pickup change, and maybe a better quality trem this guitar should be a keeper for him I think. Hell, I want one for myself.

[Algiman]

There are loads of great guides out there, but they all say more or less the same thing:

- Set the trem flat to the body and lower all 6 screws until they just touch the trem
- Raise the middle 4 about a half turn: that way it is essentially balancing on the outer 2 with the other 4 there for stability, this helps with tuning stability.
- Tune up, and just as with every other trem, adjust the springs to get the angle you (or your cousin) wants. This is personal preference stuff. Some like it to lay flat to the body, some with a fair amount of pull up. Personally I like it just a little off the body as it gives me the vibrato range I want. Some guitars just sound awful if the trem is flat to the body, for some it seems to improve the tone.
- Intonation principles are the same as any other bridge.
- To get the radius right some folk use radius gauges. I rough it out by measuring and setting the action at the 12th fret, then adjust for the best feel. I don't believe in setting up guitars by maths alone!

Does this answer your questions?