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Fender has pages about how to properly set up their guitars, and I would say this is close enough that you can use their Stratocaster directions.

First, you want a reasonably flat neck. Use the truss rod. Go slowly, turn a quarter turn at a time, and some boring is okay. When done, if you fret at the highest and lowest fret, you should only have a gap at the 11th fret big enough to slide a playing card between the fret and the string.

The neck pocket on my Telecaster is such that I needed to put a shim in to allow me to get the action low enough. I cut a small piece off a business card and placed it in the pocket near the body. You might not need this.

The next step is the bridge. You set the action with Allen wrenched, and your bridge height should follow the curve of the neck. Lead players generally like a low action so their fingers don't have to work so hard. Rhythm players generally like a higher action so they can strum hard if they want without buzz or rattle. Slide players often like their action a little higher so that slide won't accidentally hit the frets. All of these actions are likely lower than what you likely have right now.

The last step is setting intonation, and that will have to change when you change string gauges. Most of what you have set before this point should stay stable between string changes, but intonation changes. There are two groups of strings: the unwound and the wound. Numbering starts at the smallest string and moves up. The unwound strings are, in standard tuning, the E and B strings ; the wound strings are G, D, A and E strings. (You sometimes see an unwound G.) The thicker the string, the further back the saddle. When done, your saddles should look like two stacked backslashes.

I've included the link to Fender's Setup Guide, which rightfully goes into further detail than I have. I haven't gotten to the can-of-worms that setting up your tremolo bridge can be.

Fender has pages about how to properly set up their guitars, and I would say this is close enough that you can use their Stratocaster directions.

First, you want a reasonably flat neck. Use the truss rod. Go slowly, turn a quarter turn at a time, and some bowing is okay. When done, if you fret at the highest and lowest fret, you should only have a gap at the 11th fret big enough to slide a playing card between the fret and the string.

The neck pocket on my Telecaster is such that I needed to put a shim in to allow me to get the action low enough. I cut a small piece off a business card and placed it in the pocket near the body. You might not need this.

The next step is the bridge. You set the action with Allen wrenched, and your bridge height should follow the curve of the neck. Lead players generally like a low action so their fingers don't have to work so hard. Rhythm players generally like a higher action so they can strum hard if they want without buzz or rattle. Slide players often like their action a little higher so that slide won't accidentally hit the frets. All of these actions are likely lower than what you likely have right now.

The last step is setting intonation, and that will have to change when you change string gauges. Most of what you have set before this point should stay stable between string changes, but intonation changes. There are two groups of strings: the unwound and the wound. Numbering starts at the smallest string and moves up. The unwound strings are, in standard tuning, the E and B strings ; the wound strings are G, D, A and E strings. (You sometimes see an unwound G.) The thicker the string, the further back the saddle. When done, your saddles should look like two stacked backslashes.

I've included the link to Fender's Setup Guide, which rightfully goes into further detail than I have. I haven't gotten to the can-of-worms that setting up your tremolo bridge can be.

Fender has pages about how to properly set up their guitars, and I would say this is close enough that you can use their Stratocaster directions.

First, you want a reasonably flat neck. Use the truss rod. Go slowly, turn a quarter turn at a time, and some boring is okay. When done, if you fret at the highest and lowest fret, you should only have a gap at the 11th fret big enough to slide a playing card between the fret and the string.

The neck pocket on my Telecaster is such that I needed to put a shim in to allow me to get the action low enough. I cut a small piece off a business card and placed it in the pocket near the body. You might not need this.

The next step is the bridge. You set the action with Allen wrenched, and your bridge height should follow the curve of the neck. Lead players generally like a low action so their fingers don't have to work so hard. Rhythm players generally like a higher action so they can strum hard if they want without buzz or rattle. Slide players often like their action a little higher so that their action a little higher so their slide won't accidentally hit the frets. All of these actions are likely lower than what you likely have right now.

The last step is setting intonation, and that will have to change when you change string gauges. Most of what you have set before this point should stay stable between string changes, but intonation changes. There are two groups of strings: the unwound and the wound. Numbering starts at the smallest string and moves up. The unwound strings are, in standard tuning, the E and B strings ; the wound strings are G, D, A and E strings. (You sometimes see an unwound G.) The thicker the string, the further back the saddle. When done, your saddles should look like two stacked backslashes.

I've included the link to Fender's Setup Guide, which rightfully goes into further detail than I have. I haven't gotten to the can-of-worms that setting up your tremolo bridge can be.

Fender has pages about how to properly set up their guitars, and I would say this is close enough that you can use their Stratocaster directions.

First, you want a reasonably flat neck. Use the truss rod. Go slowly, turn a quarter turn at a time, and some boring is okay. When done, if you fret at the highest and lowest fret, you should only have a gap at the 11th fret big enough to slide a playing card between the fret and the string.

The neck pocket on my Telecaster is such that I needed to put a shim in to allow me to get the action low enough. I cut a small piece off a business card and placed it in the pocket near the body. You might not need this.

The next step is the bridge. You set the action with Allen wrenched, and your bridge height should follow the curve of the neck. Lead players generally like a low action so their fingers don't have to work so hard. Rhythm players generally like a higher action so they can strum hard if they want without buzz or rattle. Slide players often like their action a little higher so that slide won't accidentally hit the frets. All of these actions are likely lower than what you likely have right now.

The last step is setting intonation, and that will have to change when you change string gauges. Most of what you have set before this point should stay stable between string changes, but intonation changes. There are two groups of strings: the unwound and the wound. Numbering starts at the smallest string and moves up. The unwound strings are, in standard tuning, the E and B strings ; the wound strings are G, D, A and E strings. (You sometimes see an unwound G.) The thicker the string, the further back the saddle. When done, your saddles should look like two stacked backslashes.

I've included the link to Fender's Setup Guide, which rightfully goes into further detail than I have. I haven't gotten to the can-of-worms that setting up your tremolo bridge can be.

Fender has (or at least had; I don't have a link right now on my phone) a page about how to properly set up their guitars, and I would say this is close enough that you can use their Stratocaster directions.

First, you want a reasonably flat neck. Use the truss rod. Go slowly, turn a quarter turn at a time, and some boring is okay. When done, if you fret at the highest and lowest fret, you should only have a gap at the 11th fret big enough to slide a playing card between the fret and the string.

The neck pocket on my Telecaster is such that I needed to put a shim in to allow me to get the action low enough. I cut a small piece off a business card and placed it in the pocket near the body. You might not need this.

The next step is the bridge. You set the action with Allen wrenched, and your bridge height should follow the curve of the neck. Lead players generally like a low action so their fingers don't have to work so hard. Rhythm players generally like a higher action so they can strum hard if they want without buzz or rattle. Slide players often like their action a little higher so that their action a little higher so their slide won't accidentally hit the frets. All of these actions are likely lower than what you likely have right now.

The last step is setting intonation, and that will have to change when you change string gauges. Most of what you have set before this point should stay stable between string changes, but intonation changes. There are two groups of strings: the unwound and the wound. Numbering starts at the smallest string and moves up. The unwound strings are, in standard tuning, the E and B strings ; the wound strings are G, D, A and E strings. (You sometimes see an unwound G.) The thicker the string, the further back the saddle. When done, your saddles should look like two stacked backslashes.

More later.

Fender has pages about how to properly set up their guitars, and I would say this is close enough that you can use their Stratocaster directions.

First, you want a reasonably flat neck. Use the truss rod. Go slowly, turn a quarter turn at a time, and some boring is okay. When done, if you fret at the highest and lowest fret, you should only have a gap at the 11th fret big enough to slide a playing card between the fret and the string.

The neck pocket on my Telecaster is such that I needed to put a shim in to allow me to get the action low enough. I cut a small piece off a business card and placed it in the pocket near the body. You might not need this.

The next step is the bridge. You set the action with Allen wrenched, and your bridge height should follow the curve of the neck. Lead players generally like a low action so their fingers don't have to work so hard. Rhythm players generally like a higher action so they can strum hard if they want without buzz or rattle. Slide players often like their action a little higher so that their action a little higher so their slide won't accidentally hit the frets. All of these actions are likely lower than what you likely have right now.

The last step is setting intonation, and that will have to change when you change string gauges. Most of what you have set before this point should stay stable between string changes, but intonation changes. There are two groups of strings: the unwound and the wound. Numbering starts at the smallest string and moves up. The unwound strings are, in standard tuning, the E and B strings ; the wound strings are G, D, A and E strings. (You sometimes see an unwound G.) The thicker the string, the further back the saddle. When done, your saddles should look like two stacked backslashes.

I've included the link to Fender's Setup Guide, which rightfully goes into further detail than I have. I haven't gotten to the can-of-worms that setting up your tremolo bridge can be.