There comes a point when even the best of guitars need a service and setup.  Most people will have their car serviced regularly, why not your guitar?

While the strings are off I always give the fretboard a good clean.

The heads were a little stiff so a little light oil.

and a bit of exercise.

The volume and tone controls were a little “crackly” so some switch cleaner.

Before re-fitting the strings a little lemon oil on the frertboard.

and polish on the top, between the pickups.  Easy while there are no strings in the way.

When I put the strings back it was also obvious that the neck was never fitted correctly, it’s a little wonky, at the last fret the strings are closer to the bass side than the treble.

It’s not off by much so slacken off the screws and it should twist into place.

That’s better…

All it needs now is a setup.  The neck had just a little too much relief.

Trouble is the truss-rod adjustment is on the heel so I had to take off the scratch-plate and loosen the neck to get to it.

Then the action at the 12th fret.  A little low…

so up with the bridge saddles.

with the others to match the fretboard radius.

The nut had an unusual problem, the slots were all too deep, causing open string buzzing.  The ultimate option would be to fit a new nut but it can be fixed.  I packed in some bone dust I collected from another bone job….

and drop in some thin superglue.

Once it dries you can cut the slot as normal with the appropriate size nut file.

Lastly the intonation and pickup heights and it’s good to go.

And there it is.

To see what else I can do check out www.guitar-george.co.uk

A word or two from the owner:

“My Mexican Strat is great George, thanks very much……”

AAAjjjjh