So, I bought a Squire Stratocaster 70's Classic Vibe

[Chas007]

I bought it brand new. This thing has been sh*t every since I took it to a luthier to have it setup. One thing he did was change the nut to a bone nut that he made. I did not realize it at the time, but it comes with a bone nut. He cut the slots too low which caused some buzzing. You couldn't hear it through the amp, but you could feel it and hear it acoustically. That bugged me.

I did take it back to him and he tried again to fix the guitar. This time he said he had to press some of the middle frets into the fretboard further. He also changed the strings back to 9's from the 10's I had wanted to try previously.

I still did not like the way the guitar sounded when I got it back. It's hard to explain why it didn't sound right to me. When fretted down at the nut it was okay, but when you came up to the body it lost its tone and volume, like it was kind of going dead.

I have now taken it upon myself to try and fix it. I installed a new graphtech self lubricating nut. I checked the intonation at the 12th fret and found it to be terribly off. I have removed the strings and changed the tuners out to graphtech self locking tuners. I have set the neck relief where there is a slight relief in the middle of the neck. I'm going to change the strings, still staying with 9's. I have lowered the pickups and I will adjust their height again when the strings come in and I get them installed. I also will have to redo the intonation, which I had pretty closely set before I broke a string. :-(

I like the look and feel of the guitar, but because of the issues, I've never enjoyed playing it. I hope the changes I'm making work.

[warfrat73]

Breaking a string and replacing it with one of the same gauge shouldn't effect the intonation significantly.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say that the relief is a 32nd measured with your strait edge... typically neck relief is measured with the strings at tension, using the strings themselves as the straight edge, holding down the low e at the first fret and where it meets the body. Even then, Fender's "recommended" relief for a 9.5" radius neck (as on your strat) is .010", which is quite a bit less than you're reporting.

You might want to double check typical setup specs and procedures.

[Chas007]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

Breaking a string and replacing it with one of the same gauge shouldn't effect the intonation significantly.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say that the relief is a 32nd measured with your strait edge... typically neck relief is measured with the strings at tension, using the strings themselves as the straight edge, holding down the low e at the first fret and where it meets the body. Even then, Fender's "recommended" relief for a 9.5" radius neck (as on your strat) is .010", which is quite a bit less than you're reporting.

You might want to double check typical setup specs and procedures.

You're right, I will reset the relief when I get the stings on it. I'm replacing all the strings. I was in the process of tuning back up to pitch while setting up the intonation when the string broke. It wasn't staying in tune very well either.

[rmp]

my first suggest is to find another setup tech.

it sounds like the one you went to isn't firing on all cylinders.

[rokdog49]

Sorry to hear you had issues. Sounds like the tech is a little short on skill.
I bought a Squier Strat CV 50 last year. Other than a few sharp fret edges, not a thing needed touched. I fixed that little thing easily.
The set up was exceptional and as they say, “it plays like butter”.
The pickups sound great…I wouldn’t change a thing.
I also bought a Squier CV 50 Tele which is excellent.

[FrankHudson]

These sorts of things are easier to diagnose with guitar on the bench in front of one than over the internet. You've tried all sorts of things and at least from a quick read you're making things worse. Don't take this the wrong way, but again from a quick read, you may be working somewhat blindly with lack of knowledge/experience.

I can see two paths here: find a better setup tech if you've lost confidence in the first one (sounds like you have, and perhaps for good reasons). Or really study up on what it takes to do a setup, paying particular attention in your online or book lessons that talk about how to diagnose issues and in what order to take steps when remedying them.

Your story about intonation being off is weird on the face of it, a string change doesn't do that. Even the slight differences between a .009 and a .010 set won't make much difference. That makes me think you may be suffering from the pickups (particularly the neck pickup) being too close to the strings, which will cause it vibrate inharmonically giving false notes. This is a not uncommon issue with pickups with magnet polepieces like the classic Fender single coil designs.

Wishing you the best of luck. The Squires in that line are perfectly good instruments in my experience, and if you get things squared away, you may pleased at what you have.

[Chas007]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Your story about intonation being off is weird on the face of it, a string change doesn't do that. Even the slight differences between a .009 and a .010 set won't make much difference.

You're not wrong about the lack of experience and the other stuff, but I don't think setting up a guitar is all that difficult if you can follow directions and the guitar is in good shape in other ways.
The intonation was off after the tech put the 9's back on and gave it back to me. I suspect it had always been off. I was in the process of fixing that issue when I broke a string tuning back up to pitch.

[JackC1]

You mentioned "I checked the intonation at the 12th fret and found it to be terribly off." You can adjust the saddle position individually to fix this; or did you run out of room?

If the frets are too low, you can't get much sound. Is this what you're experiencing? How tall are they?

Anyway, good luck.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Chas007

You're not wrong about the lack of experience and the other stuff, but I don't think setting up a guitar is all that difficult if you can follow directions and the guitar is in good shape in other ways.
The intonation was off after the tech put the 9's back on and gave it back to me. I suspect it had always been off. I was in the process of fixing that issue when I broke a string tuning back up to pitch.

On a Strat with a floating vibrato bridge (where there's a gap the rear of the bridge plate and the top of the guitar so you can "upbend" with the whammy bar) you would normally adjust to a lower tension set of strings by slightly loosening the spring tension on the chamber on the back of the guitar. But again, diagnosing this sort over the internet is subject to error.

Some prefer to setup their Strats with a "decked" bridge plate (you can still lower the pitch with the bar) in which case swapping between string gauges just one step would be unlikely to throw intonation off appreciably.

[Chas007]

Originally Posted by JackC1

You mentioned "I checked the intonation at the 12th fret and found it to be terribly off." You can adjust the saddle position individually to fix this; or did you run out of room?

If the frets are too low, you can't get much sound. Is this what you're experiencing? How tall are they?

Anyway, good luck.

The frets should be fine, they are new, I haven't played it a lot. Yes I was loosening the strings one by one and moving the saddles to set the intonation. I did run out of room on one of them, so I flipped the little wedge around so I gained a little more room. I was tuning one of the strings back up to pitch when the string broke.

My plan. When I get the new strings in, I'll tune it up first. 2nd, I'll set the relief in the neck properly using the strings and a feeler gauge. 3rd, I'll set the string height. 4th, I'll raise the pickups to Squier's recommended height. 5th, check intonation, if it's off, I'll loosen the string, move the saddle, and re-tune the string. 6th, I'll do some final adjustments to the pickups if necessary. Hopefully that gets it to where I'll like playing it, if not I'm not sure what to do next.

[Chas007]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Some prefer to setup their Strats with a "decked" bridge plate (you can still lower the pitch with the bar) in which case swapping between string gauges just one step would be unlikely to throw intonation off appreciably.

Yes, mine is decked, I don't use the whammy bar

[BoneDigger]

I hate to be an echo chamber, but your absolute best option is to find a good tech, explain your issues, and have that person set it up correctly. If you want .10 strings, have it set up for that. A good tech will do it right and then you can just enjoy it.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Chas007

....I did run out of room on one of them, so I flipped the little wedge around so I gained a little more room. I was tuning one of the strings back up to pitch when the string broke.that gets it to where I'll like playing it, if not I'm not sure what to do next.

Can you post a picture of the bridge with the flipped wedge (saddle?). I have never heard of turning a saddle on Strat bridge.

[Chas007]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Can you post a picture of the bridge with the flipped wedge (saddle?). I have never heard of turning a saddle on Strat bridge.

Lol, I guess I understand why people on here believe I can't do this and should take it to a tech. I also have a Les Paul that has also had intonation issues. It was the Les Paul that I had to flip the wedge around on, not the Squire Stratocaster. I'm old and my memories tend to run together sometimes.

I would take it to a tech, but it's an hour drive, one way to the closest tech in my area.
I will get the Strat playing and sounding good again. I just need strings and a little time.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Chas007

Lol, I guess I understand why people on here believe I can't do this and should take it to a tech. I also have a Les Paul that has also had intonation issues. It was the Les Paul that I had to flip the wedge around on, not the Squire Stratocaster. I'm old and my memories tend to run together sometimes.

I would take it to a tech, but it's an hour drive, one way to the closest tech in my area.
I will get the Strat playing and sounding good again. I just need strings and a little time.

In my opinion, it's worth the hour drive for a guitar you will keep forever. I drive 1:15 to my gigs a few days a week (and I'm somewhat old 65). On the other hand if you are serious about learning to set up your own guitar there are plenty of tutorials on the web.