For those of you brave souls out there that are do-it-yourselfers, you’ll probably be adjusting your own truss rod on your Fender Stratocaster. That’s cool, but do you know exactly what Fender recommends for neck relief? You’ll need some feeler gauges for this, but here are the figures:
Radius (inches) Relief
7.25 .012-inch (or .3mm)
9.5 to 12 .010-inch (or 0.25mm)
15 to 17 .008-inch
To check relief, install a capo on the first fret of your Strat’s neck and then depress the low E string at the last fret. Insert a feeler gauge at the top of the 8th fret, then consult the chart. If the gap is too big or too small, the truss rod will require an adjustment. Remember that on Strats, clockwise reduces neck relief while counter-clockwise increases it. Never make an adjustment of more than a quarter turn at a time.
