How To Setup a Fender Telecaster -String Action, Neck Relief, Intonation & Pickup height adjustments 

I have a Squier Affinity Telecaster and a Fender Players series Stratocaster. I swapped the bridge on the strat to a SD hot rails. I also swapped the bridge on the Squier to DiMarzio Chopper. I bought locking tuners for the Stratocaster, then drilled som new plugholes for the Squier and set it up with the Fender MiM tuners. I will swap the neckpickup for the telecaster later, and the mid and neck on the strat too! Later i might buy 500K pots, swap the telecaster bridge to a fender bridge, and maybe if i get rich buy a rosewood telecaster neck and swap that too! and the control plate, the knobs, it will be more Fender Custom Telecaster when i'm done with it, and the MiM Stratocaster will be more american when im done with it too, thinking maaaaaaaaybe switch to rosewood on the strat too, but i kinda like Pao Ferro for now. Might change the pickguard toa black one or the white diamond pattern pickguard. I have a cheap guitar from gear4music too, and that one has a Fender bridge pickup from the Stratocaster, planning to put the fender neck and mid to it when i'm done modding the Stratocaster. Then ill put in either EMG-J pickups for my fretless fender J bass, OR just Fender noiseless pickups! I also have a cheap bass with frets, may change the P and J pickup on it. When tat is done ( if i have not bought Ibanez RG550 at this point ) i will heavily modify the cheap guitar with new pots, switches, knobs, tuners, and then remove the fender pickups and instead buy something that sounds better than the original stock fender pickups, and convert it into a Floyd rose bridge and carefully remove the gear4music logo with fine sandpaper, and add a sticker that says Custom Guitar on it. Then i might sell the cheap guitar, or i might never sell it, depends how it turns out and how much i love it after im done! When i can afford the RG550 it doesnt really need to be customized, it already has everything it needs, except maybe the pickups, those are always fun to swap!

Thank you for sharing your time and expertise with us. Fellow Canuck here. Much appreciated.

Another greatly appreciated segment. Awesome content as usual, Thanks!

Your succinct, and clearly presented Telecaster setup video is much appreciated.

Awesome setup! Nice clear instructions that even I could understand. Thank you!

Great straightforward Tele set up video with good close ups that really help. Thank you

Excellent! I do my own setup on my inexpensive Strat but have always had a luthier take care of my beloved Tele. Your video has convinced me to take on the Tele for minor adjustments (after measuring and recording the as-is settings just in case LOL). The adjustment that I am always the most anxious about is the relief adjustment using the truss rod - damaging the truss rod mechanism would be a real problem.

Excellent video. Thank you.

I can't wait to see it completely finished

Very useful explanation! Excellent video!

Very nice as always!

Thank you for this beautifully and simply filmed video that explained everything perfectly. Will definitely help me in maintaining my Tele. 👍🏼

Very good video. Thank you 👍😎😍

thanks Steve, loving your vids, just got a Telecaster and going to do a set uo this week!

I have watched several videos like this on how to set up a telecaster. You provided all the measurements, plus text on the screen! Very helpful. Thank you for taking time to share your knowledge!

helpful video...thanks

thx for share.i learnt more~~~~

.009.5-.046 from Ernie Ball is a good set and fairly cheap and a good feel...

Great video! I just added a tele to my modest collection. When you change strings at what time do you slip the string under the string tree on the head stock? Also do you put any lube on them? Armed with your crystal clear explanations on How To ... I am going to try my own set up! Thanx for all the videos you have put out.

That's a really good video on setting up a Tele! Thanks! I watched another video and there was no actual close-up stet-by-step demonstration of each part, so wasn't helpful at all. I have a MIM Tele too and really struggling with inconsistent tuning along the fretboard, as well as buzzing on some strings. I'm gonna give it a bash at setting it up after watching your vid and hopefully get it back to its original silky sound that it had when I first bought it. Do you have any suggestions for measuring the height of each string if I don't have a suite of gauges? Thanks again for making this awesome video!

Great video is there going to be video on all tools used

When polishing the frets I would protect the pickups (with some tape or alike) in order not to collect the metal dust being generated. Also all the measurements/tuning etc should be done in the playing position, as otherwise the guitars own weight influences the measurements. ....

Sold all my 6 saddle Teles. Just can’t beat the 3 saddle ashtray bridge.

Hey, thanks for the video! Could you please tell me what is the name of the tool you used when you checked the string height at the 17th fret? Do i need it, if i'm going to buy a set of feeler gauges and a ruler to adjust the height of the strings?

if we have like gibson bridges adjusting action with just e and E strings easy and actually adjusting otomaticly other strings adjusting byself cuz you can’t adjust each string but if fe have tremolo bridges like fender guitar I really don’t know which string height what will be and all action gauges just giving 1. and 6. string info. what height must be others? how can we decide other strings height. I hope you understand me. Sorry if my english is not good. what about other string heights? we adjusted 1.6. string but what should be other strings heights?

What does "Harmonic" mean when checking tune (@ 12th fret)

I really need some help, bad. I just built a telecaster, I have the saddles in the bridge as high as they can possibly go and every single string is sitting on the frets all the way down the neck. What can I do to fix this?

6:48 Canadian!

Thanks for a great video! Can/should a radius gauge be used when setting up the saddle heights?

I have a open dead muted no-sustain B string. The nut might be incorrect or the saddle height, suggestions?

i know this is an old thread but, where did you get the wood handle measuring gauge ( 2:15 in the video)? thanks in advance.

Did you have how to setup a Les paul guitar, thanks

wouldn't the micro shavings from the frets get on the pickups?

How come you set all the strings the same height at the 17th instead of setting the saddles to the radius of the board?

What’s a finished neck? I have a rosewood neck? Is there a difference to use simple green to clean it?

Quick question: how can you set relief and action with the guitar lying down on the bench?

Great video. The others on this subject were pure crap

4/64ths ?

You’re switching the pickup selector without contacting the customer? What if that was intentional? I have my switch set up the exact same way.

Did the customer ask you to lower the height of the neck pickup?

Who put that string tree so low lol

Very strange to do the measurements when the guitar is resting on its neck, all values will be way off unless you already accounted for that?

Think if the owner changed the switch to have facilited acces to the neck pickup and when you bring that to him find the Guitar tilted back😂

4/64ths.... jesus christ dear americans....

Your method of string intonation is all wrong. Intonation is done in the playing position comparing the open note with the fretted note, not the harmonic.