2:07 When he lifted the drill out I instinctively blew the shavings away lol.

Why am I watching this at 1am I don't even have a strat

I would love getting my guitar fixed by this man.

Dan, Thank you. My dear friend was the luthier Steve Carr. Unfortunately passed away. He was mentored by Jimmy D' Aquisto and did alot on work for Kiss. He always talked about you and would by tools from StewMac. Steve gave me the confidence to work on guitars. I started with a Squire and can now perform pickup swaps, wiring, refinishing, intonation, and fret leveling and crowning. I have not performed a refret yet, but that's my next job I'll tackle. I don't know if you knew Steve. Miss my friend.

Those Highwood saddles are fantastic, really! I bought a set for my Squier Vintage Deluxe Tele and what a difference in sound and sustain it made! 😊 Love the videos - keep them coming!

Never had a problem with keeping my strats in tune with stock tuners and floating trem. Just use minimum turns on each post, and stretch each string.👍😎 Dan is definitely the man!👍😎❤

I've got several Squier guitars that I've bought cheap. Cheaper than cheap actually. They're solid platforms to work on and I've been looking for drop in tuners for along time and the ones you have listed here are a quality piece for 50 dollars. Perfect. I have one that can benefit from the tuners and one that can use the saddles so I'm buying in. What I look at when I do my upgrades is what I paid for it compared to what I can buy it for if I go on line. I'll make upgrades with quality parts up to that price point. Thanks for this video. By the way, someone below noted they were glad the "old man" was back. That man, Dan Erlewine, wrote the "The Guitar Player's Repair Guide", which I bought 19 years ago, and is the Holy Grail of making your instruments kick butt. Since I had no one to work/set up my guitars within 60 miles, it opened the door for me to learn to do all the work I needed to do on my gear. He has also built and fixed some of the most historic guitars on the planet.

Beautiful setup Dan!! Happy to see a simple squier strat upgrade setup video!! Squiers are great guitars in my opinion with just a few small mods. Spot on as always!!

I really dig the pace that you teach. I've been working on guitars for a while now, but I actually learned some new tricks. No BS. Straight to it. It should never take more than 10 seconds to string a guitar in a vid, unless it's actually a stringing vid. Straight to the point.

Umpteen years later... I DID change the saddles on my home made Tele... and then I gave it to my best friend's daughter for her birthday. Just when I got it playing brilliantly! But she's worth it. She's 14 now and is potentially a rock'n'roll girl in the making.

I’d honestly love to hand my guitar to this man so he could bless it with his set-up while I listen as he talks away about trade secrets and advice on guitars. Seems like someone I could learn a lot from. Great video!

5:28 while all the strings should touch the radius gauge, each individual saddle should not be at an angle. Dan does that of course, just wanted to add it cause I see saddles resting on one "leg" too often.

I also love the Fender American Standard String Guides. Made a huge difference on my vintage Strat's Tuning stability. Love Dan's tips & tricks.

You are a great luthier, and were (and still are) always a guiding light! I became a restoration luthier largely because of you- quite some time ago! Thank you sir!

I will say that if you plan on drop tuning or changing the tuning occasionally, you should have at least one wrap on those locking tuners because if you want to go lower than E or D tuning, you might run out of string to go lower.

I've used stock tuners for years. In many cases, all I had was 1/2 wrap around the peg even on the high E string. And they never slipped. Putting a right angle bend on the string before tightening it did the trick.

Great tips and explanation! Helpful to many budget minded musicians! Thanks for sharing brother!

Little pro tips like a piece of tape on the bit, makes life so much easier. Thanks Mr Dan for all the great info & the years of knowledge from a legend that you share with us. 🤘🏼

Those saddles are great. I've spent years getting the set up on Strats perfect and then pulling all the adjuster screws out and shortening them to a non painful height.

I bought Dan's How to book many years ago and it helped out pretty good. Its cool to see him live in how to. Ill try this for my little squier and see where it goes...

Hi, I'm from Italy! I also made this change to the mechanics of my Squire Strat Affinity. Now it's ok!👌

Those saddles are amazing idea. I wish I heard of that sooner, before I sold my hand cutting Fender Strat

wow the trick with the nack saddles (i removed also for 1,2,3,4 strings) help to to fix my tuning problem !! thanks !!!!!!!!

So glad I have one of these laying around from when I was a kid. Gives me the confidence to take things apart and learn about all the care required for such instruments without worrying about damaging a more expensive guitar. Ironically, I was having quite a bit of fun playing my old Squier after I spent a few hours cleaning it up/out, setting it up, restringing, polishing, etc. It actually feels good to play now. I wish someone would have told me about this 12 years ago when all my 6th grade friends convinced me that my Christmas Squier wasn't worth playing!

I don’t even own a Strat but this video was just lovely. It gave me “This Old House” type vibes. I could watch this man work all day.

This is hands down best guitar repair mod channel on KZfaq! Great Work and Love the Guests too! Keep up the good work! 👍😎

that was the best thing i have done to my squier now it look and feels awesome thank you very much,,,

I like these videos so much, I watch them over and over, pretending it’s the first time.

This is absolutely excellent! I would probably recommend the Wilkinson Locking saddles to also eliminate tuning issues at the saddle, but this is excellent

Dan is a master - thank you.

I was missing the old man! Great as usual

I have a decent Squier Stratocaster 10 years now without any upgrade on it. Changing Locking tuners, trees & saddles will definitely improve the playing, as some of us bend the hell out of it and abuse really hard our fretboards. My luthier will also have to change frets. I cost it to around 300$ mod. that worth and saves me from buying a new instrument with a much higher price of both my strat. and the upgradable parts. The instrument has already installed Jameson Lollar original pickups and the sound is really good. I really enjoyed this video and gave me the courage and will to make the upgrades needed. Thank you.

Ordered that string tree from you today all the way from Finland. Thanks for that Stew!

Time to relax. Thank you for this.

This guy is the Bob Ross of guitars, never been more interested in modding my guitar. Absolute attention to detail! not your average tech that laughs at you when you say “I wanna mod my squire “ some people play gigs at seedy venues, we don’t wanna bring custom shop gear to the gig 😝

All your videos are superb! Thank you for all these tips. Regards from France

With the Elixir 10-52 that I use on my main Strat, and the staggered locking tuners installed, I don't need any string tree AT ALL ... huge improvement.

Cool video! I got the same guitar and want to do some easy mods to it. Looks like I'll have to look at buying those parts for my Strat. Cheers

Keep the drillings from the new tuner drilled holes. Mix the drillings with wood glue and use mixture to fill the empty hole from the removed D string tree.

I love these videos keep em coming. .....all the best guys

Maybe his voice and mannerisms are just soothing to watch and hear. Guitar asmr

The smooth top Saddles are essential.

Excelent video. Great job.

Tuners for a squier seems to be a special model if you don't want to drill new holes. I think Gotoh sells those locking tuners. Or lock in?? 🤔 🤭 And I want to say that you guys are the best there are in these branche!! Man I respect your craftsmanship so much I almost can sing a song about it!!! Thanx y'all!!!! 😉🎸🎼🎶🎶☮️🤘☯️👍👍🦉👌❤️🎶❤️🎶❤️🎶❤️🎶

This chanel is the best i've seen this year. StewMac keep it going

Excellent!! I desperately needed this help!! Thank You!!

Very helpful. I did the tuners and just that helped so much.

I want that thing hes wearing on his head so i can tune my guitar with no fear

You should consider doing another video like this with a squier bass A lot of guitar players want to invest in a bass but fenders can be pretty expensive for a secondary instrument

Great videos!! I am now understanding what all those things are for!!

You know, I love this channel, I have a Squire Stratocaster Standard, made in Indonesia, has alnico pickups, two point bridge, saddles are the newer ones... I was thinking of doing some upgrades to it BUT AFTER doing a setup, to my personal specs, and changing to 10-46 D'addrios , and playing it for some time, I found that the frets and neck were so ON that I could have the set up with very low action!!!! The type of action that you can only get away with on REALLY expensive necks... I was surprised even more when I saw it held tune!! Sure the tuning keys are so so BUT the sound is pretty incredible!! So, I decided to not touch a thing, so no up-grades for this Squire :-) maybe some locking keys in, the future but really not necessary now... I noticed that the Squire guitars made in Indonesia are "extremely well made" mind blowing actually, the bridge and alnicos make a difference too, but the build was flawless, specifically the neck!!!

Always love mod videos like this! I’d love to see some complex electronic mods, if you guys are up for it!

Awesome tutorial! Thanks a bunch

Beautiful sound and playing!

Listening to Dan gives me comfort,I love to watch him work and talk guitar,I get the same watching old Shadetree Mechanic videos or Bob Villa.

Love those saddles. My Tele needs an upgrade in that dept.

I’ve been playing guitar 14 months, though I’m originally a sax player from childhood. Not much you can do to a sax to upgrade it, but a guitar, wow, I may start with a Squier Bullet, but this might be the best instrument I ever own. So far I upgraded the tuners to Fender locking tuners, and the nut and string trees to GraphTech. I’m still not used to the fact that I don’t need to tune the guitar every five minutes. It’s not about being a gear nerd; as I became a better guitarist, I needed a better guitar. Learning to upgrade the guitar I have saved me hundreds of dollars, and I doubt a ‘better’ instrument would have actually been better. My Squier Bullet Stratocaster I bought for $90 in a thrift shop in Japan is basically like an $800 Fender Deluxe at this point. Sure, eventually I’m going to need a professional level instrument, but because of your lessons I can get to that professional level with what I already have. I went with the Fender locking tuners, had to use a reamer-first time-to make the holes big enough for the new tuners. I wisely saved the sawdust from reaming and drilling the holes so that when I filled in the old holes with a mix of glue and sawdust they were color matched. Tip from Experience: If the new tuners don’t totally fit in the holes you reamed, ream them just a little bit more until they do. It should be a snug fit, but those pegs should be touching and making impressions on wood before you install them. I have a question about using the radius gauge to set the string saddles. I am constantly setting my string saddles. Is this performance versus engineering? it seems to me, using a gauge is not the way to go. At least, there is a matter of tilt. Logically, the thicker strings will be ‘higher’ than the thinner strings, so the gauge will be lopsided.

Thanks ! Great demo ! I have a Mexican strat and a squire affinity , love your dedication to the craft ! 🖖

Thanks great video Mr Dan

Thanks Dan, you the man !!

Solid video; presenter has an excellent tutorial-type style.

I would change the nut and string trees with tusq versions putting in that goofy 3 position string tree is odd and it leaves a hole in the peg head. then save some more money and get some hum cancelling pickups I have dimarzio virtual vintage pups in my strat and they sound great

Great video. Thanks so much!

Excellent upgrades!

Cool! Thanks for the tips.

the locking tuners alone costs more than the guitar lol

I have the same guitar..Different color though..I’m going to try these upgrades.Thanks

I added a unity gain 9v buffer to mine and it sounds great!

Stew Mac, I would appreciate if you guys shows the mods for modern guitar too. Such as Ibanes... etc. Thanks a million! Great Channel

I love these videos and this is one I can do.

Wow I would project my guitar also. Thanks sir ❤

This great because the fender and the Squier classic vibe 70s are out of my rangue $ , thanks for post this 🙏👍

Thank you very much Dan

That string tree is brilliant! You guys should make a taller tuning machine for the E string to go with it...

Superb guitar mechanic !!!

One thing that always drives me crazy is sharp saddle screws I've seen this on high end guitars too, it's nice to know companies are addressing this problem.

Excellent, Thank You.

As a man that loves the squier affinity series I really enjoyed this video. The squier affinity line is amazing. Recently Phillip from know your gear interviewed a fender custom shop master builder and asked him Wich squier he would buy . He looked at guitars from really higher end to the bullet at the bottom. And his reaction to the affinity Stratocaster was epic to me because he couldn't believe the quality. If anyone out there is thinking of buying one . And you like black or sunburst just get the kit. The guitar is two hundred, the kits two hundred and with the kit you get a bag, a fender frontman ten amp, picks, digital tuner and more. You'll never go wrong. Then add these mods and you'll have one amazing instrument that will last you the rest of your life if you cherish it and protect it and maintain it. If your somebody that doesn't have a guitar yet I promise it's a investment you'll never regret. Thank you again stewmac for another great video

Intelligent and helpful. Thanks.

The 3-string tree is a great idea, however I use a very small washer to raise the tree to even out the break angle.

For some reason, I like watching luthiers do their work. It's relaxing: probably because I'm a musician nerd.

Could you do a video on stretching strings properly please?

I just love these videos, i learn a lot its great :p

txs Dan...good stuff

Excellent mods.

I got to find this guy to set up guitars. This was great.

I learn more stuff on this channel.Its making me an expert and saving me a lot of bucks.

Awesome! Thank you! 😀👍😁

I'm chuffed!! I got to see one of your vids before it hit 1,000 views!! Another mod I did... to my '62 reissue USA fat Strat deluxe... (in crimson transparent... Fender color number 38) was to replace the nut with an LSR roller... not what you'd call a quick mod though. I took my time with that one... in truth it was a bit of a nail bighter. But I followed the directions and she (Aphrodite) plays like a million bucks now. I'm a serious trem user, and she holds tune perfectly. Thanx again Dan. You are always watchable. P.S. I was 'Like' number 114. 'View' number 896.

What a nice little channel you got there well done...👍

Great videos! 🙂👍🏻

Como se lo curra el abuelo!! Saludos desde Madrid.

I love the StewMac Trade Secrets, but this one got me nuts: aren’t you supposed to take out string trees when you have staggered machines? All factory guitars (Fender, MusicMan) that have such tuners don’t have string trees installed in the first place.

Dan fixed my late fathers Gibson hummingbird did a great job been watching his vids ever since would like to meet him and thank him in person one day

I'm just a home hobby player and I'm seriously considering a new affinity stratocaster and these simple upgrades seem like a great idea.

Roller Saddles are a very good idea as well

I use roller string trees and roller saddles to fix problems 2 and 3.

The craftsmanship on those overseas guitars is Remarkable its actually been that way for the past 25 years and why the bigger companies like Gibson are struggling from overseas your getting professional quality craftsmanship with out the Ridiculous price tags...Jay Turser JT50 Custom Sg with Gold hardware is a perfect example of professional craftsmanship....

I've got a squire just like that and I've been wanting to do the exact same thing. Thanks for the info.

You don't really need any string tree with good staggered locking tuners. To keep the strings as low as possible around the posts, there is a little trick : when you install new strings, make sure that you wind 1/2 of a turn to pitch, and that the string is running BELOW the remaining bit of string after the cut, so that the string doesn't "slip higher" on the tuning post. Both my Stratocasters are equipped with staggered locking tuners, and I removed the string trees on both of them, and it works just fine. I have a preference for graphite bridge saddles (and nut too) though.