The Fender Stratocaster is a work of genius, designed by a genius. Thirty years ago Leo Fender, Freddie Tavares and a handful of cowboy guitar players designed a racey three-pickup guitar from two pieces of cheap hardwood and a few pieces of die-stamped steel plate. The genius is that this cheap-to-produce guitar actually worked; it played great, sounded terrific, and was tough as nails. Plus it was easy to maintain — which is where we come in.

All the common maintenance on your Strat can be done by you at home with a few simple tools. But first, the boring bit. You must observe the following preliminaries if you do not want to louse up somewhere along the line.

First, find a piece of old carpet or foam rubber large enough to rest the guitar on. Find a container of some sort large enough to hold any parts which you may have to remove from the guitar during work.

Assemble the following tools: a Phillips screwdriver, a lead pencil, the smallest Allen key available in the UK, a soldering iron, and a can of Plus Gas or similar corrosion-freeing spray. If you can stretch to it, a Quartz tuner is an invaluable aid to setting up the instrument.

If your Strat is properly intoned and set up you can much more easily identify gremlins in other areas. So this is where we start. Plug your tuner into the guitar and switch to the bridge pickup with guitar volume on maximum. Sound the harmonic over the 12th fret on the first string and adjust the tuning peg to bring the tuner needle to 12 o'clock. Sound the 12th fretted note on the first string. If the needle is left (or flat) of the correct pitch, screw the bridge saddle length screw clockwise until harmonic and fretted note provide identical meter readings. If the fretted note is sharp of the harmonic, screw the bridge length screw anticlockwise until identical readings are obtained. Repeat with the other five strings.

If you have a pre-CBS Strat with the old steel bridge saddles you may well find that all the adjusting screws are corroded into the saddle. If so, squirt liberally with Plus Gas and leave for 10 minutes or so before trying to free them.

The neck on a Fender Strat is well designed and generally well made. Repair or major adjustment under normal circumstances should be unnecessary, so here we are going to tackle routine maintenance only. For neck breaks, refrets, and new nuts, go to a good repairperson (definition: one whose work has been recommended to you by at least two players whose opinions you respect).

If your Strat has a bowed neck you will need to adjust the truss rod. Depending on the age of the guitar, the neck adjustment will either be at the body end in the form of a cross-headed screw, or at the head end in the form of an Allen key adjusting "bullet". You adjust both in the same way. For a forward-pulling or concave bow, screw the rod adjuster one quarter turn clockwise, adjust tuning to pitch and leave for 15 minutes before checking. For a back-bowed neck, unscrew the adjuster one quarter turn and wait. Remember, one quarter turn at a time only, and leave 15 minutes for the neck to settle before checking. A back-bowed neck which does not respond to slackening of the truss rod will need to be referred to a repairperson.

A common occurrence with Strats is to find the strings hanging off one side of the neck, high up the fingerboard. On Strats with four-bolt necks this is easily remedied. Grasp the body under your right arm holding the upper horn of the instrument in the right hand. Grasp the neck at the first fret with the left hand. If the first string hangs off the fretboard, pull your left hand upwards sharply. There will be a loud crack and the neck should pull back in line. If the problem persists, slacken the neck bolts slightly and pull less sharply. The same method works for strings hanging off the bass side of the neck, and for guitars with three bolt fixings, although the procedure must be carried out more gingerly.

The most novel feature of the Strat is probably the "Synchronised Tremolo". Many myths exist about things it will and will not do, and it is true that there are now many Super Tremolos on the market. However, if you can't afford one of these shiny and expensive monsters, console yourself with this. Leo knew what he was doing, and the Strat trem, properly adjusted, will play in tune, and will give more of a pitch bend than many give it credit for. Here's how.

If you use 009, 010, or 011 string sets, fit three tension springs in the back of the guitar. Try not to use 008s as these will make setting up the trem much more difficult, and in any case you will miss out on a lot of tone and volume. Screw down fully on to the bridge plate the six leading-edge screws on which the bridge plate pivots. Then release them with one turn of the screwdriver. Tune up to pitch.

Now here's the crucial bit. You must balance the tension of the strings with the tension of the springs. Wang the bar down once and release it, noting any pitch change. Now wang it upwards, again listening for any pitch change. If the pitch sticks below standard tuning when the arm is released, screw the two spring plate screws in the back of the body clockwise one turn. Try the trem again and re-adjust as necessary. If the trem sharpens the returned pitch when released, screw the plate screws anti-clockwise. As a guideline, 90% of properly adjusted trem bridges sit with the back edge of the bridge plate one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch off the face of the guitar body, with the spring plate about one-half to three-quarters of an inch from the back of the spring box.

Any further sticking or creaking when arming can usually be traced to friction in the nut slots or the string retainer. A small graphite deposit, in the form of pencil lead, usually clears this up. Simply rub the pencil tip up and down the nut slots and on the contact points on the string retainer. Experiment with the spring plate screws until you find your optimum settings. Remember, springs equals strings.

The final area which may need periodic maintenance on your Strat is the electrics. The design here, as in other parts of the guitar, is simple but effective. A bit of ordinary switch cleaner on the pots and blade switch from time to time is all that is normally necessary.

One problem which annoys some players is the tendency for a double tone, or "wolf" note, to appear on the lower strings higher up the fretboard. This is caused by the pull of the pickup magnets affecting the "envelope" of the vibrating string. The solution is simple: wind the pickups down on the bass side.

Finally, if you are fitting a five-way switch to a Strat with an existing three-way, remember that both switches are identical in the way the contacts are laid out. The only difference is that the five-way has two extra notches on the sprung lever. When replacing, draw the switch on paper before de-soldering the old one, making a note of which wires go to the relevant contacts. Then simply resolder the wires on to the corresponding contacts on the new switch.

Don't be afraid to work on your Strat. It's built like a brick convenience and will last for years if you follow the tips above. Good luck.