software

I just bought a squier strat a few days ago. To give a little background, its been years since ive owned any guitar with any other bridge than a tune-o-matic stop bar type. Ive owned 1 floyd bridge type guitar which i sold 10 years ago,and even longer than that i had a strat copy with what id call a classic fender bridge type.

Now,what i have to work with is memory from 10 years ago.Here is a picture of the guitar i purchased. This brige seems different to me than a classic style bridge.
Here is a picture of the classic style bridge

The bridge on the guitar i purchased is supported in the front by 2 pegs that the front part slides into but is not screwed into. This reminds me alot of like the old floyed bridge i had.

If you have no string tension the bridge rests with the back on the body but angles slightly upward towards the front.

In a classic bridge, the bridge rests perfectly flat against the body at all times, unless you bend the bar down.

When i bought the guitar i assume it had 9 guage strings on it, and the back part of the bridge rested against the body so that if you push the bar down you can lower the pitch but couldnt raise it.
Now i am changing strings and installing the 10 guage strings i normally use. The extra string tension raises the back of the bridge off the body, which i was not expecting. after adjusting the spring tension in back i was able to install the strings with the back of the bridge slighlty off the body, but the bridge is now also parralel to the body, like i would expect it to be in a normal floyed type setup, and now the pitch can be raised and lowered with the bar.

I thought it odd when i bought the guitar that the bridge was not perfectly flat to the body, but didnt think too much about it.

I guess i wasnt expecting a floyed type bridge seeing that there was no locking nut.

Now my question is, what is the proper way to set up this bridge? Should it be parralell to the body and floating like a floyd or do i need to tighten the spring tension until the back of the bridge rests against the body making lowering the pitch the only option, but also making the bridge angle from low in the back to high in the front?

IMO there's no proper setup... I've always got the bridge flat on top... but that's just cause I'm used to have it that way

I have a Strat with the same system that you got. Mine is set up so that it lays flat on the body, but I dont use it, so mine is tightend down hard.

The reason that your system is raised of the body a little is so that you may bend up and dive as well.

IMO there are no right set up, so try for yourself, and go with what suits you best. Hope this may help you.