I guess I just don't see it as the big deal that many others do. I clamp the treble horn in my vise. Grab my drill and back the lower screws all the way out, and loosen the upper ones about a turn. Grab the neck and pull it back to raise the nut over the pickguard. Adjust the rod (you should have a special long flat head screwdriver for Fenders, with the "wings" ground off by the head to leave it looking perfectly round as viewed from the end). Set the clutch on my drill and tighten up the upper screws. Check straightness, and re-loosen the upper screws to adjust if necessary. I rarely even detune the strings, and it takes me maybe a minute at most to adjust the typical Fender rod.
On small custom builds or some older instruments you may have to be a bit more careful and loosen the strings a bit as a precaution. It all depends on how the finish ends at the neck pocket - if it was masked right up to the end or filed dead flat to the wood in the pocket, there can be a risk of chipping the finish when you pry the neck back under full tension. On stock factory Fenders though, it's not really an issue. Even if you do have to loosen the strings, you don't need to pull the neck and get the strings all tangled. Just back two screws out and slightly loosen the other two, and you can easily tip the neck back to gain clear access to the rod.
As Dave mentioned, you do have to be careful with a drill as if you screw too hard you can push the plate in and crack the finish. I've worked with my drill long enough though that I know it's clutch range very well. #4 on my Hitachi clutch will snug the screws up, still leaving the neck loose enough to shift side to side. Then tweak the alignment and a final quick snugging up by hand and it's done.
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I have always come straight to this forum - I didn't know there was an electric forum! Now I know! Thanks!
. I simply loosen the strings capo the strings