Jazz-O-Caster 1 trem arm mod

[EL34]

I hate those threaded in Strat style trem arms
They are sloppy and eventually get so loose they always swing down and are not where I want them to stay
Mine got so loose that you had to rock the arm back and forth a ways before it would even contact the metal and start to work

Here's the Strat Bridge mod I came up with

I drilled the stock threaded hole out to accept a 1/4 inch thick steel rod
I turned the rod on my lathe so it would accept a nylon standoff
The standoff is split on one side so it can snap onto the arm grove
This keeps the arm from swinging too loosely in the bridge hole
My Ibanez guitars use something like this and it works great
Plus it's easy to replace the nylon standoff and they are cheap
I then bent the trem arm in a vise to the shape I wanted.

The stock strat bridge arm hole is drilled at an angle, not parallel to the string holes.
So my 1/4 inch grill came out the lower edge of the block
Then I ground down the edge of the block with the arm in place
The arm has a flat spot that matches the trem block grind
I drilled and tapped a hole for a small screw
The screw holds a piece of nylon that acts like a spring to return the arm to a level position
The plastic piece is flexible but springy
You can rotate the arm and the piece moves up but tries to pull the arm back to zero.
Here's some pics of the mod

[EL34]

Here's a couple recordings I did with the Jazz-O-Caster

http://el34world.com/Misc/Music/files/SurferGirl_150bpm.mp3



Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan tune
http://el34world.com/Misc/Music/files/LayLadyLay2.mp3

[Willabe]

I hate those threaded in Strat style trem arms
They are sloppy and eventually get so loose they always swing down and are not where I want them to stay
Mine got so loose that you had to rock the arm back and forth a ways before it would even contact the metal and start to work

There's supposed to be a small spring down in the bottom of the trem arm hole that as you tighten the amp down enough, but not too much, it pushed back on the bottom of the trem arm and tightens up the arms threads against the threads in the trem blocks hole.

Most guy's don't know about them. They fall out and then the arms loose. Fender sells a package of 10(?).

Before I used my trem arm, 1 day I found a small spring in my guitar case, I didn't know what it was at the time and just left it in the case where you keep extra strings just in case I figured out what it was for.     

Here's the Strat Bridge mod I came up with

There you go again using your brain. 

Great thinking and execution!

[EL34]

yeah, the screw helps but the threads still get sloppy and you can feel the play between the arm and the threads

That does not work very well when you are doing very subtle trem/vibrato on notes

I sort of copied part of the Ibanez system with my mod which was always dead one and snug

Plus I like the trem arm to stay in a very specific position and return to that position easily

[Willabe]

Mine stayed pretty tight and would stay in place where I left it until I lost the spring again. 

[EL34]

I did not like the height of the original one
It would touch the pickup selector switch


I bent the new one higher up above the body

[EL34]

And now I have modified the pivots for the strat bridge
The screw flat underside of the screw heads makes the bridge lift up and down a bit
The top of the bridge is flat

A more precise way to get a really good pivot point is to have just two bolts
Each bolt should have a groove
The bridge edge should ride in that groove and pivot in the exact center of that groove


I now have the bridge set up with a very nice smooth pivot that returns to zero 

[jjasilli]

There's supposed to be a small spring down in the bottom of the trem arm hole. . .


I didn't know that!  Found a small spring in my parts drawer; snipped it  to what seems a good length.  Dropped it into the tremolo arm hole in my Strat.  Seems to be working!  The arm now has no play, even though the plumber's tape is worn away; and the arm stays where you put it.  Very cool!

Also I have a Callaham bridge on another Strat.  I'll check that one out too.

Thanks Willabe!

[EL34]

I ended up removing 4 of the 6 bridge screws after adding adding the two new pivot screwsI need to replace them with stainless.
All I had on hand were some white ones.
I have no idea where they came from

You may notice in the pics that my bridge screws are leaning forward towards the neck

All 6 screws leaned forward which made the bridge want to walk up to the top of the screw heads
This prevented the bridge from staying where I wanted it to stay


The two new pivot screws are larger in diameter and the shapes of the heads make the bridge pivot perfectly now

Before, the bridge was resting up against the flat underside of the screws which was not working very well at all

[Willabe]

I didn't know that! 

Yeah, I found out the hard way. Fender now sells a 10 pack of those springs. They are very stiff. 

I'm guessing they sell them in a 10 pack because they tend to fall out pretty easy? 

[jjasilli]

Here's an example I googled up of a 12-pack: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/tremolo/fender-tremolo-arm-tension-springs-12


I just used a spring I had on hand that fit in the hole, and trimmed it to just under half the length of the threaded portion of the trem arm; it worked fine.  Otherwise, buy a 10 or 12 pack and build more strats to house the springs!   

[Willabe]

Yeah that's them. They have NO give to them at all in your fingers and it was hard to get them to move even with a set of pliers.

[jjasilli]

The random spring I used was easy to compress, but works fine. 

[Willabe]

Hey, if it works, then, it works.