Tremolo abuse question....

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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zhivago
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Tremolo abuse question....

Post by zhivago » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:31 am

hey guys, I have abused Jazzmaster (and the odd Jaguar) tremolos for a long time now, and I never had any problems.

doing the same on the '61's sometimes completely puts the guitar out of tune.....the reason being I think, is because the tremolo lock is setup properly, so when pushing down on the trem, the actual sliding screw slides over and locks it into a detuned position....this off course happens when  I use the tremolo wildly (rock star pose optional!) :D

which way (and which screw) should I turn so that this won't happen anymore?

the tremolo is an intergral part of my playing (think Thurston Moore, J Mascis, Neil Young)

many thanks
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Re: Tremolo abuse question....

Post by daydreamdelay » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:48 am

I just got the greatest mental image of neil young murdering his bigsby..  8)

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Re: Tremolo abuse question....

Post by zhivago » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:06 am

Neil is the man!

8)
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Re: Tremolo abuse question....

Post by mezcalhead » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:55 am

John, I set my trem lock so that in the neutral position the trem button has no effect. It's only when you try to pull up on the bar that the trem lock stops you going sharp. It takes a bit of trial and error to get it balanced perfectly, but it's cool once you've got it.

Also, is there a nut holding the trem lock button on? If you tightened that up, it might not shift so easily.

Final option would be to set the trem so that the trem lock button can't get under the trem blade (or whatever it's called), which would involve tightening the big screw in the middle of the trem block (and adjusting the bridge to keep everything in tune). However, if you break a string then you'll go sharp like those poor pitiful Strat players.
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Re: Tremolo abuse question....

Post by zhivago » Fri Sep 22, 2006 12:09 pm

mezcalhead wrote: John, I set my trem lock so that in the neutral position the trem button has no effect. It's only when you try to pull up on the bar that the trem lock stops you going sharp. It takes a bit of trial and error to get it balanced perfectly, but it's cool once you've got it.

Also, is there a nut holding the trem lock button on? If you tightened that up, it might not shift so easily.

Final option would be to set the trem so that the trem lock button can't get under the trem blade (or whatever it's called), which would involve tightening the big screw in the middle of the trem block (and adjusting the bridge to keep everything in tune). However, if you break a string then you'll go sharp like those poor pitiful $trat players.
hmm..ok..I'll have a play around with this...I just wanna be able to do what I've always done on my old offsets...it seems that this one's setup slightly different...I'll have a fiddle with it....
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