Fender "Panorama" Tremolo System -- American Performer II Jazzmaster

[Larry Mal]

I'm wondering if and by how much the panorama is heavier than the original. They have added some massive metal blocks, one to control the trem arm tightness and some for the pivoting. If anyone has it open, can you check the weight and the material of these blocks?

I never weighed it, but on this guitar I have had the MIJ unit, later an AVRI, then a Descendant, then the Panorama which is where it will end. I never detected any kind of difference in weight that I cared about.

I doubt this is very helpful or anything.

[tammyw]

The pivot blocks are maybe stainless steel, the collet block might be a plain steel. If an AVRI weighs about 316g then the panorama is about 329g, excluding the arms.

[RaistMagus]

The pivot blocks are maybe stainless steel, the collet block might be a plain steel. If an AVRI weighs about 316g then the panorama is about 329g, excluding the arms.

I'm wondering if and by how much the panorama is heavier than the original. They have added some massive metal blocks, one to control the trem arm tightness and some for the pivoting. If anyone has it open, can you check the weight and the material of these blocks?

I never weighed it, but on this guitar I have had the MIJ unit, later an AVRI, then a Descendant, then the Panorama which is where it will end. I never detected any kind of difference in weight that I cared about.

I doubt this is very helpful or anything.

Thanks for the replies! Good info

[tammyw]

I switched my Am Pro II back to the stock spring and strung it with some extra light 7's and I think it's much better in this configuration. Although with the tall frets you need to be a little bit careful about mot pulling the strings out of tune, it takes a light touch, but it still sounds great. And you can get a great range and feel on the vibrato.

I'm still slightly dissatisfied with the collet block on the panorama. Granted I've wailed on this thing pretty hard testing different springs and heavy strings. But whenever I pop the arm in it goes too far in, and then the end of the arm will hit the bottom of the cavity. And also there's a bit more play between the arm and collet than I'd like, like I can wiggle the arm up and down a bit in the collet before it moves the vibrato. Honestly I prefer the screw-in arm on the original Am Pro.

[mattf]

Hi, I'm glad to see another person with a Squier Bass VI that has figured out a solution for the panorama trem system. I have the La Bella Flat Wound with Stainless Steel, gauges .026 .035 .044 .056 .075 .095. What are your gauges for the custom set you mentioned? Did you have to do any extra routing on the Squire Bass VI for the panorama to fit? I asked Fender about that before I purchased and basically got a "we don't know response".

I really like the Squire Bass VI. I have been disappointed in the travel of the trem, and also have some slight occasional rattle which I suspect is coming from there so I ordered the panorama trem system thinking it would be an upgrade, and only then did I see the 60 cycle hum video about the issue. So I bought the suggested stiffer spring (the yellow one and also a stiffer blue one, from Amazon 16mm outer, 8mm inner, 25mm length) and tried to increase the inner diameter on a drill press with a 12mm stepper bit but that didn't work. It just compressed the spring and the heat from the friction caused the spring to stay compressed, and I wasn't even able to open the diameter up enough. I could use the stock spring from the Squire Bass VI with the panorama but I haven't taken it off yet and your description of the string gauges you are using causes me to think it will still be to light.

Today I put the conical nut/stopper piece in a drill press and filed it down, rather than continue trying to drill out the spring. It worked. Basically I threaded a sacrificial bolt through it so the head of the bolt was at the taped end of the nut and the excess bolt was what the drill chucks grabbed. I went slow with the drill RPM and used a flat file and took off the minimum, probably about 15-20 minutes later it was shaved down so the replacement springs I referred to will fit fully. Which is nice because that means I can get different tension replacements if needed. And I'm glad that the springs were on Amazon for fast shipping rather than 30+ days it was going to take from the overseas seller on eBay.

I swapped the stock spring, screw, and retainer from the Squier into the Panorama on my Bass VI, and it works! I'll point out that mine is strung a little differently for all-fifths and similar tunings, so the low E is .095 but the higher strings are much lighter than a stock VI. On lower tension settings it will certainly drop the pitch 5 or 6 semitones, but cranked up for a stiffer feel it will still drop 2 or 3 semitones.

[mauri]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I asked about this from fender europe service and this was their response: "The Panorama Tremolo System is designed to give you optimal results with 0.09 or 0.10 gauge strings. I have been advised that there are no plans to change the spring for this system.

If you wish to use higher gauge strings, you may wish to change the spring for a third party alternative. We've seen users successfully switch out to this spring here as an alternative - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274471519345 (TF Yellow - 16x8x25) when using heavier gauge strings. As this is not a Fender product we cannot guarantee that it will offer a perfect fit and may need to be modified. "

I also came aware if this issue few weeks ago when I was testing out 0.10-0.52 and 0.11-0.48 strings. It just bottoms out with very little room to play.

This of course isn't mentioned anywhere on their site, brochures etc. Even the aftermarket information on their site of panorama tremolo doesn't have any mention about this which is kinda sad. What is more pathetic is that they refer to this same spring hack which has been touted in youtube etc. Of course it doesn't even fit right out of the box, you either need to use washers or file down the excess material from the cone to make the spring fit properly.

I'm so pissed that I bought AmPro II instead of the AO. I can't remember the reason anymore which was the deciding factor two years ago, was that the AO was out of stock or I just didn't know enough from the AmPro, but with all the mods I've made so far, I should have gone straight with the 60s AO. This feels like a final nail in the coffin.

[Larry Mal]

It just bottoms out with very little room to play.

Odd. I have one, stock spring, and use it with .11s. I don't find it to be all that limited, it has about the same range as the AVRI trems do. Not the full range of what the Panorama can do, as I understand it, but still useful.

[mauri]

It just bottoms out with very little room to play.

Odd. I have one, stock spring, and use it with .11s. I don't find it to be all that limited, it has about the same range as the AVRI trems do. Not the full range of what the Panorama can do, as I understand it, but still useful.

Hmm, I need to fiddle more with the pretension then if the tension was all ready bottomed out. So the AVRI has about the same amount of range than the panorama with 0.11s? Then it sounds it won't be worth switching to AVRI tremolo. And what affected my feeling with "very little room to play" was compared with lighter springs. I need to try out again, I switched back to 0.10-0.46, but I feel I'd like a bit more weight. Time to fiddle around again with the strings over the weekend.

[Larry Mal]

[

Hmm, I need to fiddle more with the pretension then if the tension was all ready bottomed out. So the AVRI has about the same amount of range than the panorama with 0.11s? Then it sounds it won't be worth switching to AVRI tremolo. And what affected my feeling with "very little room to play" was compared with lighter springs. I need to try out again, I switched back to 0.10-0.46, but I feel I'd like a bit more weight. Time to fiddle around again with the strings over the weekend.

Yeah, I thought it would be a lot worse, and I would be hurrying up to get that spring that you mention, but it's not terrible as it is. Not sure what you can adjust, though, but maybe you can get better performance. I really do like it a lot.

[mauri]

Yeah, I thought it would be a lot worse, and I would be hurrying up to get that spring that you mention, but it's not terrible as it is. Not sure what you can adjust, though, but maybe you can get better performance. I really do like it a lot.

Thanks Larry. I might need to give it another shot.

[Dollywitch]

Yo can I just buy one of these and slide them into my Jag or a Jazzmaster?

EDIT: Jesus they're expensive lol. Obvious markup for "new" tech. Don't suppose anyone has come up with an alternative?