How to put screw in tremolo arm into MIM player Jazzmaster

[keshin]

I bought a screw-in AmPro Jazzmaster tremelo to switch out with the pop-in trem which came with my CME exclusive player jm and I am having some trouble figuring out how to attach it?

Do I need to remove the Metal tremelo plate component on the guitar body in order to put the screw-in arm on or is there something really simple I’m missing?

Thanks in advance

[Embenny]

Your post is not worded very clearly, are you saying you're trying to fit a screw-in arm into your current tailpiece? The screw-in arm only fits a threaded collet, and they don't sell those collets separately as far as I'm aware. You'd either have to find a threaded collet and change it out with your current one (which involves unscrewing the tailpiece to access the nut on the underside that secures the collet), or swap it for an entire assembly with a threaded collet (which they do sell as an official part).

[keshin]

Hey thank you for the reply. Yes I am trying to fit a screw in trem into my current tailpiece, which you have made clear is not going to happen without a new assembly or threaded collect.

This is disappointing lol definitely should have looked into this more hahaha.

I’ll look into buying either of these pieces.

[timtam]

The Am Pro's screw-in collet for the screw-in arm can be bought ...
https://darrenriley.com/store/professio ... 710465000/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/771-0465-000-F ... 2639530475
But the Am Pro arm usually sells with the collet ...
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-am ... 710405049/
I've never swapped a collet but you can kind of see from the external thread how it screws into the plate. But I've heard the existing installed collets can be a bit hard to shift.
Since the CME player looks to have a no-lock trem, another option might be the (Korean) Classic Player trem, which has the lock and takes a screw-in arm (10-32 thread).
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-cl ... 076232049/

[keshin]

Ah thanks for the picture,

The tremelo arm I bought came with the collect then.

I am a bit apprehensive to remove the tremelo plate... but I will try

[keshin]

If anyone has any tips or a guide for me to check out prior to unscrewing the tail plate I would appreciate it

[andy_tchp]

Remove strings, then undo [6] mounting screws.

That's it.


Much harder will be removing the collet. I'd suggest mounting it in a vice (with well padded jaws), having a heat source (like a small butane torch) if it's particularly tight to remove, and the correctly sized socket on a breaker bar (or a ring spanner of the appropriate size.)

[adamrobertt]

If anyone has any tips or a guide for me to check out prior to unscrewing the tail plate I would appreciate it

You literally just unscrew it. It isn't difficult or complicated, just make sure you take the strings off first if that isn't obvious.

[Mondaysoutar]

I changed the collet on my JM quite recently. Grip the removed unit with a hand towel and use pliers to remove the collet. I sprayed a small amount of WD40 onto the thread which helped loosen it a bit too.
Removing the unit, as said above, is easy enough. Unscrew the six screws running around the edge of it, and it comes off no worries. First time you do it, you’re apprehensive naturally, but it’ll be all good man.

[keshin]

I changed the collet on my JM quite recently. Grip the removed unit with a hand towel and use pliers to remove the collet. I sprayed a small amount of WD40 onto the thread which helped loosen it a bit too.
Removing the unit, as said above, is easy enough. Unscrew the six screws running around the edge of it, and it comes off no worries. First time you do it, you’re apprehensive naturally, but it’ll be all good man.

Hey thanks for the advice, hand towel and wd40 were actually really useful

Everything worked out and the screw in trem works much better than the push in trem.

[keshin]

I changed the collet on my JM quite recently. Grip the removed unit with a hand towel and use pliers to remove the collet. I sprayed a small amount of WD40 onto the thread which helped loosen it a bit too.
Removing the unit, as said above, is easy enough. Unscrew the six screws running around the edge of it, and it comes off no worries. First time you do it, you’re apprehensive naturally, but it’ll be all good man.

Hey thanks for the advice, hand towel and wd40 were actually really useful

Everything worked out and the screw in trem works much better than the push in trem.

[ChrisDesign]

Glad it works. I swapped my MIM collet for a Staytrem Collet. My trem unit now works perfectly with smooth action and zero rattle.

[Mondaysoutar]

Glad it works. I swapped my MIM collet for a Staytrem Collet. My trem unit now works perfectly with smooth action and zero rattle.

Weirdly enough, when I replaced my loose AVRI arm/collet with Staytrem I actually had a bit more squeaks/rattles,etc. Took a fair bit of fiddling for it to settle down again. For me, best thing about the Staytrem arm/collet is the responsiveness-touch it and you can hear it, even more than the AVRI.