Trem arm modification - Jagmaster, but Strat-related too...

[JimN]

After retro-fitting my VistaSeries Squier Jagmaster with Catwhisker P90s in h/b sized cases, I've started using it out on gigs, at clubs and on jam nights, with excellent results. It's a completely different animal from a Strat or my MIJ Jazzmaster with the same CW P90s, but it does most of what I need (though I do like the extra tone controls of the Jazzmaster) and it has been getting favourable feedback from other players - even bassists.

But (and isn't there always a "but"?)...

The original MIJ alloy trem bridge went some time ago because the trem arm socket thread wore out (I still have it lying around somewhere). I replaced it with a Wilkinson all-steel unit with a pop-in arm. However, as with most generic Strat-type trems (including the one orginally supplied with the Jagmaster), the arm is of the original mid-fifties design with a pronounced upwards "hook" at the handle end. When Fender first started doing American reissues in 1982, they outfitted the 1957 Strat with this traditional arm design, but equipped the 1962 reissues with the more modern, straighter and higher-out-of-the-block type. I have a couple of AVRI '62 Strats - the arms have that better shape, which, of course, I prefer. But that's only true of the American Reissues. Most Japanese versions have the "hooked" trem arm even on models styled after the 1960s design.

The older shape stays closer to the body and only gains height over the last two inches or so. It's definitely not for me, but it isn't so easy to address as a problem. I thought about it for a bit, and eventually realised that a spare JVRI Jazzmaster arm (no profiling on the collet end) fits perfectly into the Wilkinson block and that it would be easy to trim the other end and glue the tip on the cut end of the arm. But blast it - the vertical "drop" still wasn't long enough to raise the arm sufficiently far out of the block.

So...

I cut off the angled part of the arm and smoothed the end. Than I asked my favourite local luthier to bend the arm in a vice, taking care to bend it in the correct plane so as to keep it parallel to the face of the guitar and, of course, to put the bend in the correct place so that the arm rises far enough out of the block before "turning".

Result?

Perfection!

See the "Before" pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29785641@N07/4695462817/
And the "After" pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29785641@N07/4695463109/

And the comparisons between the original arm and the modded Jazzmaster one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29785641@N07/4695463991/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29785641@N07/4696097712/

It works very well and feels far better than the original "hooked" arm.

Of course, this has implications for Strats as well as Jagmasters...

JN

[cockroach]

Thanks for that JIm.

It seems here where I am that nearly all after market arms are the straight type with that 'kicked up' end- I bought one for my old Strat copy years ago when I got the guitar, and although they are cheap to buy ($5 AUS) they are useless! I might try to bend mine if I can get the use of someone's vice for a few minutes....

My solution has been to do without an arm altogether, or to use the Tommy Emmanuel trick- play the note or chord , hold that, and reach over with the right hand and bend the neck...

[JimN]

Thanks for that JIm.
It seems here where I am that nearly all after market arms are the straight type with that 'kicked up' end - ... - I might try to bend mine if I can get the use of someone's vice for a few minutes...

Bending the neck, eh?

For a normal Stratocaster with a screw-in arm fitment, the American Vintage Reissue arm (the one supplied with the 1962 VRI) is the "right" shape anyway.

I was only able to use a Jazzmaster arm (trimmed shorter, then bent into shape) because I have the Wilkinson "pop-in" trem bridge with no thread in the block, and the new-cut end of the trimmed-down arm, of course, has no thread on it.

JN.