Mustang trems

suspiciousminds

Do mustang trems cause tuning problems or can they work ok.
I’ve unlocked the trem on my jagstang however it doesnt seem to reliably stay in tune.
I’ve greased up the pivot points under the trem plate (left the springs on the middle post position.
I’m guessing theyre not designed for divebombs etc but surely they should hold tune with a little use?

Stuckfast

Mine's shite.

Funkfingers

^
Harsh but fair.

The pivot/spring arrangement is just one of the "delights" of that vibrato system. Next, you have the moving bridge to contend with.

Conventional wisdom is to put as much tension as possible on the springs. I like to restrict the movement of the bridge by packing out the pivot cup "thimbles". String gauges of 011 and upwards aid tuning stability. With all of these things sorted, the system should reliably offer gently shimmering wobbles. Nothing more.

JD50

I have a Mustang from early the 70's.
It stays in tune absolutely fine and I do like to make space invaders noises with the trem...
There are some good tutorials on YouTube which should help set up the trem.

bbill335

Some MIJ stang vibrato plates are not machined well and lack the knife edge that the posts need to pivot smoothly. Sometimes, they're made out of a really soft metal, such that whether there was a knife edge or not doesn't matter after a couple of months' divebombing. 

On my '66, the "cigar tube" (the tailpiece) is really low, the strings barely fit between the tailpiece and the vibrato plate. It only goes down in pitch but I have very little problems keeping it in tune. I had an MIJ set up in a similar way and it worked alright but the vibrato action was not smooth or pleasant and the unit made a horrible creaking (it didn't come through the amp but you could feel it in your right hand).

People like Ty Segall and Charlie Moothart seem to get away with floating theirs really high and just shove the tailpiece around with their right hand.

suspiciousminds

Hmm, i have got it fairly high - i’ll try screwing the bar down lower.
i’ll try restricting the bridge posts too.

bbill335

suspiciousminds said:

i’ll try restricting the bridge posts too.

I think that will do more harm than good. The bridge needs to move with the strings otherwise there's a good chance it won't return to pitch. ymmv. Make sure the springs underneath the vibrato plate are attached to the very ends of the posts (the stiffest setting).