So, these Jazzmaster trems..

jacklawtey

My JM66b never came with an arm, no bother. Lazy old me took about 5 months to order a Staytrem arm and collet, and another 2 months to fit it, which leads us to today. 

I unscrewed the tailpiece to find the absolutely numpty before me had tightened the spring beyond belief instead of using the trem lock. Whatever, I can unscrew that. 








Which I go ahead and do! 










But then I notice that the sleeve(?) of the collect(?) is rubbing against the tailpiece when I push the trem down. It makes a horrific clinky noise and is awful. See here how close it is? This might be fixable by simple string tension I guess. 











I also noticed that compared to one of the (really useful) setup tutorials online, i'm unable to use the trem lock to secure the spring and achieve that.. gap? The locking part just wont extend far enough. Heres His vs. Mine: 






Mine: 




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Anyone care to offer some advice? Thanks! 

JerkMoans

I’d suggest a bit of trial and error with spring tension. It was at one extreme: maybe you’ve loosened it too much the other way?

i had a similar issue fitting a Mastery trem to my jazzmaster a few weeks ago: it made a horrid clickerty click sound whenever returning to ‘normal’ after being used. A bit of experimentation with spring tension sorted it right out.

good luck.

Funkfingers

IIRC, there is an essential bit of metal absent from Japanese-made versions of the locking mechanism.

Pop over to the Fender offset guitars enthusiasts web sites. On one of these, there is a detailed explanation of the difference between the original American Jazzmaster/Jaguar tailpiece and its MIJ/CIJ equivalent. 

JerkMoans

FWIW here’s the state of my trem which worked just fine and dandy before I swapped it out (if it helps)

https://i.imgur.com/AoPOtqj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RJ1s6nM.jpg

meltedbuzzbox

Vibrato... 

BoopDeWoop

You need to have the bridge on the body and the strings installed before you sort out the bridge and lock. Fit the staytrem stuff and bolt it back on, it’s only one screw to adjust, it’s the easiest thing in the world to set up. 

mart

jacklawtey said:

...
Mine: 



--

Anyone care to offer some advice? Thanks! 

Can you push the bar down (against the spring) until the gap is wide enough to slide the lock into? Then it’d look like the photo you posted from some other guy, and basically the lock would work how it’s supposed to.

The Offset Guitar forum seems to be split about whether MIJ systems work or not. I’m guessing quality control there means sometimes they don’t.

On my MIJ I can’t get the lock far enough away from the trem to unlock it, but I haven’t opened it up to see what’s going on underneath.

DrBob

When it’s got string tension on it I think the whole pivoting section gets pulled forward so that it engages with the locking button

stickyfiddle

DrBob said:

When it’s got string tension on it I think the whole pivoting section gets pulled forward so that it engages with the locking button

Yes this. Even a fully working one will feel weird when not under string tension.

I have an AVRI on mine and it was the same.

jacklawtey

Sorted. Weirdly easily, actually. Nice and stable now. Thanks guys