Now the owner of a Jazzmaster, and just had the top E string unwind at the ball end after only very mild trem wiggling. Have looked around the usual places, and it appears that, yes, this is a thing. I would have been restringing with 11s anyway, so no biggie, but wondered if there's a way of alleviating this in the future. Read about one or other of these helping...
- finding the "right" string brand
- soldering the winding at the ball end of the plain strings
- flipping the outer two pivot plate screws so the heads don't catch the string as it passes over them into the tailpiece
- shimming the neck and raising the bridge
- fitting a Mastery vibrato
Anyone with any first-hand experience of this like to share tips/tricks?
Cheers!
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I vaguely recall that this problem may stem from the string anchoring holes in the tailpiece - especially non-US versions. Check the hole for sharp edges with the potential to cut through the strings. Abrade them smooth.
But if it looks like you would need to lose too much material from the screw head for it to be viable then the other option would be to flip the screws so the heads are on the inside as @impmann suggests.
Would be wise to check the string holes are not the problem too - as @Funkfingers said, the holes can develop burrs that can damage strings though that seems to be more of a problem on unwound strings - still worth checking though. Mitchells abrasive cord is perfect for smoothing out the edges of these holes.
I'd be reluctant to shim the neck to resolve this single issue as you could introduce other just as annoying issues.
I have had a burr inside the string hole on the tailpiece which was causing string breaks on a MIM classic player. A quick pass with a small file sorted it out.
but I know a lot of people, even with the mastery system and a well filed hole (giggity) still get mystery string breaks :-S
I know a lot of people do it, but I'm not sure about flipping the screws, they're only threaded into the pivot blade side so flipping them over means they no longer help to clamp the blade in place and simply become locating pins leaving the middle screw to do all the work holding the tremolo pivot in place. I'm sure it does work but seems wrong to me.
BTW if model/country of origin has a bearing on any of these minutiae, the guitar is a US 60th Anniversary '58 reissue.
How many strings have you gone through @DarnWeight
Or it could just be a duff string if it was a one off.
I'd smooth off the holes in any case to rule out future problems, either with a small needle file or even more effectively, Mitchells abrasive cord.
I'm probably just going to string it up as is with a set of Daddario 11s I've got knocking around (one of the balanced tension sets), check to see if it's contacting the pivot plate screw, and see what happens.
Replaced the top E with an Elixir - seems fine, although you can guarantee that I have just jinxed it by saying that!
Same for my CIJ.
YMMV
Thanks again for all the advice and info.