ShortBuSX
September 24th, 2008, 10:53 AM
Ive been blocking the trems on all of my Strats for awhile now and have a technique that works very sweetly...thought Id pass it on.
If youve got a USA Strat this wont be necessarily, but this works great on MIM as well as the Squiers Ive had weather its a vintage style or 2 point trem.
First get you a paint stir stick, and cut bout 3 inches off...this one is one trem away from being retired.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/ShortBuSX/100_2085.jpg
You might wanna do this during a string change, otherwise let the tension off the strings...and then remove the trem springs.
Then just place the stick between the body and the trem and then put the springs back on...the spring tension will hold the stick right in place and will also lock the trem down.
With the vintage 6 screw type I usually loosen the 6 screws up a tad each and then snug them down individually making sure that if its too tight the rear of the trem will begin to rise...theres a balance between too tight and snug enough, youll see what I mean.
You should be able to see it wedged in there in this pic
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/ShortBuSX/100_2043-1.jpg
Im tellin ya this works so good, the perfect thickness, that it keeps it slammed as low as you can get it but keeps it totally off of the finish.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/ShortBuSX/100_2079.jpg
Im not going to make claims that this is suddenly a sustain monster because of this, but I(personally) dont like the tuning stability of a floating trem and the issues associated with it, I never use the trem anyways.
Maybe youve got a technique for blocking trems, this is just mine, its easy and it works great...hope thisll maybe help someone.
BTW, I also did this to my MIJ but it used a much thinner shim.
If youve got a USA Strat this wont be necessarily, but this works great on MIM as well as the Squiers Ive had weather its a vintage style or 2 point trem.
First get you a paint stir stick, and cut bout 3 inches off...this one is one trem away from being retired.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/ShortBuSX/100_2085.jpg
You might wanna do this during a string change, otherwise let the tension off the strings...and then remove the trem springs.
Then just place the stick between the body and the trem and then put the springs back on...the spring tension will hold the stick right in place and will also lock the trem down.
With the vintage 6 screw type I usually loosen the 6 screws up a tad each and then snug them down individually making sure that if its too tight the rear of the trem will begin to rise...theres a balance between too tight and snug enough, youll see what I mean.
You should be able to see it wedged in there in this pic
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/ShortBuSX/100_2043-1.jpg
Im tellin ya this works so good, the perfect thickness, that it keeps it slammed as low as you can get it but keeps it totally off of the finish.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/ShortBuSX/100_2079.jpg
Im not going to make claims that this is suddenly a sustain monster because of this, but I(personally) dont like the tuning stability of a floating trem and the issues associated with it, I never use the trem anyways.
Maybe youve got a technique for blocking trems, this is just mine, its easy and it works great...hope thisll maybe help someone.
BTW, I also did this to my MIJ but it used a much thinner shim.