Fender 2-Pivot Tremolo Problem

[Louis W.]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum. I finished assembling my first Warmoth strat this monday and I am very happy with it. I just have the following problem with the setup of the installed Fender 2-Pivot bridge:

I set it up Jeff Beck style floating (Bend g-string 1½ step, b 1 whole step etc) and it stays perfectly in tune and feels great. But I cannot dive bomb it. It just goes down from E to between G & G sharp then the block touches the inside body, does anyone know why? Does the Warmoth body (I have the chambered strat replacement) has a smaller cavity for the tremolo block to move? I have a Fender Jeff Beck strat with the very same setup and tremolo system which I can dive easily till the strings are slack and the tip of the tremolo arm touches the pickguard...  :icon_scratch: I also used to own an American Deluxe Strat with this setup and it also could do both dive and string pull...

I googled the hell out of it I can only find people having tuning problems etc, does anyone have some advice?

Thanks and best regards

Louis

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Does the Jeff Beck strat have a tapered block by any chance?

 

[Louis W.]

Hey, thanks for your reply. The Jeff Beck has the same bridge/trem block as the one I ordered at Warmoth:

http://www.warmoth.com/Fender-Standard-C698.aspx

I think they're both tapered? They are the same, aren't they?

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Should be, yeah. I have untapered blocks on both my american standard trems and can still dive them quite far. They're on a Fender body and a Warmoth body, like you.

There's nothing stopping you removing some wood if you need to (or having someone else do it perhaps).

Strange though. Have you looked in the back of the guitar while you're trying?

 

[Louis W.]

Yes, when I press down the trem bar the upper part (not the tapered one) of the trem block touches the wood behind the bridge. It touches on the upper, narrower part of the cavity not the bigger one you see when you look at the back (I hope it's clear what I mean...)

 

[mullyman]

Pictures could help if you have a way to post them.
MULLY

 

[stubhead]

Well, if there's wood in the way it has to go if you want it to move further. This isn't something where hours of research is going to make a difference. I'm assuming you have the intonation all in tune, your action height is right etc.? You are lucky you have the same bridge on other guitars, because you will be able to do some direct measurements. I'm a "non-whammy guy" but I have cut the holes for them. What you're looking for is probably removing about 1/4" of wood, across the length of the back of the cavity. There's nothing there that can cause a structural problem, but of course it should  look as presentable as possible (Unless you're into the early Van Halen/George Lynch caveman-tech look). :laughing3:

I would probably do it with chisels, but most people would take a Dremel to it. I can't see any less-invasive fix to it. You can ask Warmoth about it - if you specified a route for that bridge, I don't quite understand how it came like that - but if you've got it there, all set up, taking it all apart and shipping the body back would be a long, expensive way around the issue. Research the actual size and shape of the area of wood that would need to go, how to do it, your own skills.... if need be there's always old woodworking guys around, I'd be inclined to look there before a young, dremel-happy "tech" at a Guitar Center. You might meet somebody interesting....

 

[drewfx]

Is the bridge at too great of an angle when you aren't using the trem?

 

[Louis W.]

Hey guys, thanks a lot for your advice. Yes, my action, intonation etc is all set up correctly and the same as on my Fender and you are right, I will have to remove some wood. Today I removed the bridge on both guitars and had to realize that on the Fender the route measures 2cm in width, on the Warmoth 4mm less!! ??? I did order the routing for an American Standard Tremolo and it's also confirmed on Warmoth's packing slip... Did they make a mistake or is it just the way they're doing it? The correct studs were installed so I'm really like this:  :icon_scratch:

Well apart from that it seems to be a fantastic guitar with the perfect neck, I love it! So I will ask a friend to remove a bit of wood and hope he will do a good job because I'm not a relic kinda guy... 

Thanks again!

 

[stubhead]

Well, you should certainly get up with Warmoth - e-mails & phone maybe, be nice... as you might guess, "replacement-part hell" is one of the common areas of misfits, re-fits etc. But to the best of my knowledge, a US Fender Standard bridge route should be just like what was on your Beck and your other Fender, not some in-between approximation. And I'm not a whammyier, but I hadn't heard of this particular issue, so maybe Alfonso the slot guy just missed a cm here or there (Actually I think it's ALL CNC...)  My luck with fitting usually centers around neck angle, you just can't take this offa that and screw that over there without having to shave 'em or shim 'em now and then. But as everyone who works on old Fenders will tell you, shims were far more common on the old legendary ones than nowadays! They may have a slipping spec somewhere, just let them know and see.

 

[Louis W.]

Hi again!

Today my buddy made a very good job cutting 2mm of wood behind the bridge (it was 2mm not 4 as I stated earlier) and the tremolo works now as it should and I'm very happy with this guitar now, just a wonderful instrument!  :hello2:

I'm not sure if I will write Warmoth about this, mistakes can happen... they delivered the neck, body, custom pickguard and parts within 6 weeks only instead of the announced 8-10, so overall I'm very happy with their job.

Thanks guys for your help!

Cheers!

 

[Jumble Jumble]

It doesn't have to be a complaint, just a heads-up. They'd want to know, I'm sure.

 

[Louis W.]

It doesn't have to be a complaint, just a heads-up. They'd want to know, I'm sure.

I just dropped them a mail... not complaining just telling.

Kindest Regards

 

[stubhead]

Yeah, it's always a good idea to tell them. They could have a worn-out template or component, and since they're not assembling 100's of guitars, just watching them go by, they're not going to know until somebody tells them. They don't police this place much - we do a semi-adequate job - but they are very much aware of this forum and they do a good job of squashing little blips before they get big.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Glad you got it sorted too - that's my favourite trem system, a perfect blend of functionality and looks.

 

[Louis W.]

Just to let you know that I told Warmoth and I received a very kind reply:

"Hello,

Thanks for your kind words about our products. We had not seen that issue before.
I will forward this on for consideration as it may be something we can implement in the future.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Thanks for allowing us the opportunity to serve you, 
  ~SPIKE~"

Cheers!