Tremolo Arm

[GuitarHitman]

The tremolo arm on my guitar (strat) has never worked well. But recently someone told me if I tighten the claw at the back of the guitar it would improve the tremolo. Is this true?

One more thing when I 1st got my guitar I accidently overtightened the tremolo arm and I think it may of pulled the claw back about 3mm. Would this cause any problems with tightening the screw? And if tightening the screws at the claw works would I have to slacken the string a bit 1st to cut down on the tension on the spring pulling the claw back.

[Slash]

Hi hitman

what do you mean that the arm has never worked well? do the strings go out of tune easy? then tightening the screws at the spring clamp mechanism at the back will help as the additional tension holds the bridge down. But you will not be able to bend in both directions, only down.

Nikhil

[GuitarHitman]

What I mean is by "never worked well" is you can't do dive bombs and scoops with it. The only way you can get it to work is if you move it real quickly up and down and the effect it has then is still faint.

[MetalRevolution]

I am only saying what I would do if I was in your situation.
Your local guitar shop might be similar to mine. I give them about 15-20 bucks and they will adjust my tremolo, intonation, pickups, and restring my guitar. That is probably your best bet. I can also tell you that tuning your guitar to different tunings, such as a half step or a whole step down screws with the tension of your tremolo springs quite a bit, that could be the source of your problem.


Heavy metal till the end.

[GuitarHitman]

I found the problem. The wood behind the bridge was stopping me moving it. I got it fixed.