I think Dave Wronski posted something back a while ago on grinding the sharp edges to make the tremolo smoother. I use 12's on my Jag and 11's on the jazzmaster and have never had any issues.

I've never had any problem with my jag or jazzmaster going out of tune. But I do find tune-o-matic bridges to be not as smooth or as tune-able as the original bridge (that was designed for Fender synchronised floating tremolo).

He who dies with the most tubes... wins

Surf Daddies

Last edited: Jul 31, 2016 20:46:29

I know this is an old thread and looks like Whammyfix never came back after it, but I just did this fix and it's amazing.

I've been beating my head trying to remedy tuning issues with my month old Lac Jag, just about ready to return it as a lemon.

Did it all: nut, Mustang bridge, shims, lubing, etc. and I get it that most of you never had issues but I sure as hell did and I've been playing strings for 40 years (relatively new to guitar).

This thread was the single most helpful thing I've read or heard, from the pros at Fender on down. I wish I found it earlier, would have saved me about 25 restringings. Probably wouldn't have bought the Stang bridge either since I wasn't having buzz or jump issues.

I did the fix a bit different in case anyone is interested:

I took the pivot point and rounded it by rolling it over 100 grit sandpaper on glass (to be absolutely flat). I then did the female pivot point using a thin round Dremel grinding bit. Once roughly shaped, I used the opposite pieces to final shape. In other words, I wrapped the male part with sandpaper, then rubbed it back and forth in the slot to shape it, then reversed and held the paper still in the slot and rubbed the male pivot to shape that. Started with 400 and worked up to 2000 grit giving both a mirror shine. Jammied it up with Ceramic Grease, reassembled and I was dive bombing with the tuner in place and it always returned to pitch.

Note that I would barely even drop a half step before, never bombed and it almost always would detune.

I also stringed it winding up the tuner stem. Basses always wind down, been doing it that way since 1978, so the though of going up was a tough sell.

I kept the original spring in the Trem, but did tighten it quite a bit. That was another issue I had. Every single bit of setup material anywhere, including Fender works off the lock, which the Lac Jag does have, so I was left in the weeds on that one too.

But it's all good now.

Thanks Whammyfix, wherever you are...

Last edited: May 31, 2018 14:08:20

It was the best thing I did to the 60s Lac, wish it was the first. Except a minor adjustment after a weather swing, it's been locked in tune for over a week. Much different than the 'don't pick it up too fast or it'll go out' I was experiencing.

Well, its been nearly 3 years but now I'm back! I'm happy to see that ausf gave my whammy fix procedure a try. I would guess others have done the same. This staying in tune issue with this type of wiggle stick set up is very common. If you search on the staying in tune problems with the Jazzmaster guitar there are many players who are complaining about it, it's not just ausf and I who have this problem. I've seen some who have vintage Jazzmaster guitars who are also complaining and are looking for a way to stabilize it. Anyway, I wanted to give a bit of an update. A few months ago, I meant a player who has a newer Mexican made Jazzmaster. He told me he loves the guitar but he hates how it will not stay tuned worth beans. I told him about my fix, he was very interested but I could tell he was a bit skeptical. I invited him to my place so he could play mine to see I was not full of "stinky poopoo". I handed it to him, told him to go ahead and be as aggressive as he wanted to be with the whammy and try to put it out of tune. He played around for a minute or two, but wasn't being as aggressive as he should have been. So I took the guitar and beat the crap out of it, using the whammy bar to full extension both up and down as far as it would reach. Plus bending strings and strumming extremely hard. After about a minute of this rough treatment, we took a look at it's tuning. Yes, it was slightly off, but not off so much that one could detect it by ear. He was blown away. Then he asked me If I would work his over. So I did and now he is very pleased. He also owns an American made Stratocaster, he told me
his Strat can't withstand that type of rough play without going way out of tune. I too own a strat, same deal. If I get very rough with the whammy it goes out of tune. I've tried everything to improve the tuning stability on my Strat, I did improve some on it, but not as much as I wish. It simply is not as stable as my Jazzmaster whammy is. Here's my conclusion. The Fender Jazzmaster style of whammy can be made to be more tuning stable then just about any other whammy type set up. The only one I know of is a locking Floyd Rose type. Locking FR are rock solid. But, they are also a pain when changing the strings and to get the whammy to float proper. I do still plan to make a video showing how well this fix works. Proof in the Pudding for the skeptics. My wife set up a YouTube account, Ill post it there and lead you all to it once I've made it and uploaded it. Yes, I do realize the Jazzmaster guitar were never really designed to be used as a hard rock guitar. But they are such a great guitar who can resist? The newer Mexi made ones have two humbuckers, with a split coil pickup switch to make them single coil. These things are a kick butt guitar with excellent all around tonal qualities. Once the tuning issue is resolved, I say a Jazzmaster can be used for any style of music and they will fit right in!
ausf wrote:

I know this is an old thread and looks like Whammyfix never came back after it, but I just did this fix and it's amazing.

I've been beating my head trying to remedy tuning issues with my month old Lac Jag, just about ready to return it as a lemon.

Did it all: nut, Mustang bridge, shims, lubing, etc. and I get it that most of you never had issues but I sure as hell did and I've been playing strings for 40 years (relatively new to guitar).

This thread was the single most helpful thing I've read or heard, from the pros at Fender on down. I wish I found it earlier, would have saved me about 25 restringings. Probably wouldn't have bought the Stang bridge either since I wasn't having buzz or jump issues.

I did the fix a bit different in case anyone is interested:

I took the pivot point and rounded it by rolling it over 100 grit sandpaper on glass (to be absolutely flat). I then did the female pivot point using a thin round Dremel grinding bit. Once roughly shaped, I used the opposite pieces to final shape. In other words, I wrapped the male part with sandpaper, then rubbed it back and forth in the slot to shape it, then reversed and held the paper still in the slot and rubbed the male pivot to shape that. Started with 400 and worked up to 2000 grit giving both a mirror shine. Jammied it up with Ceramic Grease, reassembled and I was dive bombing with the tuner in place and it always returned to pitch.

Note that I would barely even drop a half step before, never bombed and it almost always would detune.

I also stringed it winding up the tuner stem. Basses always wind down, been doing it that way since 1978, so the though of going up was a tough sell.

I kept the original spring in the Trem, but did tighten it quite a bit. That was another issue I had. Every single bit of setup material anywhere, including Fender works off the lock, which the Lac Jag does have, so I was left in the weeds on that one too.

But it's all good now.

Thanks Whammyfix, wherever you are...

This video is interesting in relation to the static problems

Last edited: Mar 06, 2019 08:25:05