I searched SG 101 and seen a lot about the StayTrem bridge, but not a lot about the trem’ arms and collets. I have several on order, but I’m just wondering what to expect.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Thanks Reverbenator, that’s the kind of information I’m looking for.

The MIJ tailpiece on my Bass VI was not very effective. The trem’ arm had to be shoved very deep to prevent it from swiveling and it was less than 2” above the pickguard, so there was limited range of motion. But even taking that into account, the amount of pitch change was unimpressive.

I went ahead and ordered an AVRI tailpiece, because I was doing some other work on it, so I decided to do all the changes at once. The AVRI tailpiece was an easy install; six screws. I already had a 10mm StayTrem on order, so I changed it to 3/8”, and I’ll install it the next time I change the strings.

If you ever have to install a collet, there’s nothing to it. Literally, just remove the old one and thread the new one in its place. If you can operate an open end wrench, you are qualified. If you own an open end wrench, you can consider yourself an expert. :j

The big question mark is the Jaguar I am building from a Warmoth body and neck. The idea is to build the Jaguar I would want if it was being custom built to my specifications. I’ll be assembling this from parts that have never been assembled before, so my baseline setup will be from scratch. Hopefully there won’t be too much fiddling to make it all work.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

It amazes me somewhat, how Fender/Squier can make these really nice reissues, and consistently come up short of the the goal posts by utilizing these crap tail pieces. Let’s be honest, it’s probably the result of some bean counter upstairs. Go figure.

If I were going to make an offset guitar from scratch, I’d be tempted to buy the Mastery Bridge and tail piece because they look and function well. (However, they’re not cheap, and can quickly drive up the cost of the build.) My Jaguar has the American Vintage tail piece, and a Mastery Bridge; my Jazzmaster has the Stay Trem arm setup, and an aftermarket Mustang style bridge that I modified a little bit.

Are you at all familiar with with Mike Adams? (One of the Mikes, from Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar) He has a YouTube channel called “Puisheen”. It’s an absolute treasure trove of offset guitar information. He has a genuine love of these instruments, and has done a lot (dozens?) of videos about them, all different aspects. Definitely worth a look.

-Cheers, Clark-

-Less Paul, more Reverb-

Reverbenator wrote:

It amazes me somewhat, how Fender/Squier can make these really nice reissues, and consistently come up short of the the goal posts by utilizing these crap tail pieces. Let’s be honest, it’s probably the result of some bean counter upstairs. Go figure.

If I were going to make an offset guitar from scratch, I’d be tempted to buy the Mastery Bridge and tail piece because they look and function well. (However, they’re not cheap, and can quickly drive up the cost of the build.) My Jaguar has the American Vintage tail piece, and a Mastery Bridge; my Jazzmaster has the Stay Trem arm setup, and an aftermarket Mustang style bridge that I modified a little bit.

Are you at all familiar with with Mike Adams? (One of the Mikes, from Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar) He has a YouTube channel called “Puisheen”. It’s an absolute treasure trove of offset guitar information. He has a genuine love of these instruments, and has done a lot (dozens?) of videos about them, all different aspects. Definitely worth a look.

Every product is made to a price point. I don’t like it, but I understand it. That explains the cheap trem’ on the Squier, at least to my satisfaction, but the MIJ VI could have had something better for a trem’. In its defense, it doesn’t seem to have the friction problems that the Squier trem’ has, and the action is acceptable, but the collet and the arm are where they chose to save money and are of considerably lower quality than the collet and arm from the Squier. At least that arm didn’t spin freely, as the MIJ did.

I would have bought the Mastery tailpiece, but I really like the trem’ lock, which I don’t believe that the Mastery tailpiece has. My bridge choice was the StayTrem, which seems well reputed. As best I understand it, it’s basically a Mustang style bridge with NyLock inserts on the height adjustment screws.

As a matter of fact, I’m subscribed to Mike Adams’ channel. I’ve learned a bit from him. It’s obvious that he gets the concept of the Offset, and he plays some decent demos. He did a work over of a CV Squier Jaguar that was pretty revealing.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Maybe somebody know of the alternative to Staytrem arm? I am not really happy to wait for 26 weeks with 140 pounds in my sweating palm.
Full AVRI tremolo?

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Tqi wrote:

synchro wrote:

Every product is made to a price point. I don’t like it, but I understand it. That explains the cheap trem’ on the Squier, at least to my satisfaction, but the MIJ VI could have had something better for a trem’. In its defense, it doesn’t seem to have the friction problems that the Squier trem’ has, and the action is acceptable, but the collet and the arm are where they chose to save money and are of considerably lower quality than the collet and arm from the Squier. At least that arm didn’t spin freely, as the MIJ did.

In the technical economic sense, yes. From a consumer perspective, the AV2 and AP2 are not "built to a price point" in that they're the most expensive off-the-peg Jazzmasters you can buy. And at £2300, there's plenty of room for Fender to use a collet and arm of similar standard to the StayTrem. They're not really expensive, they could afford to use the real thing! It would be cheaper than redesigning the entire unit and somehow making it worse (Hi, Panorama!) for sure.

I agree completely. I don’t understand why Fender doesn’t apply the improvements which are proven to work for their new Jaguars. I like the concept, recently mentioned of having three base approaches:

1. Vintage Accurate

2. The Past Is The Past

3. Vintage Style, But “Fixed”

Personally, I would always choose the third option. I like the vintage look, but a lot has changed since these guitars were developed. Materials Science has progressed significantly since the Offsets were first developed, and there’s no reason to be restricted to the level of technology available over 60 years ago, unless the individual so chooses. There’s a guy in my neighborhood that drives a Studebaker, but he also has a nice modern sedan, too.

It would be a simple matter to address the common issues which cause complaints on Offests. They could license StayTrem’s designs and have both a bridge and collet design which are proven to be effective.

Tqi wrote:

synchro wrote:

I would have bought the Mastery tailpiece, but I really like the trem’ lock, which I don’t believe that the Mastery tailpiece has. My bridge choice was the StayTrem, which seems well reputed. As best I understand it, it’s basically a Mustang style bridge with NyLock inserts on the height adjustment screws.

Give me a choice, I would go: AV(RI) trem, StayTrem collet/arm, StayTrem bridge - you keep the Fender branding, get a better designed arm (that doesn't need to be whacked with a hammer to work properly) and a Stainless Steel bridge. I do like a steel bridge. If I ever run into issues with the bridge on the Spark Jag, that's what I'll get - and if Fender ever make a matching VI, the StayTrem wide bridge and collet will be priced into the purchase in my head.

The Mastery bridge is kinda like replacing a strat trem with a bigsby. It's not worse, but at the end of the day it's just a completely different thing. I like the StayTrem because it's the original fender design, but it's priced to the quality rather than "Qualiteed" to the price.

Again, agreed. My Jaguar build will have the same StayTrem items you mention and my MIJ Bass VI will have a StayTrem bridge and arm, as soon as these arrive.

While the Mastery is a work of art, I agree that it’s pretty far from the original design. The bridge on my CV Squier is basically a Mustang design, and it works well. The StayTrem bridge is a great choice, IMHO.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Samurai wrote:

synchro wrote:

Samurai wrote:

Maybe somebody know of the alternative to Staytrem arm? I am not really happy to wait for 26 weeks with 140 pounds in my sweating palm.
Full AVRI tremolo?

I bought an AVRI and it’s fine, but I have a StayTrem on order, and will install it when it gets here.

I don’t know. Buying AVRI tremolo for $100 and then buying $40 arm for it doesn’t look like a great bargain for $400 guitar. But we’ll see)

For what it’s worth, the stock arm and collet on my AVRI are working perfectly. At least for the time being, there’s no need to replace them. You can buy an AVRI trem’ without the arm, if you happen to have one laying around, and that would save you some money.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

I bought a Fender US tremelo collet and new arm for my MIM Jaguar.
I had to re-tap the thread in tailpiece because of metric vs Imperial.
I have zero issues with loose arm swing.
If it wears out, I will remove the collet and crush the 4 prongs to restore the pressure.

Works for me.

BTW, I use liquid silicone, only a small drop for lubrication, works wonders to keep nice arm action.
I also put a drop on my strings at bridge and nut.

-

Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:11:22

While I admire the Mastery trem’, lack of range of the AVRI isn’t an issue to me. I use the trem’ a lot, but I use it subtly. While I use solid bridges on my archtops, on a Jaguar or Jazzmaster, it just doesn’t make sense to me.

I had wondered about crimping the collet, but haven’t actually tried it.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Last edited: Apr 27, 2023 00:46:22