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--- In , "Tyler" <surfguitar55@y...>
wrote:
> I have a reissue Fender Jaguar. The problem that I've always had
with it, is that the tremolo barely dips at all...
That's just the way Jaguar and Jazzmaster trems are--- they've got
nowhere near the pitch range of the Strat trem. The Strat design has
more than the JM or Jag, but none of these axes were really intended
to give more than a little Hawaiian guitar-style vibrato. They were
designed WAY before guys like Hendrix started with the extreme dive-
bomb stuff (and he happened to be doing it on a Strat).
To me it seems worse with heavier strings, I guess because thinner
strings produce more pitch variation for a given amount of bend or
tension change. Coincidentally I just switched my CIJ Jag
from .013's down to .011's this weekend and am getting a kick out of
the increased snap and twang from thin strings on a short-scale axe.
By the way, I assume you've got the trem spring adjusted so that the
mechanism floats just at the point where it's captured when you slide
the trem-lock button forward (preventing any upbend). If it's below
that point when it's at rest, you've already lost some of the
downward travel, so that's worth checking. If you've switched the
guitar from light-gauge strings to heavier ones without adjusting
this, that could be what's wrong and the arm will be too low.
Solution is to tighten the trem screw to counteract the increased
string tension (which will bring the arm up).
Hope that helps,
Rob Woolsey
Detonators
