Also, the old tailpiece had a plastic insert in the set screw hole to keep the screw from marring the tremolo bar, and the new ones do not, and this is really bad. When I bought my Jag-Stang, I installed the tremolo bar and tightened the set screw so the bar would stay in one position. Not thinking anything of it, I moved the bar around just like I would on a Strat. When I removed the bar I found that the set screw had cut deep grooves into the bar, essentially ruining it. Leave it to Fender to take a bad tremolo and make it worse.

The solution is to make a piece of plastic like what was used on the old tailpiece. You’ll need to cut a small pill-like cylinder of plastic that will fit in the set screw hole but large enough where it will fit without falling out. That way the bar will be held in by pressure on the set screw but will be cushioned by the plastic insert.

Incidentally, I found a great way for left-handers to block off Mustang/Jag-Stang tremolo. You need to find a right-handed Mustang tailpiece and remove the pivot bar. Find two short bolts with the same thread as the pivot bolts. Flip the righty bar around and bolt it into your lefty tailpiece plate with the short bolts and mount to your guitar. The end result is a tailpiece pivot bar mounted rigidly to the tailpiece plate with proper holes in the back for mounting the strings. The strings follow through to the front and will go over the bridge at a lower angle, thus holding the strings tighter on the bridge, helping your intonation. The best part is that this is a completely reversible modification.

Thanks.