creaky tremelo!!

kingnimrod

I recently picked up a 96 MIJ jazzmaster, and have been tweaking the setup on it, trying to get it perfect.

Originally, the trem arm was quite loose, which was remedied by squeezing the collet on the receptacle a little tighter.

Now, I'm not sure I noticed this before, and I don't believe it has anything to do with the collet, but when I push down on the trem arm, I get a creaky sound from the spring. Would applying household oil to the spring resolve this?

Also, the tremlock button slides around too easily -I tightened it on the underside of the trem plate, but it quickly loosened itself.

I understand how the tremlock system works, and other than these 2 problems it seems to be fine. But the creakiness is absolutely unacceptable, and the lock button has too much play.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Rick

kingnimrod said: Also, the tremlock button slides around too easily -I tightened it on the underside of the trem plate, but it quickly loosened itself.

i can't imagine a spring, itself, creaking when it is compressed. but it could be more the screw which passes through the spring scraping against the trem plate. since the only other contact point is maybe the lever scraping against the knife (situated just under the string eye holes). you could try putting grease on that contact point.

you're suppose to use thread lock for that. if you don't have thread lock, you can wrap the thread in cling film, then you screw the button on so that there is no play, but also just enough space for the trem plate not to be scraped over and underneath the trem plate

kingnimrod

I oiled the lever/knife before I reinstalled the plate the last time - I'm thinking at this point it's one of the contact points connected to the spring itself.

thanks for the suggestion for the thread lock.

You know, I think I find myself at Home Depot more often for guitar repair/replacement than anything else...