I am a long time lurker but have something to share. I was changing the 40 year old springs in my 1975 Mustang's tremolo and wondered why I haven't seen anyone block the tremolo so it only works to loosen the strings and then it will always return to tune when you let the tremolo go? It won't be a floating tremolo but it would make the guitar way more useful. I have done this with all my Strats for over 30 years by screwing the claw all the way down.
This is the victim. A 1975 Fender Mustang I rescued on a business trip to Des Moines over 15 years ago. Someone had used a steak knife to cut the black pickguard and “route” out the space for a humbucker between the two single coils. Ugh… It’s better now. A 1964 pick guard and a RW/RP rewind to the neck pickup made it hum free and ready to rock. Unfortunately, the springs in the tremolo had gotten so old it made a weird warble sound when I let go of the bar. It stayed in tune fairly well…for a Mustang Tremolo. So out comes the Tremolo.
Now to measure the routes for blocks I need to make.
Now, I am no Luther or woodworker. If you ruin your guitar it is not my fault but I guesstimated they my blocks needed to be 1/2" tall and 1 3/8" long.I found a shim in the garage and roughly marked it .
After the cut nipped the corners and I dry fit them and screwed the whole thing together.
Darn! It worked great! The springs were binding a little bit. Where is my rat tail file???
That's better. Room for the springs to breathe.
White glue. Totally reversible...
This is the Money shot. (C) 2016 David Colombo all rights reserved. Just do good. Don't sell commercially unless 50% of this goes to charity and 25% goes to me.
Change the springs. Where are my pliers, flat head screwdriver, wire cutters???? R=New L=Old
I'm ready to jam...
Ok. Bent the bar up a little bit and....
Whala! Does it stay perfectly in tune???? No. Is it a Floyd Rose. No. Is it close enough that you could play a gig with that old Fender Mustang or that Fender Jagstang or that new Squire Mustang in your closet without having to lock the tremolo down.....YES! Really close to staying in tune. Yes. I've been playing this guitar non stop. Awesome! Yes or No? Comments encouraged and appreciated.
