Jazzmaster Owners:Do you Remove Tremolo Arm?

[dain]

the new MIM classic series will have screw in trem arms. i'm not a fan but i'm sure a lot of people will be happy...

[paologregorio]

i don't know why fender let those go out. i've never met a cij with a trem that would stay put. bending the arm is the easiest fix, but the real reason this happens is because the collet (the sleeve the arm is pushed into) is set too wide. next time you change strings pop the trem assembly out of the body and use pliers to (nicely) push the fingers of the collet together. once you get it open you'll see what i mean.

this will solve the problem until the cheap metal the arms are made out of wears down and you have to do it again (should be at least a couple of years.)

I've tried that fix a couple of times and it didn't work out so well for me-the arm still wanted to flop around. My solution was to sell the guitar . Fender should have used some sort of O-ring somewhere in the assembly, either at the top or the bottom, to better retain the arm without all of that flopping around. I think that the Paul W fix is probably the best bet. I imagine that he's had to repair quite a few.

I heard from another friend who had a MIJ `62 RI Jazzmaster who said that the pickups under the covers in his guitar weren't even real JM pickups, but rather Strat-type pickups with JM covers. When he discovered this, he bought a pair of Duncan Antiquities JM p/ups, and the guitar sounded much better afterwards. I was never all that happy with my MIJ Jazzmaster, primarily because of the Trem arm issue, but also because of the sound (now I know why) , as well as the fact that the MIJ Fenders all have their serial numbers in the form of a decal at the base of the neck, whcih I do not like; it cheapens the appearance of the guitar IMHO. I think the SNs should be on the neck plate, as they are on American Fenders. I am not in any way biased against MIJ Fenders (or MIJ Gretsches-I own three of those-so far ); I love my MIJ Geddy Lee J-bass.

[jingle_jangle]

i don't know why fender let those go out. i've never met a cij with a trem that would stay put. bending the arm is the easiest fix, but the real reason this happens is because the collet (the sleeve the arm is pushed into) is set too wide. next time you change strings pop the trem assembly out of the body and use pliers to (nicely) push the fingers of the collet together. once you get it open you'll see what i mean.

this will solve the problem until the cheap metal the arms are made out of wears down and you have to do it again (should be at least a couple of years.)

This worked with the MIA Jags i've owned, but the MIJ and CIJs won't squeeze and stay squeezed. The slotted sockets on mine are too thin to hold a "set".

[antipodean]

i don't know why fender let those go out. i've never met a cij with a trem that would stay put. bending the arm is the easiest fix, but the real reason this happens is because the collet (the sleeve the arm is pushed into) is set too wide. next time you change strings pop the trem assembly out of the body and use pliers to (nicely) push the fingers of the collet together. once you get it open you'll see what i mean.

this will solve the problem until the cheap metal the arms are made out of wears down and you have to do it again (should be at least a couple of years.)

This worked with the MIA Jags i've owned, but the MIJ and CIJs won't squeeze and stay squeezed. The slotted sockets on mine are too thin to hold a "set".

Paul and Dain,

My Jag is a vintage (though refinishedand battered) '64, not an RI - so which is the better fix for the "Arm-pop" syndrome - The "kinked arm" or the "squeezed collet"?

Mind you, it also suffers from terminal backbow so I string it with 13s, which makes use of the trem a full-body work-out.

[sloop_john_b]

I heard from another friend who had a MIJ `62 RI Jazzmaster who said that the pickups under the covers in his guitar weren't even real JM pickups, but rather Strat-type pickups with JM covers. When he discovered this, he bought a pair of Duncan Antiquities JM p/ups, and the guitar sounded much better afterwards. I was never all that happy with my MIJ Jazzmaster, primarily because of the Trem arm issue, but also because of the sound (now I know why)

That is absolutely true, CIJ/MIJ Jazzmasters and Jags sound completely lifeless without a pickup change, IMO.

[jingle_jangle]

Yup. True. When my Fender Japan '59 replica JM arrived eighteen months or so ago, it had none of the punch of my sadly-gone '69 block inlay one. I popped the pickup covers, and--those huge bobbins looked like a copper thief had been at work. Nothing on them...

A nice set of Curtis Novaks later, an hour spent putting them in, and I was back in Vintage Heaven.

[paologregorio]

Eventually I want to buy one like JB's; white body, white small peghead with spaghetti logo, bound neck and block inlays. John, did you ever mention if that was a CS or CIJ made?

[jingle_jangle]

http://cgi.ebay.com/CIJ-Fender-66-Jazzm ... dZViewItem

[paologregorio]

Argh, tempting. Thanks Paul W!

[sloop_john_b]

Eventually I want to buy one like JB's; white body, white small peghead with spaghetti logo, bound neck and block inlays. John, did you ever mention if that was a CS or CIJ made?

It's a regular CIJ model, nothing custom about it!

[paologregorio]

Eventually I want to buy one like JB's; white body, white small peghead with spaghetti logo, bound neck and block inlays. John, did you ever mention if that was a CS or CIJ made?

It's a regular CIJ model, nothing custom about it!

It's pretty cool! That is THE look for a Jazzmaster IMHO; body matched painted headstock with spaghetti logo, and a bound neck with block inlays. I've only seen one in person, and the pic of yours. Did you buy it new? Paul W just posted a link of one up for auction on EBay.

[sloop_john_b]

It's pretty cool! That is THE look for a Jazzmaster IMHO; body matched painted headstock with spaghetti logo, and a bound neck with block inlays. I've only seen one in person, and the pic of yours. Did you buy it new? Paul W just posted a link of one up for auction on EBay.

I swapped a guy in Brooklyn an '88 350JG for it last April ('07), he had bought it new from Ishibashi or another Japanese guitar store. IIRC, Fender has since tightened up their policy in regards to Japanese shops shipping new CIJ Fenders to the US.

[wj350]

No. It's a fairly fragile attachment point, and I'd be worried about breaking the little pins or whatever they're called that hold the arm in. The case is more than adequately padded above the vib arm to keep from stressing it in the case.

Bill

[paologregorio]

It's pretty cool! That is THE look for a Jazzmaster IMHO; body matched painted headstock with spaghetti logo, and a bound neck with block inlays. I've only seen one in person, and the pic of yours. Did you buy it new? Paul W just posted a link of one up for auction on EBay.

I swapped a guy in Brooklyn an '88 350JG for it last April ('07), he had bought it new from Ishibashi or another Japanese guitar store. IIRC, Fender has since tightened up their policy in regards to Japanese shops shipping new CIJ Fenders to the US.

Yeah, they aren't really available. I wish they were available here, or that a MIM or AVRI came like that, though it might not be a true AVRI, since I'm not sure they actually came with all of those features on one guitar back in the day.

[octagon]

Thanks for all the help guys.I appreciate the detailed instructions on how to remove the trem.One other silly question:when I remove the trem arm I lock dowm the trem 1st as per the Fender manual,but when I put the guitar away should I leave the trem locked?Does it matter much either way? Just curious.Check out the pics below now I am really glad I got the Oly White JM(bottom is mine).