Loose Jazzmaster Vibrato Arm

Mityushikha · Post by **Mityushikha** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:48 pm

I know this problem has been brought up and solved a number of times but I cannot find a definitive guide as to where exactly I should put a bend in the vibrato arm so as to stop it from moving around in the ferrule. I don't see how putting a bend at the right angle could make any difference as it has no contact with the ferrule and I don't want to just start whacking it with a hammer and hoping for the best.

How have the rest of you approached this?

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:01 am

Hello fellow countyman; bending the arm will make no difference at all, to the best of my knowledge. The arm is held in place with a collet - one of the most useful pages ever made for Jazzmaster and Jag owners is here.

(So useful, in fact, that I've just saved the page to rehost should it ever go down).

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:12 pm

is this a japanese one? i can't remember if those arms snap in place like the us ones do. on us models you can just cram it in there really hard until it snaps into place. of course, it can be a little tough to get out once you do.

Mityushikha · Post by **Mityushikha** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:19 pm

Justin J wrote:is this a japanese one? i can't remember if those arms snap in place like the us ones do. on us models you can just cram it in there really hard until it snaps into place. of course, it can be a little tough to get out once you do.

It's Japanese, it will snap into place and stays there quite nicely, as long as you don't so much as a look at it.

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:40 pm

In that case i'd recommend either taking the trem apart & carefully bending the claw's a little tighter or wraping some electrical tape around the end of the trem arm before pushing it in, personally I like that the trem arm moves as its out of the way when i'm not using it..... if it keeps falling out thats another matter.

Mityushikha · Post by **Mityushikha** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:14 pm

benecol wrote:Hello fellow countyman; bending the arm will make no difference at all, to the best of my knowledge. The arm is held in place with a collet - one of the most useful pages ever made for Jazzmaster and Jag owners is here.

(So useful, in fact, that I've just saved the page to rehost should it ever go down).

I might try that but I'm sure I've heard of easier fixes, I would be quite happy to just wrap it in tape.

hwestman · Post by **hwestman** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:32 am

If you put a slight bend to the short part of the arm ie the one going in to the collet/tube things will improve a lot. I did that on my Jag the other week...

So its not the angle of the arm you change. You make sure that the short part is curved which makes the overall fit tighter...

Oh and also check that the collet is screwed in tightly (you need to take the trem out of the guitar to fix that). On my JM it had come loose.

Mityushikha · Post by **Mityushikha** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:34 am

hwestman wrote:If you put a slight bend to the short part of the arm ie the one going in to the collet/tube things will improve a lot. I did that on my Jag the other week...

So its not the angle of the arm you change. You make sure that the short part is curved which makes the overall fit tighter...

Oh and also check that the collet is screwed in tightly (you need to take the trem out of the guitar to fix that). On my JM it had come loose.

Thanks, that's what I was originally thinking of but didn't understand where to bend it. So it's just a bend on the middle of the short part?