The ShadowMusic Web Community

Apologies to all if this has been covered before and even the same fix suggested. A quick search on site didnt bring it up.
On my Strat I simply use waxed dental floss(not tape). Starting at the bottom of the thread and working up to just above the top of the thread then cut away the excess. The floss need to be wound in the appropriate way so as it will not undo as you wind in the arm. There is a need to experiment with the number of revolutions of the floss on the thread e.g too many will mean the arm will be way to inflexible. The arm does need to be on the rigid side to start with but after several half turns back and forth it should ease right up to the point when you feel little or no resistance. Sound response to the tremolo should be positive/immediate.
The fix should last a significant time, it does for me. J.

I use plumbers tape. Works fine!

+1 for the tape, used it for about 30 years and it work's !!

Cheers Rob

I found using one of these springs in the Trem arm thread hole applies enough pressure and
stops the threads opening up and the arm becoming loose.

Those trem arm springs don`t fit all strats and it is difficult to screw the arm back in with one in the trem hole,I use ptfe plumbers tape it works fine.

I would imagine you have to get the right thickness/grade of dental floss
Bad enough sometimes to clean between the toothiepegs with floss like telegraph cable!!!

Mike

You're right of course about removing the arm but my MIM HM Signature lives in a Fender padded gig bag with enough room to accommodate the trem arm.

A genuine Fender Strat trem arm can easily be left in place in the case, it's designed to do just that. You just swing the arm back across the back of the guitar where your arm rests and the angle of the threaded hole allows the trem arm to fall back close to the body of the guitar. How do I know ? A Fender employee told me yars ago that they are not really supposed to be taken off as they are designed to swing back. I have used PTFE tape since the early seventies when I was first made aware of it and probably re-tape my Strats' maybe once over three or four years.
Some Strats' that have had the trem altered and re-drilled or whatever reason will not allow the arm to tilt out of the way. That's the problem with letting after market idiots loose on an instrument that they don't understand, I know because I bought an American Strat that had been tampered with in this manner, to fit a Hank style trem arm and they totally ruined a £1500 guitar. I immediately found a normal arm and sold the offending one, but the only way to put that guitar right would be to buy a new block for it, with the hole drilled and tapped at the correct angle. Luckily I don't have to because the case I use for it has the depth required to leave the trem in place.

PTFE tape shredded a little too quickly for my liking. Waxed floss is tough, try pulling it apart....ouch