How high over the scratchplate is the vibrato arm tip

[negninegaw]

How high over the scratchplate is the center of the vibrato arm tip (in millimeters, near the pickups) on your strat?
In my case it is 40 mm. I think that is too low. The arm is 15 cm and 5mm long.
What is the best place to bend the arm?
I know everybody has personal preferences, still curious though.

[roger bayliss]

It is usu for folks to bend them to suit personal taste in a vice suitably protected. The back of the trem is about 1/8th off the body but again personal choice.

[Mike Honey]

Whist normally having a 'floating' trem, I find it best to adjust the arm til it is parallel to the body. that gives me even tension for 'pulling' or 'pushing'

mike

[AlanMcKillop]

The safest way to bend your tremolo arm, is to drill a hole the exact dimension (width) of the arm, into a block of wood. Insert the threaded arm into the hole and apply light pressure whichever way you want to bend the arm, I've been doing this for years and still have my 2"x2"x6" block.

[JimN]

A repeated error made by Asian makers of Strat-type tremolo units is to leave the vertical section of the arm too short.

As a consequence, the arm does not rise away from the face of the guitar enough before the bend, and the main part of the arm therefore hits the volume control knob when being swung, as well as feeling too low to the face of the guitar. One method used by those makers to address that problem is to have an awkward (and, as far as I can see, pointless) upward bend in the arm near the part usually held by the player.

Part of that seems to be in homage to the original 1950s shape of the Fender arm - which had more or less the same problem. The later, 1960s, pattern for the arm had a longer vertical section, allowing the free-swinging arm to avoid the controls and to run more in a parallel direction to the face of the guitar. But most makers of replacement arms and tremolo units seem (nowadays) to opt for the 1950s look.

A few years ago, after installing a Wilkinson replacement trem-bridge on my Squier Jagmaster, I was experiencing the same problems. No contact between the (pop-in) arm and the volume pot (the Wilkinson units are too well-made for that), but an inability to get the arm sitting parallel to the face of the instrument. I got round it by buying a replacement (Japanese) Jazzmaster tremolo arm and cutting it at the bend. The diameters of an Asian Wilkinson arm and an Asian Jazzmaster arm are the same. I then pushed the free end of the arm into the trem arm socket, and marked the point where I wanted the bend with a permanent marker. My local luthier is well practiced in bending Strat arms and and was able to make a bend in the Jazzmaster arm at that marked-out higher point. A single bend was all that was required: the rest of the arm had a typical Jazzmaster curve to it and when the job was completed (without breaking the chrome plating!), the new, ex-Jazzmaster, arm had a longer vertical section and (in my opinion) a better attitude to the rest of the guitar - not too high or too low at the business end.

Cheap Asian made trem arms are usually way too long and with that ugly upwards hook.

A picture's worth a thousand words, but I have attached a few words as well...



This is what seems to have become the standard shape for a generic Stratocaster tremolo arm (on everything except the full-featured American 1962 Vintage Reissue). It is based on the original 1954 design rather than on the (IMHO, improved) '1960s' shape used by Fender from 1959 onward. I particularly do not like the feel implicit in the way the original arm stays close to the body for most of its length and then gains height via the bend only a couple of inches from the tip. I definitely prefer the later shape.



See how the arm rises vertically from the bridge before the bend - this keeps the arm farther from the strings - and more like it would be on a Jazzmaster or Jaguar.



Above: difference in drop lengths. Below: general view of different shapes.



JN

[Terry B]

Hi, For comparison here are photos of the arm on my 1963 Strat. Arm is original and guitar is set up as per Fender specs. The arm is 15cm long and the distance from the scratchplate to the centre of the arm tip is 35mm. This is the most comfortable arm on any of my Strats. All later ones have too sharp an angle on the bend in them, both inwards and upwards! They are also slightly longer which means when you are playing holding the trem arm you can hit the neck pickup pole pieces with gives an annoying click as you do so! They also appear to be chrome whereas my original is stainless steel.

1963 Arm1.jpg

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1963 Arm2.jpg

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1963 Arm3.jpg

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[neil2726]

Probably a point to remember is that trem arms were not designed to be continuously held in the hand - it seems it was Hank that started that trend!

[negninegaw]

Interesting stuff. Good point about the vertical section generally being too low.
I thought my 4 cm (tip to schratchplate) was too low, but apparently your distance is only 35 mm.

Did Hank's first guitar have an old style or a new style arm without the extra bend?
I know he used to bend his arms all the time.

When you keep the arm in your hand whilst playing, do you push your right underarm more onto the guitar to gain stability?

[Terry B]

Interesting stuff. Good point about the vertical section generally being too low.
I thought my 4 cm (tip to schratchplate) was too low, but apparently your distance is only 35 mm.

Did Hank's first guitar have an old style or a new style arm without the extra bend?
I know he used to bend his arms all the time.

When you keep the arm in your hand whilst playing, do you push your right underarm more onto the guitar to gain stability?

I guess it is down to individual taste at the end of the day! As this '63 was my first Strat and I've had it ever since, I guess I've sort of got used to it! Having said that it still feels the most natural position of any Strat I've played or had. So maybe Leo Fender DID get it right first time as many have said with the design of the Stratocaster! Don't forget too that so many copies of the Strat have been made over the years that they have to change something to avoid infringing copyright, so maybe that's a reason why there are so many variations on the arm as well.

[JimN]

There are no legal problems with copyright (more strictly: registered design) on the Stratocaster-type tremolo.

Wilkinson's replacement units are identical except for the name stamped on the saddles. If they wanted to do a screw-in fitment, that'd be no problem either. Callaham have no trouble with their direct replacement units and components.

JN