adjusting trem on strat

kigcat

ok heres my dillema/ stroke question. Since i had my strat set up after getting it about 4 years ago ive had the trem floating (its a 2 pivot pole bridge)so i can move the arm up and down. Now after a few years of having it ive decided i want to put the bridge flush against the body. Ive tightened up the claw screws in the bridge cavity so that the brige sits on the body and i loosened the truss rod by about a 1/4 of a turn. Anything that anyone else can think of that i may need to do or not have done? I just hate working on my strat like this because i always find guitars with trems to be extrememly sensitive (or maybe i just get nervous) and i really dont wanna screw her up as shes the pride of my collection.

Novawind

Block your trem. Get a block of wood just the right size so you can wedge it in between your guitar body and the metal trem piece in the back cavity so that your bridge sits flush with the body. This is not a permanent fixture so if you want to use the trem in the future you can.

jcmark611

When in doubt, take her to a shop. Shouldn't charge more than 30-40 bucks.

mccreadyisgod

You can always add a spring to increase tension.

If you want to disable the whammy, then block the trem like Novawind suggested.

I doubt you're doing anything that a qualified tech couldn't fix. At least, not yet, anyways...

ianvomsaal

mccreadyisgod wrote:

You can always add a spring to increase tension.

If you want to disable the whammy, then block the trem like Novawind suggested.

I doubt you're doing anything that a qualified tech couldn't fix. At least, not yet, anyways...

+1 The easiest thing to do is either add a couple more springs or slide a block of wood in there between the bridge-block and the body.
I've done both, but I like the block method better because the bridge sits at the appropriate height (like it's floating) but can't move.

Anon

ianvomsaal wrote:

+1 The easiest thing to do is either add a couple more springs or slide a block of wood in there between the bridge-block and the body.
I've done both, but I like the block method better because the bridge sits at the appropriate height (like it's floating) but can't move.

i like the block method better for that very reason.

who's_pearljam?

Yup, I use a little block of wood like everyone said above. You can also bring the bridge down to rest on the body and turn it into a hard tail strat, but then you have to raise the bridge saddles higher and sometimes you lose a little sustain when they're high off the bridge plate. Depends on the guitar.
You won't mess anything up tha you can't get back, though. Strats are like old Volkswagen Beetles. Simple to fiddle around with.
Then make sure you intonate the strings at the bridge saddles to make sure that's right.
If you put a wood shim in the tremolo block, drill a small hole in the wood where it shows, so you can put a drywall screw in to make it easy to pull it out if you decide.