Re: getting vintage tremolo to stay in tune?
Funkfingers-
He made a good point about 6 screw terms. I have one, and I use the 2 outside screws 1 and 6, carefully matched up the screws with their corresponding plate holes and put a very small - but still a "V" shape on both holes, then matched the 2 screws with a small matching "V" indentation on both screws. I used that one w/Schaller staggered rear locking tuners, a TusXL nut that I always go on about-please forgive me-and I fan out 3 BLACK Fender springs (the vintage ones feel to stiff for me) with 3 in the middle of the claw, going to the 2 outside and 1 in the middle of the block. I tune it so I get an open G to bend up to an A#, lightly lube any places of contact, and it worked as well as my #1 Strat with 2 regular outside pivots (them new fangled ones) and all the rest of what I said.
I was concerned about only using 2 screws as fulcrums, so I took them out and put a little Titebond in the holes and hammered them back in the body, made sure they still lined up, and it has been great. Really love my Strats.
I have already mentioned this in a thousand other threads, but like I said earlier, the plate should not touch the strings on their way to the saddle. Just sand plate string holes smooth or better yet, sand them out of the way. Thanks for listening.
SJ