Replacement trem

[playas]

Has anyone come across a good quality after market trem that has a spacing of 60mm between the centres of the trem posts?

From what I have seen up until this point it is a very unusual spacing.

While I would like to replace the unit, I don´t want to do it if it would involve routing, especially as it would leave two big gaping post holes that would need to be filled, but in general I don´t want to route as it´s not necessary. (I´d rather leave the stock trem although the tuning stability is not good - not awful but it could be a lot better. I have had it set flush for years, so it´s only really an issue when I´m using the trem, but still I have other non-trem guitars...)

The spacing for anything I found details of is either vintage fender replacement or OFR (or along similar lines).
I had been thinking of routing and putting in a Gotoh floyd up until recently but I´ve finally managed to get the guitar (a Hohner ST model) set-up such that it stays in tune well as long as the trem is not in use so at this point I´ll only replace it if I can find something that doesn´t involve much routing.

FYI the actual posts are approx. 6mm.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Replacement trem

If it stays in tune but goes sharp when you use the trem then it could be falling back too far

If it is flat. It is catching before finding the balance point

Either way I would suspect the knife edges

Or the groove on the post

If it's the groove on the.post it may have wear then is catching the edge
Loosening the post and moving it 180 degrees
Would cure it

Some trems have replaceble knife edges
Short of that . A file may remove the burr that
Your trem is catching on

As Funkfingers will attest
Photos would help a lot

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

 

[playas]

Re: Replacement trem

If it stays in tune but goes sharp when you use the trem then it could be falling back too far

If it is flat. It is catching before finding the balance point

Either way I would suspect the knife edges

Or the groove on the post

If it's the groove on the.post it may have wear then is catching the edge
Loosening the post and moving it 180 degrees
Would cure it

Some trems have replaceble knife edges
Short of that . A file may remove the burr that
Your trem is catching on

As Funkfingers will attest
Photos would help a lot

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

Thanks, will take it apart and check the edges although I don´t see anything noticeable. Adjusting the posts didn´t seem to have any effect at all, although I will try again.
Will take some pics as soon as I can.

 

[playas]

Re: Replacement trem


emm, wasn´t really sure what to snap exactly so I´ve taken 3 different angles in the hope that one of them may be useful. They were taken with my phone so if you think a better shot would help let me know and I can take a shot with my camera.
sorry the 2nd one is a little blurred.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Replacement trem

When you get it apart take two
One faceing straight into the knife
And one looking down onto the knife

I think you probably have a worn spot

The knife edge should be straight

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

 

[playas]

Re: Replacement trem

Hopefully these cover what you need ehdwuld.


Based on your comments and the pics, I imagine I would need to take some steel wool to the knife edges to try and smooth them out. Do you think that would do the job or would I need to use something stronger?

From the front shot you can see that there is even warping on the baseplate. I don´t imagine there is an awful lot I can do about that though. (Possibly a hammer.)

 

[playas]

Re: Replacement trem

I cleaned the grooves of both posts with steel wool as they had a small amount of dirt built up, although I don´t think that´s likely to be the cause, but no harm.

I also took the steel wool and files to the knife edge but it will need a lot of work to get it properly smooth.

I´m also wondering if a dab of silicone grease on the slots of each post would be useful once the knife edge is smoother. I reckon it couldn´t do any harm.

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Replacement trem

I use tri flow to lubricate all my floyds saddles knife edges post great stuff for nuts too http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Maintenance/Tri-Flow_Pin_Point_Lubricator.html you really don't want to use grease , it will attract dirt and dust and harden into a ball of nastiness

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Replacement trem

I had heard of Chapstick being a preferred lubricant
but I cannot attest to this being a good idea at all
as I have never been able to get my lips properly around one


yes you will need to dress those edges
a small round rat tail file
following the bevel fro the top
and a flat file straight across the bottom

ignore the bow in it
anything you do would probably just make it more wavy

take your time
remove a little at a time
if you take too much off you cant put it back on

 

[playas]

Re: Replacement trem

Sounds like you´ll have to work on your technique there :34:

I´m going to stick with a dab of silicon lubricant as it sounds like a simpler solution...albeit potentially less fun.

Thanks a million for all your advice which has been really helpful and I wouldn´t have noticed the issues without it.



Temporarily fitting it back in place I noticed that the warping is causing the trem to rock slightly from one side to the other.

When I fit it in place provisionally and set it flat only the upper side is actually sitting flush so it´s possible to press down further so that the arm side is also sitting on the deck. That means that last push is rocking the whole trem slightly to compensate for the fact that only part of it was on the guitar body.


Eg. when I put a 0.60mm plectrum under the arm side of the trem plate the whole thing seems balanced and sits flush on the body.


It´s probably something I should have noticed before now but didn´t pay enough attention to it to have struck me as being a problem.


Well it´s filed down pretty well now and I´ll tune it with the plec in place to see if it´s any more stable as a start and then work from there if it still needs more to fix the issues.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Replacement trem

How's your nut? A lot of tuning problems ascribed to other parts end up really being the nut.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk

 

[playas]

Re: Replacement trem

I´m pretty confident that the nut is fine, when not using the trem it stays in tune well (with and without capo). When using the trem it goes out of tune consistantly (with or without capo).

The problems with the trem have been there for as long as I can remember. Despite having started life with a different neck and three separate nuts ago. The current set-up is also the most stable the guitar has been in terms of tuning aside from the trem issue.