Jazzmaster tremolo arm when in the case

[Mechanical Birds]

The first time I pushed the tremolo bar FIRMLY in place, it was great. It stayed where I left it and was smooth. The first time I put my Jazzmaster back in the case, I removed the arm. It took considerable force to pull it out. The next time I removed my soon to be beloved Jazzmaster from the case, I insert the tremolo arm and it just swang ( is that a word?) wildly. It does not engage the collet at all. its obvious that I ragged out, pushed through or over expanded the collet upon removal. I know some people prefer the floppy arm, but I like my tremolo arm to stay where the heck I put it !!! This is an annoying problem that Fender has refused to address ( I guess some models now come with a screw in arm )in 60 years !! That said, this guitar ROCKS and I will muddle through this annoying stage with aplomb and spend many years enjoying my new ax. My Staytrem bridge arrived yesterday !

Yeah I genuinely don’t understand how what ended up becoming the Staytrem, the original mod to the Johnny Marr Jaguar tremolo collet, didn’t immediately become standard issue with all of their tremolo units. I mean it’s cool that staytrem exists and who knows if they would had fender just adopted their features like that? But though functionally the same, the collet on the marr trem and the actual produced staytrem mod thing have visual differences so it could still exist. Just seems like an objective improvement that is kind of impossible to argue against? Like it doesn’t make it harder to turn the arm in any way it just doesn’t flop around or fall out when let go. Most of my terms are stock and all work fine and that includes an OG 66 trem unit so maybe it was a not broke/don’t fix kinda thing

[MKR]

I Genuinely still don’t know the ‘right’ answer to this question after reading this thread and others like it.

I recently picked up a new jag and I’m revisiting this topic. My jazzmaster is a cp with the screw in arm. I have been taking the arm out while in a hard case for many years.

My new jag is a cij and I am inclined to leave the arm in. So far I’m keeping it in a gig bag with a little more room than a hard case, but it just feels so strange putting it in a hard case with alls that pressure on the tremolo.



Aaarrrgghh.

[R J]

The folks at Mastery strongly encourage you to leave the arm in place even when putting it in the case. As a result I leave mine in

[distressed]

I use a gigbag, but my Halon arm never leaves the unit. I don't like wobbly vibrato arms, and disassembling the unit to tighten the collet from time to time is no fun.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

All my six offset vibrato equipped guitars - that’s two Mastery- three Fender+Staytrem units and one cheap aftermarket unit with a Fender Japan arm - travel with the arm in at all times! Cases, Gigbags…all the same.

It just lowers the tension (what you also should do when shipping a guitar as far as I know) - and brings it back on when you take it out of the case… nothing to worry about.

In my opinion the constant in-and-out would wear it out way more and faster than the actual use ever could.
Also a friend who pulled the arm of the Mastery unit out got some dirt/dust in it and he can‘t get it to work again… but also hadn‘t sent it in when I last spoke to him.

[andy_tchp]

My new jag is a cij and I am inclined to leave the arm in. So far I’m keeping it in a gig bag with a little more room than a hard case, but it just feels so strange putting it in a hard case with alls that pressure on the tremolo.

"All that pressure" is probably a couple of ft-lbs at most.

[andy_tchp]

Yeah I genuinely don’t understand how what ended up becoming the Staytrem, the original mod to the Johnny Marr Jaguar tremolo collet, didn’t immediately become standard issue with all of their tremolo units. I mean it’s cool that staytrem exists and who knows if they would had fender just adopted their features like that? But though functionally the same, the collet on the marr trem and the actual produced staytrem mod thing have visual differences so it could still exist. Just seems like an objective improvement that is kind of impossible to argue against? Like it doesn’t make it harder to turn the arm in any way it just doesn’t flop around or fall out when let go. Most of my terms are stock and all work fine and that includes an OG 66 trem unit so maybe it was a not broke/don’t fix kinda thing

Likely this, and cost.

And a tiny (visually imperceptible) bend in the short end of the bar achieves exactly the same thing and costs nothing if the bar engagement isn't solid enough.

[Fuzzbuzz]

I’ve had AVRI, Pro Jazzmasters and currently own and love an American Original. Always take my tremolo arm off when storing in the case for all models.

Funny… saw my comment from 2018. Not sure when I changed my opinion on this but since posting I have left my trem arms on in the case. 3 separate guitars and all seem just fine.

[GuitarGeorge]

I put a screw in tremolo arm and collet from a Fender Professional in my AVRI 62. FIts perfectly and works fine.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Update after 5 years .

So because of this thread I started leaving my bar in, and rotating it to a position where it seemed least compressed when I closed the case.
I’m glad I did because I’ve had no issues whatsoever.
This is with two JMs.

One has the Staytrem collet and bar, and the other has the original Fender CS bar and collet.

I was especially worried about taking the Fender bar in/out, so as not to start suffering from floppy bar syndrome.
Well, that bar is in there as stiff and tight as the day it went in.

The cases just developed a nice indentation where the bar is, and I carefully align the bar when I close the cases.