OffsetGuitars.com

Hi !

First of all, i'm french, so excuse my bad english...

I am the third owner of a '84 Japanese JM and I have trouble fitting the trem arm in the tube (how do you call this thing ?). I have read threads about this but it seems like my problem is quite different. The previous owner told me that the trem arm was taken from a strat (it looks like it, but also looks like a JM one) and it is way too thin to be screwed in the "tube". If I push it in at max, the arm is on the strings, unasable. There are tape marks on the arm and the "tube" which indicate that it really doesn't fit in, and you got to keep it in place with tape.

My question is (finally !) : does strat and JM arms different ?

It's quite easy (and cheap) to buy a Japanese JM arm brand new in France, but I prefer having opinions before doing that.

Thanks you all for helping.
Florent.

They are very different; still not totally clear how the arm is even going in. Are you able to take pics?

Ils sont complètement différents. Les diamètres, les formes et les longueurs ne sont pas pareil entre les deux.

Yes the diameter of the arm is smaller than the one from the "tube", so it's going in, but it moves a lot.

I'll get a new JM arm from Fender and see if it's ok.

Thanks a lot guys !

Waiting for Fender to send me the trem arm...

I've noticed quite a strange thing when I opened the trem block : there was a wire welded to it. By looking at videos and pics on JM trem blocks, I've never seen such a thing... any idea what is it for ? (I've always believed trem systems are pure mechanical, no electronics at all)

Thanks mates.

moiz wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 03, 2018 10:29 pm

Waiting for Fender to send me the trem arm...

I've noticed quite a strange thing when I opened the trem block : there was a wire welded to it. By looking at videos and pics on JM trem blocks, I've never seen such a thing... any idea what is it for ? (I've always believed trem systems are pure mechanical, no electronics at all)

Thanks mates.

It's grounding the trem. Which grounds the strings and bridge (unless you have non-metal saddles). You may also have a wire that grounds one thimble, that then also grounds the bridge and saddles and strings. No harm in having both.

When you touch the strings you are thus also grounded. Which stops your body acting like a big noise antenna. So noise should reduce when you touch the strings.

BTW the wire doesn't have to be soldered to the trem. The bare end can just be sandwiched between the body and the edge of the trem.

I bought my Jazzmaster online and curiously it's also missing the trem arm. Did you contact Fender directly or the store you bought it from?

kgbAttack wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:00 am

I bought my Jazzmaster online and curiously it's also missing the trem arm. Did you contact Fender directly or the store you bought it from?

Do you know which model you have ? Some trem pics here ..
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 5#p1525263

timtam wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:19 am

kgbAttack wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:00 am

I bought my Jazzmaster online and curiously it's also missing the trem arm. Did you contact Fender directly or the store you bought it from?

Do you know which model you have ? Some trem pics here ..
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 5#p1525263

Not really, but it does not look that new, since it's a Custom Shop '62 Journeyman, so the vibrato unit is a little relic'ed/oxidised.

kgbAttack wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:54 am

timtam wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:19 am

kgbAttack wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:00 am

I bought my Jazzmaster online and curiously it's also missing the trem arm. Did you contact Fender directly or the store you bought it from?

Do you know which model you have ? Some trem pics here ..
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 5#p1525263

Not really, but it does not look that new, since it's a Custom Shop '62 Journeyman, so the vibrato unit is a little relic'ed/oxidised.

Looks like that model has all AV62 gear ...
https://wildwoodguitars.com/product/CZ5 ... n-relic-2/

So that should be the 0054466000 trem ...
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-am ... 054466000/

And 0054473049 arm (plus tip) ...
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-ja ... 054473000/

Wonderful, thanks!

Ok makes sense for the ground thing... Seeing myself as an antenna for my guitar is really a beautiful poetic picture !

I bought it from a guy on the french equivalent of craigslist, and he himself didn't know much about it (having bought it in ´94 from a third guy who's suppositely the first owner). So I went to my local guitar shop and they ordered it, they didn't tell me if it was from Fender or a parts specialist...

I'm now sure the arm is ont a JM one because it has a screw thing (can't find the word in english sorry) at the bottom, and I think I've haven't seen no JM one with it.

Thanks all for helping me understanding my JM btw.

moiz wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:03 pm

I'm now sure the arm is ont a JM one because it has a screw thing (can't find the word in english sorry) at the bottom, and I think I've haven't seen no JM one with it.

The Am Pro and Classic Player JMs have screw-in trem arms. Maybe others ?
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-cl ... 077422000/
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-am ... 710405000/

As Riley notes, the Classic Player trem can also take strat screw-in arms as long as they have 10-32 thread size ....
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-cl ... 076232049/