String ball end pulling through anchor on JM Jag trem

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Bradley-Jazz
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String ball end pulling through anchor on JM Jag trem

Post by Bradley-Jazz » Sun Jun 21, 2020 1:10 pm

Hi all

I changed the strings on my Johnny Marr Jag today. I took off Ernie Balls and put on D’Addarios, as that is what I had.

When I cut the old ones in two to take them off, I found the low E ball end was stuck in the anchor hole on the trem, like it had gone in too deeply. It took some careful work with needle nose pliers to get it loose. Then when I strung up with the D’Addarios and stretched the strings, the A string ball end actually came through the anchor hole and the string came off. I put it back and it’s stayed there, so I think the anchor holes must be slightly oval, and the ball end will just go through in one orientation.

Anyone else had this? It’s the stock US tremolo.

One obvious solution would be strings with slightly larger ends - are there such things? I know there are Fender bullets, but they don’t seem to be well liked, and I wonder if they’d foul at the rear of the anchor when the trem is used.

Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks
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Horsefeather
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Re: String ball end pulling through anchor on JM Jag trem

Post by Horsefeather » Sun Jun 21, 2020 1:31 pm

I used a bent nail to create an alignment bracket for keeping my ball ends aligned with the string loop horizontal to attempt to prevent string breakage. It would also work to keep the balls from pulling through the hole.

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Re: String ball end pulling through anchor on JM Jag trem

Post by adamrobertt » Mon Jun 22, 2020 4:19 am

Bradley-Jazz wrote:
Sun Jun 21, 2020 1:10 pm
Hi all

I changed the strings on my Johnny Marr Jag today. I took off Ernie Balls and put on D’Addarios, as that is what I had.

When I cut the old ones in two to take them off, I found the low E ball end was stuck in the anchor hole on the trem, like it had gone in too deeply. It took some careful work with needle nose pliers to get it loose. Then when I strung up with the D’Addarios and stretched the strings, the A string ball end actually came through the anchor hole and the string came off. I put it back and it’s stayed there, so I think the anchor holes must be slightly oval, and the ball end will just go through in one orientation.

Anyone else had this? It’s the stock US tremolo.

One obvious solution would be strings with slightly larger ends - are there such things? I know there are Fender bullets, but they don’t seem to be well liked, and I wonder if they’d foul at the rear of the anchor when the trem is used.

Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks
I've never heard of this issue. Guessing you have a defective vibrato, or someone got too aggressive with a file trying to remove a burr or something.

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ChrisDesign
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Re: String ball end pulling through anchor on JM Jag trem

Post by ChrisDesign » Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:51 pm

But a new vibrato tailpiece. Your current one is defective
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Re: String ball end pulling through anchor on JM Jag trem

Post by Bradley-Jazz » Fri Jun 26, 2020 11:50 pm

Yeah, thanks all.

It’s the original trem, and I’ve not been near it with a file (or modded it in any way). It’s also out of warranty. I’ve put some GHS Boomers on (first time with those strings) and was careful to align the ball ends sideways (the holes look taller than they are wide on close inspection), and so far so good. I’ll try Horsefeather’s nail trick to help with that - thanks!

It sounds fine, so I’ll try and manage for now. Otherwise I presume I’ll need to buy a whole trem - I’ve never seen the string retainer plate for sale on its own.
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