Question about upgrading Squier CV tremolo

[ryanthellama]

It was well documented but I think it was Mike Adams who actually figured it out. If I remember correctly the spring and whole design of the new Panorama vibrato is designed to work with 9's or 10's. The problems came up when owners tried to put 11's or higher on them and suddenly they were having all kinds of problems with the vibrato tension and the arm bottoming out.

https://youtu.be/wNTXt1YFmpA

It’s actually just 9s, at least on a Jazzmaster. I actually don’t remember seeing if anyone tried a Panorama on a standard Jaguar. I know myself and a other few folks on the forum were able to get it to work with 10s on the Classic Player/Vintera Jags that have the modified trem position, but I wonder if just the shorter scale alone would be enough to make it work.

[echoplex]

If I remember correctly the spring and whole design of the new Panorama vibrato is designed to work with 9's or 10's. The problems came up when owners tried to put 11's or higher on them and suddenly they were having all kinds of problems with the vibrato tension and the arm bottoming out.
https://youtu.be/wNTXt1YFmpA

Thanks for the headsup buddy!
Appreciate.. I will leave my 00's CIJ as is

[Powdered Toast Man]

I need to take out a vintage one to my garage as they look just like Ford or Chevy valve springs and I've got a bunch in a tub all labelled up.

Knowing how Leo worked, they probably are the same springs.

[scole]

I’ve got a CV Jazzmaster body for a project and I’m going to swap the trem for the Panorama. I am aware of the spring issue but there are several things that still merit the upgrade-

You can buy a heavier tension spring for it, which was the solution for the issue that has been documented. There’s one seller in Reverb that sells a replacement spring for $15.

There are a few other improvements that the Panorama offers but this video lists them well-

https://youtu.be/5dsPTancEpk

[Offshat]

i don't see any "heavier tension spring" on Reverb.

[Zork]

Thete are also ways to improve the stock Squier unit. I modded mine this way and later found this video about it: https://youtu.be/vUkLycLmTs4
(It's that Puisheen guy again but it explains exactly what I did and it works)

I also rounded and polished the knife edge on mine, but the most important part seems to be modding that nut. You can also carefully compress the collet a bit, so it holds the arm better. Last but not least, squaring the rear corners of the cavity can help.

[andare]

How do I improve the CV vibrato so it has more range without dropping 100 euros on an AV unit

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

How do I improve the CV vibrato so it has more range without dropping 100 euros on an AV unit

One simple way to increase the range would be either (or a combination of):
1) bending the arm a little up (so it stands higher off the guitar and not just parallel to the strings)
2) adjusting the spring tension to be a little more loose.


If your nut and bridge are fine this should already do a lot!
Some of these units are absolutely fine (once set up, maybe rounding the knife blade)
I personally just don‘t like how the arms are bent - that‘s imo the part that makes them feel stiff and cheap (and just love the way the Staytrems are).
But with the right tools those arms can be bent to your liking..,

[Zork]

How do I improve the CV vibrato so it has more range without dropping 100 euros on an AV unit

The mods I suggested above your post did also improve the range on my instruments.

[andare]

How do I improve the CV vibrato so it has more range without dropping 100 euros on an AV unit

One simple way to increase the range would be either (or a combination of):
1) bending the arm a little up (so it stands higher off the guitar and not just parallel to the strings)
2) adjusting the spring tension to be a little more loose.


If your nut and bridge are fine this should already do a lot!
Some of these units are absolutely fine (once set up, maybe rounding the knife blade)
I personally just don‘t like how the arms are bent - that‘s imo the part that makes them feel stiff and cheap (and just love the way the Staytrems are).
But with the right tools those arms can be bent to your liking..,

I think the spring is already as loose as it's comfortable, maybe I'll bend the arm up a bit more. It's a good angle right now to be honest. I hate the sharp kink. Looks like the only curved arms available right now are the threaded arms for the Classic Players but those are too thin to fit in this collet.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

I think the spring is already as loose as it's comfortable, maybe I'll bend the arm up a bit more. It's a good angle right now to be honest. I hate the sharp kink. Looks like the only curved arms available right now are the threaded arms for the Classic Players but those are too thin to fit in this collet.

I had one of those threaded arms in my Vintera and absolutely hated it. It would always fall down (6 o‘clock) and if you‘d tighten it just a little more so this won‘t happen/the arm would stay in place, the collet fell out.

But if you want collet and arm (metric in my case as the were made in Korea?) I‘d gladly give it away for free/shipping costs. The collet has a slight wear where I tried to move it in place with some pliers. Otherwise „hardly used“.

[andare]

I think the spring is already as loose as it's comfortable, maybe I'll bend the arm up a bit more. It's a good angle right now to be honest. I hate the sharp kink. Looks like the only curved arms available right now are the threaded arms for the Classic Players but those are too thin to fit in this collet.

I had one of those threaded arms in my Vintera and absolutely hated it. It would always fall down (6 o‘clock) and if you‘d tighten it just a little more so this won‘t happen/the arm would stay in place, the collet fell out.

But if you want collet and arm (metric in my case as the were made in Korea?) I‘d gladly give it away for free/shipping costs. The collet has a slight wear where I tried to move it in place with some pliers. Otherwise „hardly used“.

Thanks for the offer. This arm stays in well, not too loose and not too tight. I guess I hammered it just right

[scole]

i don't see any "heavier tension spring" on Reverb.

Here is the listing I have seen:

https://reverb.com/item/63941289-replac ... ma-tremolo

[Offshat]

i don't see any "heavier tension spring" on Reverb.

Here is the listing I have seen:

https://reverb.com/item/63941289-replac ... ma-tremolo

thanks, that never came up for me.