Anybody ever add a lock to an offset trem?

[GilmourD]

The parts are available and there's plenty of cheap trems floating around. I have power tools and a lack of sanity... I'm kinda tempted to try.

Am I the first to think this way?

[Pepe Silvia]

Yeah, Leo Fender did it.

[GilmourD]

Yeah, Leo Fender did it.

[GilmourD]

In all seriousness, I'm talking about taking the plate off a Classic Vibe, Dremeling out the slot, and putting the lock in. I ask because I have the trem off a CV that is REAAAAAAALLY smooth and the only reason it's not on a guitar is I want the lock.

Am I going to be a pioneer?

[Johnny Alien]

Honestly I never use the lock and its just a bit of added weight for me. Most of the reason for upgrading to a unit that had it would be for functionality. Sounds like thats not an issue at all with that vibrato.

[GilmourD]

Honestly I never use the lock and its just a bit of added weight for me. Most of the reason for upgrading to a unit that had it would be for functionality. Sounds like thats not an issue at all with that vibrato.

As far as smoothness of trem operation, the particular trem in question is excellent.

As far as its owner, I've been known to be a hammer-fisted idiot on stage. While I can count the number of times I've actually broken a string in the past 20 years on one hand, on stage or off, I also have an obsessive need for having a "Plan B" for everything. The lock, even mentally, is my plan B to keep an offset in tune in case of string breakage. Last time I broke a string I think was on my Wolfgang. All my Floyd Roses and Strat trems are flat against the body so they're not a problem and everything else I have is a Tele with an ashtray bridge, leaving my offsets as the only floaters.

[timtam]

There was a thread in the past asking "do you ever use the lock ?". At least 50% said "no" IIRC. Which kind of surprised me. But it depends what one means by "use". To my mind the main use of the lock is not for restoring tuning in the event of an on-stage string break, but to reliably set the neutral 'easy-in/easy-out' position of the lock; where the spring compression is adjusted so that the trem plate underneath is nominally parallel to the top surface. That gives the trem a 'middle' setting for spring compression (which of course you can adjust if you wish). So it's a known starting point for trem feel, and also for the string forward/back longitudinal forces that ideally result in the rocking bridge returning to where it started after trem use (along with the string-saddle downforce). But it's a 'set once and never again' kind of setting; so maybe that's what some people meant by 'i don't use it'.

Setting up the trem/lock button is thoroughly described in these oft-cited instructions ...
https://offset.guitars/the-goodies/sett ... lo-system/
Fender don't provide any such instructions these days, for the string-break functionality or anything else (I wonder how they expect people to figure that out). They did provide that instruction in the early manuals, up to at least the 1970s. And they do have the 1974 JM manual in their archive (which reduces the process to three sentences) ...
https://support.fender.com/en-us/knowle ... e/KA-01959
Direct link:
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... 974%29.pdf

But drilling a no-lock trem to add the purchased lock parts does strike me as OTT. The readily-available Classic Player trem (MIK), Am Pro trem (MIA), and AVRI trem (MIA) all have the lock (as does the MIJ trem, but it has some oddities like narrower string spacing); so they can save you that hassle.

[alexpigment]

A lock is pretty useful for me. I engage it when changing strings and using alternate tunings. If I broke a string onstage, that would be my first move to engage it.

I’d like to see someone attempt a DIY version, so be safe and report back! That being said, I’d just go for the AVRI for its ‘better’ spring and lack of knocking noises during use.

[GilmourD]

A lock is pretty useful for me. I engage it when changing strings and using alternate tunings. If I broke a string onstage, that would be my first move to engage it.

I’d like to see someone attempt a DIY version, so be safe and report back! That being said, I’d just go for the AVRI for its ‘better’ spring and lack of knocking noises during use.

I need to find some drawings with measurements I could use as an overlay... My Dremel is sitting by my desk since I used it last night to clean up the edges on missing chunks of polyurethane before filling the body with plastic wood. LOL

[tammyw]

I'm pretty sure this is accurate.

[GilmourD]

I'm pretty sure this is accurate.

THANK YOU! I'm gonna print it out and see. LOL