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Post subject: Early 90s MiM bridge/trem arm?
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:14 pm
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Brothers,

I have a Southern Cross series Fender Strat, made in Brazil, and I'm having trouble finding a tremolo arm for it.

These strats were built in Brazil under license and supervision, with the same parts that equipped the first "squier series" Mexican fenders.

I tried MiM standard trem arms, but they don't fit right, being too thin, just as the US made ones.

I wonder if the earlier Mexican standard strats had a broader trem arm back then.

Any info will be highly appreciated.

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Post subject: Re: Early 90s MiM bridge/trem arm?
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:45 pm
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Have you tried a trem arm from the MIM Classic Series or Road Worn Strat?

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Early 90s MiM bridge/trem arm?
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 7:27 pm
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Hey Arjay! Good to see you, partner.

Well, I haven't yet. Are those broader than the ones fit for modern standard mims?

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Post subject: Re: Early 90s MiM bridge/trem arm?
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 11:02 pm
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I think the rod is of larger diameter.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Early 90s MiM bridge/trem arm?
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 11:26 pm
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The simple way: try screws with different threads to find the right size.
Just three test screws should be enough for Fenders and Squiers: 10-32UNF, M5 and M6.


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Post subject: Re: Early 90s MiM bridge/trem arm?
Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 4:58 am
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de Melo wrote:
Brothers,

I have a Southern Cross series Fender Strat, made in Brazil, and I'm having trouble finding a tremolo arm for it.

These strats were built in Brazil under license and supervision, with the same parts that equipped the first "squier series" Mexican fenders.

I tried MiM standard trem arms, but they don't fit right, being too thin, just as the US made ones.

I wonder if the earlier Mexican standard strats had a broader trem arm back then.

Any info will be highly appreciated.


Ok...to the best of my knowledge, the MIM's have actually been pretty consistent over the years as far as such things go. In fact the only real change I know if regarding the bridges is that some time in the early/mid 00's, they went with a larger zinc trem block. As far as I know however, the early MIM's would have likely used the same size trem arm as later models. That said.........

Ok...I'm -not- familiar with this Southern Cross series you mention however if by "Squier Series" you mean the black label MIM's that came out in the early/mid 90's, I do know a bit about those. In short, yes, they did use the same metric spacing as a regular MIM Standards, however the bridge plates and blocks were pretty much the el' cheapo Squier stuff of the era (which could explain the difference in trem arm size). What I did with mine (my black label) was just snag a standard MIM bridge, along with a GFS steel trem block, at which point you can just use a standard MIM trem arm (a dime a dozen at most music stores)...total cost was around $45 (for the bridge AND the block combined), but it makes a HUGE difference in terms of tone and sustain. It's the second best mod you can do to the instrument behind replacing the pickups! While I'm usually reluctant to use such subjective terminology, those early low end Squier bridges are just crap...thin plates, pot metal saddles, zinc alloy blocks, etc.. If you otherwise enjoy the instrument and as you say, it uses the same hardware as the black lable Squier Series, it's well worth upgrading to the standard MIM bridge plate/saddles and putting a decent steel block on.

Hope this helps!


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Post subject: Re: Early 90s MiM bridge/trem arm?
Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 7:24 am
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The "same parts as MIM Squier Series" may be a misunderstanding, sort of lost in translation.
Based on the very little info on these guitars (and, the info is in Portuguese...), the first Brazilian made Fenders had a "Squier Series" stamp on the headstock. Later, that became "Southern Cross Series".
On 'same parts', as of yet no confirmation, one way or another.

I'd still do that screw test...


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