I was thinking about blocking the trem on my American strat. I have a 2008 American Standard. Has anyone done who could give me a outline of how to do it...and if you think I should try it myself or find a tech to do it.

It's not hard to do you can either set your trem flush to the body or put an exact size piece of wood behind the trem from the trem cavity. You will need to have a complete setup afterwards, so I would take it to a tech as you seem to be new at this, Hope that helps and good luck! BTW ,i have mine flush with the body so my action is low as I can get it without buzzing.

I'm not a fan of blocking; five springs in the back, reset the action, intonate, and rock and roll.

It would not bother me at if my MIA Deluxe was a hardtail!! I rarely use the trem at all! and if so it's not pulling upwards!

That's like how mine's set up.

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-Classic 50's Strat.
-Std. Telecaster.
-Mike Dirnt P-bass.
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Rellik Productions Inc.

I done this on a floyd rose ibanez, not a strat but the same steps.

1. Set up the guitar as you want to play it after its blocked off, but with the trem in place all sprung up. this is necessary so you know the exact size of the pieces of wood you need.

2. in your set up guitar measure 3 distances
a. the distance from the back of the block to the back of the trem cavity.
b the distance from the front of the block to the front of the trem cavity.
c. The width of the trem cavity.

3. find some hardwood if possible. an old broken oak sofa worked for me.


4. Cut two pieces of wood. the length of the 1st piece is the measurement obtained in step 2a, and a width of the trem cavity. The second piece has a length you obtained in step 2b above, and a width of the trem cavity.

5. Detune your guitar, de-spring your trem, unscrew the claw screws, and place all trem parts with a little wd40 or other spray oil , safely away in a bag in case you need them again.

6. Insert both pieces of wood. the trem block should now be firmly wedged in place from both sides.


You really only need one piece, that goes between the front of the trem block and the front of the trem cavity, but with all the talk of resonance and sustain, i think having as much contact between the guitar body and trem block can only help matters.

Note also that as you set up your guitar before getting your measurements, the pieces of wood hold the trem block in the exact place that you had when it was set up.


I know its a few more steps than many would go through, but the fact is its prob gona be blocked off for a long time, so as well do it right and get the best from it.

If you really need, il see about getting pics. let me know.

I blocked the tremolo on my 1962RI Stratocaster with a small stack of quarters--helped tuning stability, increased sustain, got the trem arm out of my way.

I didn't do all the steps listed on the earlier posting--I just pulled the trem flush with the body and crammed the quarters in the cavity; it worked great!

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

I done it your way once also, but doing it your way means your chancing it that the guitar will remain set up as you want it.

grand if your stuck for time or lazy, but as setup is so important, not worth the risk for an extra 20 mins of measuring and cutting.

"I done it your way once also, but doing it your way means your chancing it that the guitar will remain set up as you want it.

grand if your stuck for time or lazy, but as setup is so important, not worth the risk for an extra 20 mins of measuring and cutting."


You're right--a friend of mine tried it and it didn't work properly; His setup was screwed up by the modification.

My trem was always flush with the body, and it didn't affect the setup, action or intonation in any way. I guess I lucked out

Either way, it can be done--properly (as you did it) or lazily (as I did it)...

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Thanks everyone. Very helpful. Adding springs sounds interesting. I assume the extra tension of the added springs will affect the bridge setup?

After reading here and elsewhere about the inadvisability of a conversion it seems to me that it would depend largely on how much you're willing to do. I just bought a really cheap Squier that needs work. My other Squier has a tremolo and I really don't use it so I thought that this cheapy would be a good test case for a hardtail. I've done a decent amount of woodworking/cabinetry and filling the routs with comparable wood isn't very hard at all, in fact, since I plan to repaint in another color I'll have to sand the body anyway. If one glues and pocket-screws the blocks correctly and fills the joins with the right wood filler, it gives you a very solid base in which to drill and screw the bridge (and the thru-body holes if you want them). But that's just me. Shimming the trem block is just faster, but I can't see how it could be better.