Hey there, everyone.

I own a Fender Strat. Mexico 70's (I think it is)

My problem is that my volume/tone knobs is in the way for my whammy bar. Actually i find it an unacceptably design flaw, but is this a common problem, or is it just me who own a weird guitar?
Is there anything to do about this?

Please help me out if you can.

I have a mex Strat, and I dont find anything like that now that I have it set up properly.

some people will bend thier trem bar to get the right feel for themselves, or maybe your trem bar has been bent a bit too much where it comes out of the trem block.

I would think a good setup would cure your problem

Hello Flaxy112 & J Troncaso,

Welcome to this forum goes out to both of you.

Flaxy rebending the tremolo bar is
standard operating procedure for me,
nothing major but I know how I like it.

Best of luck with your adjustment.

Cheers.

Be careful you don't bend it too much though. Having the bar break off in the trem is common for sure.

_________________
"You won't part with your's either"

Fender American Standard Stratocaster 2006

Fender Standard Telecaster 2007

Before you go about bending the bar, you might want to verify that the bridge itself isn't leaning too far forward. If it is, it will aim the bar directly at the body.

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You dig?

If the bridge is floating at the correct height, which means somewhere in the 3/32" to 1/8" range measured from the body to the underside of the bridge at the back, the tremolo should not interfere with anything. It will hit your guitar cord if you swing the bar from front to back, but shouldn't interfere with anything else.

Same problem on my 2000 MIM, when screwed in the whammy bar it would knock my switch into a different position. I would also discover that when I was doing whammy "dives" I would come up short only to find that my whammy bar was sitting on top of my volume knob. Now, this whammy bar was bought at my local guitar shop, he said it was fine for a MIM, however I recently aquired another 2000 MIM this one came with the original bar which to my surprise is a little longer and has a different angle to it, I have absolutely no problems with that one. My conclusion is that after market bars were not specifically designed for MIM standards, I did however bend my bar a little and it has stopped the interference with my pickup switch. Good luck.

Here is a pick of the good whammy


Here is the other slightly smaller one

I should also mention that if you don't have the little coil spring installed in the hole, the bar will sit a little lower than it otherwise would.

I agree with what has been said about the baseplate is supposed to be around 1/8" up from the bod. The bar's hole is at an angle because of this. Even if I block mine for dive only I still let the plate be the 1/8" above the body so the bar clears averything

I have the same problem with my 2000 MIM, I just leave it a little loose so it doesn't interfere. Its out of the way when I don't need it, but readily available when I do. I like the idea of a spring in the hole, though. I may try that.

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2007 MIM Sunburst Standard Tele
2000 MIM Sunburst Standard Strat
1978 Fender SF Twin Reverb
1978 Ibanez PT-909 phaser
2011 Digitech DigiDelay
2011 Digitech Screamin' Blues OD

My Highway1 strat is the first vintage fender trem I've tried. It has the spring (my first time trying one with it) I really like it. I can have the bar where it will drop away when I release it, but it doesn't swing fast and smack the cord or it's metal sleeve on the jack. I hate it when that happens

I have bent my tremolo arm before , easy step

I have the trem set up now to where it wont hit anything, but I don't like how it's bent at the end. Like I said, I was a Floyd guy so long, I prefer the bar to be straighter.

Can you give any advise on how to unbend the bar?

When I unbent my tremolo arm a little I used a piece of wood so the shiny surface doesnt get scrathed ... I drilled a hole in the piece of wood and then put the bar through it and ppulled it back worked fine and not a lot of pressure was needed....