My tremolo bar is stuck in my Squier Strat's bridge, my guitar tech is out of town until Tuesday and I have a gig this Monday.

I don't really know how this happened, it was fine screwing it in (although it did feel a little harder to screw in than normal). But then, when I tried taking it out I found that it will not come out. I can turn it about two turns in either direction (though doing that is a struggle). Then it stops, and I don't want to force it.
Maybe I can apply something to ease it out like oil? If I can't get it out in time I'll still use it on the gig, but it's extremely annoying having a whammy bar stuck on there that you can't use or remove. Plus I can't put my guitar back in it's gig bag. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially if they work.

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Sounds like you've crossed the threads. Unfortunately i've never seen a cure for crossed threads that works, other than new inertia block and trem arm.

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No no and no

Tex it seems for some reason your threads did not catch right and that is why your where your at.You could try a lube and see if it loosens up but what evey you do dont force it or you mught wind up snapping it off.Your best bet right now is that if it is stuck in a spot that is not in your way of playing do your gig then get it taken care of.Believe it or not I leave the bar on most of the time and I never use it.

Luckily it got caught in an out of the way position, so I can still play the gig. I'm going to work on it today and see if I can loosen it any. I'm definately not going to force it though, not if it can snap.

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yep you have definately cross threaded the beast.

Try unscrewing the arm while applying outward pressure (pulling like heck on it as you unscrew it) that may get it past the cross-threading issue. you'll probably have to buy a new arm and/or rethread the trem hole if the threads are trashed.

If pulling as you unscrew doesn't work, you can always cut off the arm near the trem then drill out the part that's still inside and then tap (rethread) the trem hole. sounds involved, but it really isn't.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Worse comes to worse and you can't get it out you can always just buy an upgraded tremelo block.

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Does your trem bar hole have the spring in it? If so, you may have caught part of the spring between the trem bar and the block. This would be an easier fix than if you cross threaded the trem bar.
Good luck with your gig man.

I was going to, but I had hoped to do it at a time when I wasn't trying to save my money. The Squier tremolo always felt terrible in comparison with the tremolo on my Fender, so I'm not surprised by what happened. Since it's an Affinity Squier finding a replacement may be more difficult than usual. Maybe I should just replace the entire bridge while I'm at it.



Yes, it has all five springs in it. I'll definately check and see if it's caught in there. Thanks!

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OK, it's definately not the springs. I tried pulling and turning, and I managed to screw it in more, but I was unable to make it come the other way past where it struck before. It's still gig worthy though, which is what's important.

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No no mate, he asked you about the tiny spring in the trem arm slot, not the trem balance strings You know, that little one that pops out if you don't put a sticker or tape over the hole

If you can wait until your tech gets back that is best. But I doubt he'll guarantee success. This probably has to be solved with brute force. In that case something will either break or not. If nothing actually breaks, the threads on the block and bar may be ruined. You'll have to replace them.

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if i may, i would like to add that when i puchased my 06 am std i went to screw in my trem arm and immediately felt resistance. being a machinist this always makes me cringe. i blew out the hole, grabbed a tap and chased the threads. oddly enough some of the chips were still in the hole from the original threading of the block. im sure this was one in a million but never force a screw into a thread. especially disimmular metals the softer metal will gaul (virtually weld) itself to the other. although the trem block was ok i ended up replacing it with the newer infused block with a set of steel saddles instead of the ss steel original. i actually think it increased sustain as fender advertises.

texasguitarslinger,

I’ve seen this happen on a YouTube video (about half way through the song)! I don’t think the guy ever figured out, how to fix it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQhBx5s5LMc

Oh, that one. That's what I get for being a Les Paul person for so long.

I never noticed a spring in there, and I never put any tape on the hole so it could have fallen out without me knowing.

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hehe
But don't worry about the spring after you get your trem working again, most players never replace it once it is lost