Hey guys, i got that whammy bar for my strat but i have just one complaint.. it doesnt sit right agaist the body. Kinda hard to explain, but i think it sits too close to the body because when i bring it around while playing, it hits the pups selector switch and when i press it it sometimes hits the vol. knob. My question is 1. how many times should i be screwing it in to work right and2. can i bend the whammy bar and not mess it up? thanks in advance-Hillbilly

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--Hillbilly
Proud member of the 2 or 3 club

i suggest you take it to a guitar tech for setup
it is impossible to tell how many turns to turn in the forum
cheers

The bar should be comfortably clear of all switches and knobs. You can bend the bar but it's not all that easy to do. These bars don't want to bend. They are tough.

On a conventional bridge you screw in the bar until the bottom starts to compress a small spring that should be down there in the block. The purpose of the spring is to provide some slight resistance to moving the bar into position or out of the way. That slight spring tension will keep the bar where you put it.

If you have lost the spring the bar will go in smoothly until it seats hard in the threads. It won't stay where you leave it either, because there is no spring compression. You can get these springs at low cost at any music store that stocks Fender parts.

There are new bridges that feature a pop-in bar instead of screw-in. I don't know much about those except that I think they are used on newer American Stratocasters. The vast majority of Stratocasters made since 1954 use a screw-in bar with a spring.

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