My tremolo arm is leaning back in the trem. The trem is perfectly level to that body also. I can t figure out why its like this. The problem is that the arm almost touches the body when I wind it in. Its too high on the pickup side, and way too low on the other side of the tremolo. I cant even put the bar in if I have the cable in the guitar because it hits the cable.

Heres a few pics.

Has no one ever seen this before?

Hmmm...that's how mine is, I figured it was normal! I don't use the trem enough for it too matter though. Its better than the alternative...I have a friend with a strat whose arm hits his knobs its so low towards the strings!

It is normal. Usually Fender style tremolo bridge weren't designed to lay flat on the top of the body. It should be set up to some angle, that's why trem arm is also angled.

On mine strat it looks like that:

http://w384.wrzuta.pl/obraz/7gky3mGnJ21/img_0010

With angled trem arm it is very comfortable. If arm weren't angled it would be too close to the pickuard and not comfortable to grab.[/img]

I had the same issue. Does your guitar have the spring in the trem hole? When I got mine new it had no tape or sticker over the trem hole, so it was missing the spring. At the time I didn't even know there was supposed to be a spring in there. When I set it up with the trem on the body I had the same issue you have. Then I found out there was a spring I went up to a local shop and got the spring for a whopping .79 cents and the bar doesn't go down as far and has much more clearance. I also bent my bar a bit.

Hi Pawelt: I think callen3615 is saying he has the opposite problem: the arm is too high over the pickups and too low when spun round the other way. So...:

Hi callen3615: from the look of it your bridge is not set the way Fender mean you to have the modern two-point floating trem. They intend you to have the back raised about 1/8th inch off the body, so the bridge "floats" - that is, you can bend the strings up as well as down in pitch. By itself, this will put the bridge plate at an angle instead of parallel to the face of the guitar as it currently is in you pix, which will alter the angle of the trem arm.

To achieve this, round the back of the guitar take the plastic back plate off and find the two claw screws that join the spring claw to the woodwork. Gradually undo those two screws a few turns till the bridge has risen almost the right amount off the body. This will detune the strings a bit; retuning will raise the bridge a touch further.

When you've finished you are going to need to check your action and then your intonation, in that order, because changing the attitude of the bridge will alter those things.

All of this will have made the arm hang a little lower over the strings. But if it's not enough then you could always bend it to your requirements. Put the short end in a suitably lined vice (no metal on metal contact) or similar and pull firmly on the other till it's the angle you want.

By the way: have you altered the height of your two bridge pivot posts - the screws that it hinges on when it moves? If so, it will have complicated matters...

Cheers - C

I'll tell you one thing and that is the threaded end of the arm is not going straight through the plate and into the block. It's cocked at an angle. Is this thing cross-threaded or something? If not then the threaded end is bent. It takes a lot of force to bend a trem arm. Probably easier to just get a new trem arm.

Do you have a friend with a Stratocaster? Borrow the trem arm and try it on your guitar. If it fits well, your arm is bad.

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You could take your trem arm to a Fender shop and try it in a new model. That may help determine if it's your arm or bridge.