when blocking the trem block with a piece of wood, does the claw need to be flush with the body?

it now now has 3 springs, is it preferable to have 5 when blocked?

when blocking the tremolo with a block of wood, it is held in place by the tension of the tremolo springs. after placing the wood block, loosen the two claw screws until the block cannot be moved. after this, it is held in place by the guitar string tension.

Make sure the wood block is "tight" then loosen the claw(springs).Otherwise,theres no point in using the block as you are relying on the springs(to hold the block in)for block pressure.

i used to block the trem on my strat because of the tuning hassles..but what i found was that set up properly..which imo...needs the floating tremolo to be as it was designed to be.."floating" makes a strat sound the best. it is so easy now to set up any strat i own..3 springs..philips..allan wrench..an experiment with action heights...and a cromatic tuner for intonation ajustment...

but to block it is easy, strings loose....block the space between the trm and body bout 5/16 inch wide.

thanks all. a big help.

hey bootyblues22, your strat stays in tune more consistently with it "floating"? that is why i want to block it due to it not staying in tune consistently.

mucho gracias

if you look at the pic i posted.floatin is not flat to the body, its off the body a little so you can bend notes up also.alot of things influence a guitar staying in tune..age of strings, new strings will stretch until broken in. humidity can reek havok on the neck woods, body...and the tremolo. if you can write messeges in a forum, you can work on your tremolo, lol...cuz i couldnt write here b4, but could do tremolo. 3 springs goto the claw..when you select your strings..i recomend 10-46... if you tighen those spring screw further into the body you will stiffin trem right to the body..and no string tension should cause movement in tuning.but to use the trem , and achieve the intened strat sound..tune up, if you look at the back edge of the trem, the 6 saddle screws and that plate will be at a visual 90* from the body. so if it to high...or off the body meaning the strings are pulling more than the springs..you would tighten each of the 2 screws in the claw inward, half tuns at a time each...note tuning will change ..its not a fast fix..patience...so once you get the trem set, then the saddle height can be set for your action preference. once this is all done adjust tune again..and the inotnaition. you can find many tips on guitar setup all over the internet. hope i didnt confuse you to much. gl and find that sound and setup.

also noted...a strats tremolo is just that...a tremolo...not to be confused with a "Whammy Bar"....lmao

I blocked my Std Strat and after tinkering around with most of the options I found posted on this board I found that the best sound was produced by blocking the trem in the factory recommended 1/8 inch off the deck position.

I did not mess with the claw except to loosen it ever so slighty. I kept all the springs on. You will find that this is the way that EC blocks his trem and he probably knows what is good, LOL.

Also, I did not choose to block because of any tuning problems. My strat stayed in tune with no issues while the bridge was floating. I just don't use the tremolo at all and did not want to mess with the extra steps of keeping it floating.

_________________
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2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

absolute my guitar playin amigo... to each his own.. lol i have 3 strats, and all were blocked at one point or another, lol. and prolly will be again if the tremolo pisses me off-fa-fa again.

helps greatly, finished last nite, sounds good to "me" and feels good and tight. took a few try's soaking up the info presented on this thread but i sure like what i got for now.

i read that too somewhere about the 1/8 and thats just about right on where mine's a sittin now. done with part now, whew, and glad

wicked glad to be of some help to you good Sir!!