Leo Fender’s tremolo tailpiece for the Stratocaster (which is actually a vibrato, but Fender, among other manufacturers, continues to use the terms interchangeably) was unquestionably a masterwork. Compared to other vibrato devices, the Strat’s “whammy bar” actually stayed in tune, even under heavy use (check out any video of Jimi Hendrix playing his various Strats). The one fly in the ointment was that the vibrato arm screwed into the tailpiece. If you didn’t tighten it, it would swing around wildly during a performance. If you tightened it, odds were good that the arm would stick out at an annoying angle. The solution? A small spring! All Fender Strats with vintage tremolos now come with a little spring that keeps some upward pressure on the arm. The spring is under that little gray or colored dot that you see on new Strats. Unfortunately, since you really shouldn’t store your Strat with the arm in place (on our Buddy Guy Strat, the arm sits a few inches too high to close the case properly), and since you’ll immediately lose the dot (which wasn’t really meant to be a long-term solution), what’s the answer? Well, as it turns out, that depends on how inventive you want to be.
As it turns out, the lowly banana plug – yes, the one you’d use on the ends of your speaker connections – fits quite nicely. They come in black (unobtrusive) or red (for you devil-may-care guitarists). Best of all, you can buy a whole bag of them for a few bucks. The smooth ones work best, but the type that expand out for a tighter fit can easily be “customized” with pliers. If you’re up to the challenge and live close to a marine parts store, rummage around for a black bushing that’s used to cover the places where marine outboards need to be lubricated. Got a better solution? Send us an e-mail and share your brilliance with the world. Oh, and in case you wondered about the newer vibratos, they have a pop-in arm, which always keeps the arm where you want it.