Block and Arm Design

The original design of the sychronized tremolo although revolutional at the time has several flaws. These flaws have never been addressed by Fender and they even carry these flaws into the American Standard Tremolos and their Mexican models. The problem is the .205 DIA x 3/16 long counterbore in the top of the block.

The photo to your right shows a sectional view of a current Fender vintage block to illustrate the counterbore.

This counterbore is also in American Standard blocks. The counterbore creates a tremendous stress riser on the first thread of the trem arm, the weakest section of the arm, because the arm is completely unsupported at the top of the block. The forces developed when using the trem are applied directly to the threaded section of the arm. It doesn't matter if the arm is made from high strength materials, it will eventually fail right at the first thread. The counterbore also reduces the leverage over trem springs. Fender arms also have significant play in the threads making the bridge very slow to respond and making subtle vibrato effects difficult. The Fender solution is a heavy spring in the bottom of the block. This spring causes the threads to gall and suddenly the arm is locked in the block and the only way to remove it is to break it off. Most people loss this spring without even knowing it, which is good. But trying to replace it is a mistake.

To correct these flaws we are now making all our blocks with a zero clearance fit Delrin bushing that will support the arm all the way to the top of the block.

This small change will make the arm near unbreakable. I say near because someone will do their best to break it just so they can complain. But for those of you who play 13's and 5 springs screwed all the way down will have your work cut out for you.

We have been making trem blocks for more than 20 years. It started so that people with valuable guitars could replace their damaged blocks with an exact replacement. Steel is the only material that should be used for the block. But not just any steel. The steel can not contain any lead. Lead dampens the frequency response and reduces both sustain and clarity. We are the only company machining all our blocks from a cold rolled non-leaded U.S.A. steel.