This problematic trem adjustment screw.. ;(

I lost my trem tension screw, and ordered some new ones. They sent a small bag with several of these little buggers that get lost WAY to easy and some different sized pieces of nylon bushings that I gues I'm supposed to cut to length. This little screw has about 1.5 threads on it and I put a teeny tiny piece of that nylon in there and there's now not enough thread for me to put the screw in and the S**t is jammed in there now.

I gotta say this seems like a pretty poor design for a trem tension screw. Even when I was before able to get the thing to somewhat tighten, the bushing would pancake against the trem bar and just smush into crap so I'd have to keep putting more and more in. The trem would never even get really snug.

So I guess I'm going to have to drill it out.. Has anyone else experienced this?? Any tips? Thanks.

I lost my trem tension screw, and ordered some new ones. They sent a small bag with several of these little buggers that get lost WAY to easy and some different sized pieces of nylon bushings that I gues I'm supposed to cut to length. This little screw has about 1.5 threads on it and I put a teeny tiny piece of that nylon in there and there's now not enough thread for me to put the screw in and the S**t is jammed in there now.

I gotta say this seems like a pretty poor design for a trem tension screw. Even when I was before able to get the thing to somewhat tighten, the bushing would pancake against the trem bar and just smush into crap so I'd have to keep putting more and more in. The trem would never even get really snug.

So how would you get this thing out of there? Heat it up? Melt it? I tried jamming it out but ended up nearly scratching my guitar. Has anyone else experienced this??

Do the set screws look like the ones in this picture?


There are 2 different thread configurations: For US instruments 2005 and older, use part # 080215-000 (Standard), for US instruments 2006 and later and all Tribute instruments use part # 080215-100 (Metric).
My guess is that you got the wrong set for your specific guitar.
If the set screws only have 1.5 threads, then they are defective. See picture above.
Also, the nylon bushing is supposed to be used without cutting it.

If you bought these from the G&L Online store, contact them via the Contact Us link. If you got them from a dealer, return them to that dealer (along with the guitar) and ask for a replacement set.

Hope this helps.

I lost my trem tension screw, and ordered some new ones. They sent a small bag with several of these little buggers that get lost WAY to easy and some different sized pieces of nylon bushings that I gues I'm supposed to cut to length. This little screw has about 1.5 threads on it and I put a teeny tiny piece of that nylon in there and there's now not enough thread for me to put the screw in and the S**t is jammed in there now.

I gotta say this seems like a pretty poor design for a trem tension screw. Even when I was before able to get the thing to somewhat tighten, the bushing would pancake against the trem bar and just smush into crap so I'd have to keep putting more and more in. The trem would never even get really snug.

So how would you get this thing out of there? Heat it up? Melt it? I tried jamming it out but ended up nearly scratching my guitar. Has anyone else experienced this??

Do the set screws look like the ones in this picture?


There are 2 different thread configurations: For US instruments 2005 and older, use part # 080215-000 (Standard), for US instruments 2006 and later and all Tribute instruments use part # 080215-100 (Metric).
My guess is that you got the wrong set for your specific guitar.
If the set screws only have 1.5 threads, then they are defective. See picture above.
Also, the nylon bushing is supposed to be used without cutting it.

If you bought these from the G&L Online store, contact them via the Contact Us link. If you got them from a dealer, return them to that dealer (along with the guitar) and ask for a replacement set.

Hope this helps.

The bushing don't look that uniform, and the screws APPEAR to have more threads in the photo, but I'll have to pull it out and double check. Some of the bushings are a bit longer and maybe I have to cut to fit. I guess it's not that big a deal.

Based on what you said, I think we've gotten down to the cause of the problem!

I was comparing bridges with the newer s-500 and the trem arm is nice and snug in the socket, so the bushing works great to keep it tight, but on my legacy there is a gap which causes the bushing to have to extend farther outward to make contact with the bar, and then it winds up gettin smushed after a few minutes of use and the bar is loose again.

Upon looking in the G&L parts, now I see they have two different trem arms for two different sized holes. One is older style up to early 2006, and the other is early 2006 to present.

So my guitar happens to be a 2006, but it has a larger trem hole than my 2009 (s500) that I have.

So obviously I have the wrong bar! So am I to assume that the bar I would need to fit correctly would be the PRE-2006 bar?

And thank the lord, they are also making individual sets of saddles now!

Are these the newer wider ones I hope?

There seems to be only one choice, and I noticed that the string spacing on my 2009 is a tad wider than the 2006. So I measured, and yep it's a small difference in the saddles.

So basically I'm hoping they are the newer wider ones which I actually preferring.

If anybody can answer this, I would be most greatful!

Thanks for the assistance!

I was comparing bridges with the newer s-500 and the trem arm is nice and snug in the socket, so the bushing works great to keep it tight, but on my legacy there is a gap which causes the bushing to have to extend farther outward to make contact with the bar, and then it winds up gettin smushed after a few minutes of use and the bar is loose again.

Upon looking in the G&L parts, now I see they have two different trem arms for two different sized holes. One is older style up to early 2006, and the other is early 2006 to present.

So my guitar happens to be a 2006, but it has a larger trem hole than my 2009 (s500) that I have.

So obviously I have the wrong bar! So am I to assume that the bar I would need to fit correctly would be the PRE-2006 bar?

Your 2006 probably was made before the change to the newer bridge. If you have another G&L with the larger trem bar, see if that one works in the 2006.

And thank the lord, they are also making individual sets of saddles now!

Are these the newer wider ones I hope?

There seems to be only one choice, and I noticed that the string spacing on my 2009 is a tad wider than the 2006. So I measured, and yep it's a small difference in the saddles.

So basically I'm hoping they are the newer wider ones which I actually preferring.

If anybody can answer this, I would be most greatful!

Thanks for the assistance!

I'm not sure, but the saddle set is likely for the newer bridge (metric). You might contact the Online store to double check this.

Hope this helps.