Looking for an F-100 tremelo bar . . .

[Sol]

Hi All,
I have a 1981 F-100 Series 1, formally a Tabacco Sunburst (been repainted), Ebony neck, . . . my fave guitar I've ever owned.
Due to massive wear on the tremolo and bridge (literally chrome worn away) I recently ordered from G&L the newer styled tremolo bridge.
FYI, for the 'classics' fans out there, I did save the original bridge as it does have my original registered serial # 005545 on it.
OK, generally speaking, the new bridge plays great. The tremolo is smooth as silk. Hasn't been that way for a very, very long time.
But, I do have a fairly major dislike for this newer styled tremolo arm. I mean, reeeeeeally don't like it!!
So I'm looking for one that's shaped more like the old style. Shorter, bent more, and has the plastic end cap on it to grip better.
Unfortunately, in someone's infinite design wisdom over at G&L, they decided to go with a thicker arm on the newer bridges. So my old arm will not fit in there, too small. Also, the new arm is too straight, too little of an angle, etc.
Can anyone recommend an arm more in line with the classic Strat styled arm for this Dual Fulcrum bridge? Like Leo used to make?
G&L dosen't seem to offer one on their site.

Thanks.
- Sol

[Craig]

You might consider putting the original arm socket on the new bridge and then you can use the
original trem arm. If you need replacement old style tremelo arms see: I need a tremelo arm, do you know where I can get one?

Hope this helps.

[Sol]

Thanks for the response, Craig. And the link.
Yeah, using the original arm socket is not a desirable option as it too is very beat up and the chrome is worn off. I'm trying to re-establish this old favorite back to it's former glory, playing wise. The neck is still my favorite ever, but the bridge was very worn out. I was a Van Halen-styled rock blues player back in the day.
My old original arm actually still looks great. If I could get the smaller arm socket, I'd be good to go.
Interesting, in that the newer styled arm, seems like tremolo playing is almost an after thought. Or just for 'dive-bombing effects.
These days, I'm more into a little Van Halen-ish, but more of Jeff Beck styled trem work. Where you actually hold the bar it while continuing with your picking and string work. Holding the newer, longer and basically straight arm, really pushes your picking hand up to the neck. Completely limiting your tone. Not sure what the thinking is there.
If anyone has a little insight here, I'm all ears.

I'll check out the links you offered up and get back to you.

Thanks again, man.

- Sol

[Craig]

Hi All,
I have a 1981 F-100 Series 1, formally a Tabacco Sunburst (been repainted), Ebony neck, . . . my fave guitar I've ever owned.
Due to massive wear on the tremolo and bridge (literally chrome worn away) I recently ordered from G&L the newer styled tremolo bridge.
FYI, for the 'classics' fans out there, I did save the original bridge as it does have my original registered serial # 005545 on it.
OK, generally speaking, the new bridge plays great. The tremolo is smooth as silk. Hasn't been that way for a very, very long time.
But, I do have a fairly major dislike for this newer styled tremolo arm. I mean, reeeeeeally don't like it!!
So I'm looking for one that's shaped more like the old style. Shorter, bent more, and has the plastic end cap on it to grip better.
Unfortunately, in someone's infinite design wisdom over at G&L, they decided to go with a thicker arm on the newer bridges. So my old arm will not fit in there, too small. Also, the new arm is too straight, too little of an angle, etc.
Can anyone recommend an arm more in line with the classic Strat styled arm for this Dual Fulcrum bridge? Like Leo used to make?
G&L dosen't seem to offer one on their site.

Thanks.
- Sol

I did a little more research on when the thin-style tremolo arm was changed to the 1/4" style bar.
I found that the Leo Fender Fine Tuner bridge had them and the earliest examples I found were in 1987.
See this post for info on the LF FT bridge: Any info on the Leo Fender Fine Tuner Vibrato?.

Here are some pictures of them from 1987:







So, it would seem that Leo was the one who made this change while developing his Fine Tuner bridge.

You might modify the new style arm to suit your needs: bend it to match the old style and add a tip to the end.
Here's a picture of a tremolo arm with an added foam end cap done by one of the members here (Thumbs):



If you do modify the 1/4" tremolo bar, please do post a pic of it on the guitar.

Hope this helps.

[Sol]

Thanks for the follow up, Craig.
I exchanged emails with ESI. The guy there 'Gabe' was pretty stunned that I could actually "wear one out", because they were built so durable. But I was from that whole post Hendrix, into Van Halen era, so I did pretty much beat the living hell out of the whammy system. Yeah, me and that axe made a lot of noise together. lol!

Currently he doesn't make the socket for the smaller older arm. So I would have to use my older socket. Which would get me into a 'having it blasted and re-chromed' scenario.
What i've decided to do after a little more research, was to contact a local Pro quality Machine Shop.
I took the old and newer styled arms over to them and discussed what I needed. Which is essentially to take the new thicker arm, and bend it and angle it to match the old style arm. And then actually cut it off and shorten it, and then thread the end to accommodate the old grip handle. He looked at it and said "No problem, should take about an hour of labor - $40 bucks"
He can't fit me into his schedule until next week, but I'll let you know how it turns out.

- Sol

[Sol]

FYI, even the ones in these pics, are mostly too long for my liking. If you hold the end of the bar or the grip while picking, it puts your picking hand way too far up towards the neck. Completely changing your tone. I like resting my palm on the bridge post area.