CIJ Jaguar Tremolo Bar

greenweenie · Post by **greenweenie** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:32 am

The tremolo bar on my CIJ Jag won't stay put. It keeps swinging around and I tried putting tape on it to make it squeeze inside the hole but I can't find tape thin enough. Any other solutions?

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:38 am

You need to push it in hard (a girl once said that to me many years ago....) If that does'nt work, the collet inside the tremolo is'nt gripping it, you may need to take the trem plate off and squeeze the collet together a little with some pliers.

greenweenie · Post by **greenweenie** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:45 am

Fran wrote:You need to push it in hard (a girl once said that to me many years ago....) If that does'nt work, the collet inside the tremolo is'nt gripping it, you may need to take the trem plate off and squeeze the collet together a little with some pliers.

Is it safe to do this by myself? I'm afraid I might mess up my beloved Jag.

greenweenie · Post by **greenweenie** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:12 pm

bumpity bump.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:24 pm

Yeah, just try it, you cant really damage anything.

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:33 am

Yeh, mines pushed really far in... as far as it'll go almost. Don't be frightened.

it'll still swing... I put cellotape around the trem arm, sounds naff & a cheap resolution but it has worked great. About 1+years in and no need to re-tape or anythin.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:40 am

WHOAH!! Someone else answers a newcomers question, well done Owen. It took Joey from JS.com to answer another thread. Shortscale needs to step up its game, or maybe direct people to OSG for answers.

greenweenie · Post by **greenweenie** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:24 am

Thanks guys. Mine's pushed in as far as it can go and it swings with every little movement. I'll try Fran's suggestion. I really really want it to stay in place. I watch videos of The Cribs' recording their Ignore The Ignorant and Marr's Jag trem bar doesn't swing at all. I want something like that. It used to stay in place but for some odd reason, it got loose and swung around.

greenweenie · Post by **greenweenie** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:32 am

Hey Fran. I just did what you said and now everything's all good. If I hadn't taken off the trem plate, I wouldn't have found out that the grounding wire was already desoldered from the metal trem plate. Thanks a lot!

/edit it's also amazing how much problems that Jags have that can be solved with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:12 am

You might wanna loosen it a little bit.

For my CIJ jag, if the arm doesn't swing then it's gripping the whole thingy the collet is on (I don't know names) and mine would slowly come unscrewed over a day or two. This would lead to it falling inside and me having to grab and tighten it with a pair of pliers.

Here's a couple photos I took a while back without bothering to sort it out so you can see what I mean:

hwestman · Post by **hwestman** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:07 pm

bend the part of the arm that goes into the collet slightly until it gets a very gentle curve. This will make it fit better and negate the need for tape...

Earth · Post by **Earth** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:32 pm

What I used to do on CIJ Jaguar vibratos is wrap plumbers tape (a very thin non-adhesive tape available at hardware stores) around the bar until it was the right thickness then insert it into the collet, it would stay put in any position for a while then you would have to remove it and repeat the process as the tape wears out with vibrato movment.
It's not a permanent solution but it was one I was happy to live with.

greenweenie · Post by **greenweenie** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:37 pm

Earth wrote:What I used to do on CIJ Jaguar vibratos is wrap plumbers tape (a very thin non-adhesive tape available at hardware stores) around the bar until it was the right thickness then insert it into the collet, it would stay put in any position for a while then you would have to remove it and repeat the process as the tape wears out with vibrato movment.
It's not a permanent solution but it was one I was happy to live with.

Cool. I'll go to the hardware today and look for plumber's tape. Thanks!

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:53 pm

greenweenie wrote:
Earth wrote:What I used to do on CIJ Jaguar vibratos is wrap plumbers tape (a very thin non-adhesive tape available at hardware stores) around the bar until it was the right thickness then insert it into the collet, it would stay put in any position for a while then you would have to remove it and repeat the process as the tape wears out with vibrato movment.
It's not a permanent solution but it was one I was happy to live with.
Cool. I'll go to the hardware today and look for plumber's tape. Thanks!

it's sometimes called teflon tape.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:20 am

Or PTFE tape