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I'm about to do some work on my 97' MIM Strat. She's a real beauty. First of, I need to clean out my volume, and tone pots with contact cleaner. They're getting really scratchy, dusty inside. Second of, I'd like to block the trem "hard-tail" it.
Can someone please help me, by giving me instructions to block the trem. I have 5 springs in the back of mine. ( Iadded a picture of the back of my Strat)
Hi Drockadam
this is a personal thing ......you either love Trems or you don't .........I don't like 'em and was going to have my trem totally bolcked a while back
I started off going the 5 springs route .............and to all intents and purposess that pretty much blocks it anyway.
The actuual wood block ......sounds easy but is more difficult ( I think) than it loooks ...........unless you are a precision woodworker
First you need a decent bit of hard wood ......Mahogony or something similar .softwoods 'do' but are soft and less resonant .. Can absorb sound vibrations not help them sustain.( So my Luthier reckoned anyway )
The grain of the wood needs to run in line with the strings and there fore with the grain on the Strat body itself
Then you gotta cut it and fashion it to size so its slightly wedge shaped, and fits the space ........with the grain as it is ......this is not so easy
Finally when its all done ....you tap it into place, needs to be real tight and snug .....and Trem is blocked and I'm told there is a very slight lift in tone and sustain
Evenually I did not go this step ............so mine is just 5 springs blocked .................it was going to cost me $45.00 to get a Luthier to do it .and I don't have the woodworking tools and bench to do it on my own ..........so I left it !
Good luck if you decide to do it !
"Death is just a heartbeat away" lyric from "Out in The Fields" Gary Moore 1952-2011
The alloy block on yours is really far from the steel ones the vintage (reissue) models have.
There are some after market steel blocks on the web, most of the people who installed them
report a huge difference in tone and sustain.
The wood block doesn't seem to have a lot of influence on the tone based on my experience
as far as the trem is already sitting flush to the body.
Anyway, each guitar sounds different, so what works for mine may not work as
well on yours.
Strummer had a good description on how to do it, don't worry about the screws on the claw, just make a wedge of maple or some other hardwood, and jam it in between the block and the body. On a personal note, I like the sound that springs give the Stat, (some don't , HBL has stated that he doesn't) so I just put three heavy springs to block it down, and it works fine. If it goes sharp when you rest your hand on the bridge, or if it goes flat on bends (any bends, but double stop bends and big bends are more likely to have an effect), then, you need more or heavier springs.
Experiment, and find what you like. Let us know what you settle on.
"Throw yo' big leg over me Mama, I might not feel this good again!"
I use an other way to block the trem. I don't use a piece of wood but a steel tube with 6 mm threat in it They where used to connect two bolts (look at the picture)
I glue a coin at the back side of the trem hole in the body en place the head of the bolt against it, and the tube at the tremblock Now twist itb with two pliers outwards till the trem is blocked complete ( let the springs in the guitar) When you want to hear the difference twist the bolt inwards to loosen it an take it out
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Last edited by ElMano on Thu Nov 18, 2010 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You can't bend the rule, Every man is some womans fool
El Mano, if you ever write a book cataloging all your creative approaches to "Doing it yourself" I'm gonna buy it!! Allways a better mousetrap (sorry, another Harley reference)!
Actually this forum has more than its share of creativity.
I take the easy way with spring tension. Tighten up the anchor screws and things sorta stay put.
oneeyedslide wrote:I take the easy way with spring tension. Tighten up the anchor screws and things sorta stay put.
I've ended up much the same - I never have got the hang of the trem arm so I don't use it. Easy just to tighten it all up and get the bridge sitting flat on the body - if the tone is to your liking at that point it's saves a lot of hassle - unless you're still unhappy with the tone at that point. I think a high quality steel block is a great thing to have on the end of the strings and springs though - I'm sure that's where a lot of my tone is coming from.
drockadam wrote:Alright, thanks guys. What wood would be best for doing this?
@12Bar, if you right click on the image, you can hit "Open Image In A New Window" and it makes it normal size.
a) nearly any, even soft wood is strong enough. I used spruce, but my axe only has 3 springs. 5 springs don't need extra blocking, I think.
b) I know (and it depends on the browser type), but it's still too large
Anyway, I'm not sure why you'd need to block with five springs. I can't imagine you have any "play" in the tremolo at that point. Would a block actually help tone in any way?
I've decided that I'm not going to block the trem on my Strat. My local guitar shop said that 5 springs is not 100% blocked off trem. It would still need a piece of wood. It's about 75 to 80% blocked off with 5 springs.
Blocking is fine, just throw a block of wood there, and the steel block keeps it in place. Of course on your MIM, the block is like less than half of the width that should it be.
But I never did understand the real benefit of blocking with a block of wood. Just tighter the 2 anchor screws, use 5 springs. Bend strings like mad and at the same time check if the bridge moves any.You can use heavier springs too, I have had some, I think they were Gotoh make, and a bit more brass in color.
To me one of the strattiest stock strat in store was hardtail Robert CRay (MIM), so I don't think the "springiness of springs" has anything to do with anything. Juts my personal opinion. I think EC is just too vintage concious to go hardtail.
I also have a "Tailfeatherz" feather light aluminium block that blocks the trem. Never hear any lost sustain with using it. But then decided that trem is part of a strat!
First of, I need to clean out my volume, and tone pots with contact cleaner. They're getting really scratchy, dusty inside. Second of, I'd like to block the trem "hard-tail" it. 
Let us know what you settle on. 
to the forum!
