| Yeah, those things are flimsy! I broke three of 'em off mine before I
finally replaced the bar with a heavy duty Schaller unit from
Stewart-MacDonalds. I thought I'd written up the procedure somewhere
in this conference, you might check for a Charvel topic.
Anyway, I got the replacement push-in Jackson bars from my local
Charvel/Jackson dealer, but I don't know if you can get them anymore
since Jackson gave up on that trem design and is using someone else's
in their newer instruments (Schaller, maybe? Floyd? I can't
remember).
The Schaller assembly costs about $10 and will last forever. It's
designed for the original Floyd style trem baseplate though, so it's
not a direct screw-in replacement for the Jackson, which has a thicker
soft aluminum baseplate. You have to screw out the factory Jackson
trem arm socket, then drill/reem out the hole to make room for the
Schaller replacement. You really only have to take just the threads
out of the inside of the hole, no more. Then the Schaller socket bolts
in there solid.
The Schaller uses a solid arm which has a threaded keeper that stays
with the bar, so it's better then both screw-in and snap in bars. The
keeper both holds the bar in the socket and sets the tension on the
bar, so you don't need any of those pesky o-ring grommet things around
the bar to keep it in place. You can easily set the tension on it (by
how much you tighten the keeper) so that the bar will spin easily, or
stay in one precise position. A LOT nicer then the stock arm & socket
arrangement.
Be aware, however, that it will change the position of the arm from
where the stock one is. It sits up a little higher and the arm's a
little shorter. I personally found I liked this position *MUCH* better
then the stock arm position, it put the arm right under my palm and the
shorter arm gave the trem a little more range before it hit the body.
If you don't feel up to doing the mod, I can do it for you (for a
modest fee). I've done several of them. Only problem is that I live
in Colorado, so you'd have to send me the guitar, or at least the trem
block part.
Greg
|
| Greg,
Good info. In fact my son (who is a away at school) just sent me an
e-mail message and told me he found a replacement bar for $22 at a local
Jackson dealer here in MA. If it breaks again, I'll take your lead and
go the Schaller route. Mods ar no problem for me, sounds like a picec-o-cake.
Thanks again.
Frank
|
| $22 for a trem arm? That's ridiculous. As I said, the Schaller arm
includes the socket and is about 100 times stronger then that pot-metal
Jackson junk and it only cost like $10 or $11. Half the price, many
times the strength.
And yeah, it's an easy mod, go for it. I broke 3 of those cheezy
Jackson arms and went through about 2 dozen of those tension grommet
things in about the first year and a half I had the thing, the Schaller
one worked perfectly for 3 years after I installed it (until I traded
the guitar) and it never needed anything at all. Like I said, it felt
better to me too! I was getting the Jackson arms free from my dealer,
but I considered the $10 for the Schaller to be the best $10 I ever
spent on that guitar.
Greg
|