EVERYTHING YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW BOUT’ WHAMMYS

Last Update: 2023.05.26

Whammy Bars are very confusing and there are MANY sizes and shapes.  This page is designed to go into more details on these crazy things and help you figure out what size you might need or what you have, especially helpful when re-theming a Strat and you need a new one.

OVERVIEW

Tremolo bars can vary in many ways (I plan to go over this in detail later)

• Thread Size (5mm, 6mm, 10/32 inch, etc) – US and most upper MIM use 10/32
• The Tip end can be pointy (typically with Squiers) or more rounded like US
• Curvature – They can be angled in many ways or barely angled at all  (my terminology on the bends)
  • Main Bend (the one right after the thread)
  • Secondary Bend (the one closest to the Tip)
• Length – Short or long and everything in between.  “Gilmore” style is typically very short,
• Inexpensive and bars tend to be overly long, often reaching as far as the neck pickup at times! Ew!
• Thread length – The thread length can be different (the amount of thread length on the threaded end)

To make things more complicated, often the bridges aren’t machined perfectly so the threading can be quite sloppy. Remember, this isn’t the space shuttle here…

HINT: Use Plumbers tape on the screw part to tighten it up.

SCREW HOLE SPRINGS

The springs are designed to absorb the play in the screw side by tightening up the screw when it gets close to the bottom and compresses the spring. This has lots of great benefits like allowing the whammy not the flop around. Tightening the “connection” to the bridge/block is also a great advantage.

• There is only 1 style of spring that is used (applause)
• The early MIM strats in the 2000s and imports often do NOT have a bottom on the screw hole so screw just fall through.
• AM strats blocks (under the bridge) always have a bottom.
• Mostly thicker blocks have a bottom.
• DO not over tighten, things CAN break. Snug is good.

TIP: PUMBERS TAPE ROCKS!

I can’t tell you how many  players whammys I’ve dressed up with plumbers tape. Just wrap it around the threads and screw it in, often you don’t even need the spring. It also take out that “wiggle” slack due to lose machining tolerances.

POP IN WHAMMY

US Strat that are 2 screw modern style are often pop in style. They have a very special design that has a circular indent and there is a SCREW adjustment that is on the back of the bridge. You have to raise (tilt up) the bridge to see/get at this screw. It’s a hex and is a different size than the bridge or truss rod wrench.  I don’t know the size off hand but will update this later.