just ordered an upgrade tremolo for the Squier Jazzmaster. it's a Fender American Pro Ultra unit described as "more or less an AVRI tremolo with a screw-in arm" and a tension spring down the collet to keep the arm from flopping around, an idea which i endorse whole-heartedly. i got the guitar out yesterday and everything else is reasonably acceptable (i need to grind the long ends off of the saddle length adjustment screws so i can lower the bridge), but that tremolo just isn't happening. i've adjusted it several times but can't get it to do what i want it to, and i can get something out of just about any tremolo. it's just inconsistent. i scoffed at the notion, but when you're wrong best to admit it and move forward. i'm going to do the trem and bridge stuff first; down the road a bit i'll change the 0.22 cap in the rhythm circuit to an 0.1 to make the circuit more useful. with the stock cap it's the same as turning your tone control to 0. i'll also get a Squier pickquard to replace the American Fender one which was retrofitted; it really doesn't fit correctly and there's some warpage due to incorrect screw placement, and it's also so beat to shit i find myself wondering if the previous owner used metal thumb and finger picks. i'm not taking the pickguard off until absolutely necessary, though. i look back on my adventures with Jazzmaster wiring in roughly the same way someone recalls a particularly traumatic night raid over Germany, and if i'm going back in there i'm only going to do it once. i'm not fucking Rambo. i would get the Johnny Marr Jaguar bridge which is a poor man's StayTrem, but i don't have another $120 to put into it at this time.
i've been thinking about finding a metal-working shop that could make a threaded Jazzmaster arm with a longer vertical segment (the part of the arm that actually inserts into the sleeve) to get the Kevin Shields masking-tape-to-raise-the-handle effect while keeping the arm securely attached. if it worked well and i had an entrepeneurial bone in my body i could make a business of it LOL.