So, I've got this '97 (Chinese) Squier Strat that plays beautifully, isn't made of plywood and gives me great tones after a pickup upgrade. The only thing is I've always wanted it to have gold hardware, and I might just have the cash for it in a few months. But there's a problem: its (original Chinese) tremolo won't go out of tune. I can wank the **** out of it and it will remain in tune (yes, you read it right). Strat tremolos being what they are, I fear I'll end up having issues if I get a new one--and I'm in Brazil, so it's not like I can easily return the new one if I do. Therefore, I appeal to you guys' experience to make this decision: should I just accept the function-over-aesthetics motto and swallow it? Is it ok to take the risk? Can I have my old bridge gold-plated even though it's already rusty here and there? Am I missing some other possibility?

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crew

Selling BOSS FW-3. I live in Brazil, mind you, so prepare yourself for $30-ish for shipping and waiting. Local pickup available, along with beautiful beaches and cheap bitches.

Strat tremolos are the least problematic of all the tremolos I deal with. Replacing the bridge assembly without altering your string guages or number of springs and claw position should alter nothing (important). Make sure it attaches in the manner of the one you are replacing to be certain. The 'classic' tremolo is six screws.

I have a Strat specially set up to float and it has convinced many Floyd buyers to reconsider their decision. I would go so far as to venture that if a demonstartion of the pitch stability of the cheapo MIJ temolo doesn't make a customer reconsider a Floyd then they are an irredeemable wanker and I will be happy to take their (extra) money as a sort of idiot tax.

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My Gear , please wack with the side of your hand for normal service.
Bringing you EVIL VOODOO WAX MAGIC since 2009

Be aware that Squier hardware will not match with American hardware and has a lot of variations in and of itself. I play an old Japanese Squier and the trem works splendidly. It's a workhorse. Gold would be lipstick on a pig IMHO. I've changed everything else over the years but the trem is what mine came with. You will be opening a bucket of worms if you start trying to find exact replacement parts in gold. String spacing, screw holes, trem block, footprint... All different. Just play the damn thing.

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

Yup, I'd figured I'd have to measure the whole thing and spacings plus spend countless hours on the interwebs to maybe find a replacement; I just really wanted to know if it was worth the trouble. Thanks, guys.

Damn, now I want to set up my trem to float... Damn you, you Aussie freak.

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crew

Selling BOSS FW-3. I live in Brazil, mind you, so prepare yourself for $30-ish for shipping and waiting. Local pickup available, along with beautiful beaches and cheap bitches.

Just get a Les Paul, strats suck anyway.

Kidding, I've blocked in my tremolo on the strat I actually use because of my frustration in trying to get the tuning+whammy stable (my other strat's tremolo works fine) so if you've got one that's great, keep it like that.

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Talking about wireless pedals...

Apologies, this is of no help whatsoever but I did wonder how you found out the age/date of manufacture of the Squier? I've a couple old(ish) Squiers that I wouldn't mind knowing for sure the age of. I've also got a Strat I suspect to be a '97, made in China, again switching out the pickups and upgrading the tuners the thing's a workhorse and also rarely goes out of tune. I've also got an Korean Tele that I think was made in '89, but I'm relying on guesstimates...

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated. Cheers.

EDIT: Scratch that, quick Wiki search has provided the answers. The Tele was made in '89 at the Korean Samick factory, and the Strat in '97 at the Chinese Yako factory.

Precisely. Mine's serial starts with YN7, but I did take its neck apart once or twice and there was a stamp at the heel saying "October 1997" or something.

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crew

Selling BOSS FW-3. I live in Brazil, mind you, so prepare yourself for $30-ish for shipping and waiting. Local pickup available, along with beautiful beaches and cheap bitches.

SRV had a gold tremolo. It was the only reason he sounded good.

Just saying what everyone's thinking.

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My Gear , please wack with the side of your hand for normal service.
Bringing you EVIL VOODOO WAX MAGIC since 2009

Lmfao - zzz

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

I've had a few guitars with GP hardware - the most notable being a Levinson Blade "Texas Deluxe" (one of the first 50 made by Gary that were sent out for "reviewing" by the various mags. No serial number, and now sold as I hated it and loved it in equal measure - which wasn't good enough). I've still got an Aria Mac-50 as a "beater".

Thing is, I always buy my guitars on "feel" (don't even put them through an amp in the shop), and these two (at the time of buying), felt just right, so looks etc. were always going to be a secondary consideration.

I'm into bikes too, and particularly into "RATS". That being the case, I'm about to RAT the Mac-50, and do the whole thing in BBQ paint and "newspaper clippings" with a couple of coats of clear poly to finish it off. Thing is, though I'm removing the strings, I'm not arsed enough to remove the gold hardware - so that's getting the f'kin treatment too.

I know what you mean. To some, gold hardware might seem "pretentious", but it's what and how you play that counts. Squier's are good guitars, and (to me) sound good irrespective of "upgrades" (by which time you might as well spent the extra money on a genuine Fender - from wherever). For me it's never been about the name on the headstock, coz buying a "name" won't make you a better player - lots of my guitars are strictly "budget".

At the end of the day, it's down to you mate. I wonder how many who've read this are asking themselves "why the f**k didn't he just say that as a first line and leave it at that ;-)

Peace

Dave

It's quite easy tbh..... Many mexican strats come this way I stick to a floyd myself, but a strat trem is always an easier setup and string change. Block the neck, and raise the bridge height. I used to do the shim with paper.

A gold bridge is like carrying a Coach bag to a gig for your cables.... Sure, expensive, and looks cool to everyone, but unless you can get them to stop making fun of you for looking so cool, might look a little, well, out of place. Gold wedding band looks better If it works, don't fix it, there's the old attage, function over style.

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ESP Eclipse Limited (3/100) or Gibson Les Paul Standard (97) - Fulltone OCD - H.B.E. Detox EQ - Laney GH50L - 80's Ibanez AD-9 (in loop) - Randall XL 4x12
Tortex "The wedge" picks, Blue Steel strings, Line 6 Moble In, Charvel Model 6 modded to a Model 5FX.... Probly other stuff as well

I didn't figure you were the gold bling-bling kinda guy mr. Bluesboy.

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I reject reality and substitute my own

Biased 'cause I don't dig gold but I also think that if the guitar is doing what you want it to do then don't mess with it. Plenty of strat trems have tuning hassles - if you have one that is holding tune for you when you do some heavy trem action hold onto it!

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Crustaceo ergo sum

That's not why! It's because it was a left-handed gold tremolo.
Then I'm f'ed...
I was actually surprised to see it sounded and played better than most MIA "real Fender" Strats, especially the new ones. The only one that got close to it was a G&L Tribute (one of the old Jap ones). A damn pleasure to play. And it was beat by that '64 Jag I'm playing on my pic. Never had the dough to take that home, though...
Mine actually did when I slapped .013s in it, but I thought it was a flaw and drove the claw screws deeper after adding two more coils to it.
Will do, dude. Thanks for the tip (and thanks to NoFro, obviously).
I do have a gold wedding ring/band. And I need a new gig bag. And a new suitcase for tools. You never know when you'll need a Dremel at a gig...
Me neither, but I was thinking how cool it would be to have this Jag's tortoise-on-red setup with gold hardware. It would look so ugly it'd be beautiful. This is coming from a guy that has an acoustic case that is purple outside and red inside; I can barely understand myself at times.
I don't dig gold either; I don't know what got to me. Maybe it's just a weird kind of GAS that'll get me feeling I should've done something else with the money--like when I got a MagicStomp, but hey, I ended up making a profit from that.

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crew

Selling BOSS FW-3. I live in Brazil, mind you, so prepare yourself for $30-ish for shipping and waiting. Local pickup available, along with beautiful beaches and cheap bitches.

I know how to solve that problem, take that money and try the new OD pedal from MXR. You'll have a new piece of gear to be (probably) disappointed by that won't screw up your guitar!

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Talking about wireless pedals...