HELP! Loose trem insert

[diablo175]

Alas the "fun" I'm having with this C³ Floyd repair just keeps on going... and going... and going...and going.

I needed to pull the bushing because they were sitting too high and the base plate was striking them on extreme dives. Couldn't raise the bridge up on the posts as the action is already at the least-acceptable height for my preferences. Can't drill down any further for the inserts as the body width in the cavity won't accommodate that.

Solution? File down the bottom of the inserts effectively shortening them, then re-sink.

But wait! The one insert was loose in the hole to the point of being almost capable of removal by hand. Don't wanna just put it back in. Need to know it will be snug. What are my options? Wood glue? Locktite? Teflon tape? Or am I looking at having to plug and re-drill the hole?

[atquinn]

I'm no professional but I'd say plug and re-drill if you want it done right.

-

Austin

[DBraz]

Plug and re-drill I am afraid. I had to do this recently on a Floyd equipped Phantom. It's not a hard job for a luthier.

[ptm1diver]

Plug, re-drill and refinish in green and black polka dots.

[diablo175]

ARRRRGHHH! I just got this back from the luthier.

Does everyone understand that it's not that loose? It had enough pressure on it that I still had to use a hammer claw to pull it out but came out with minimal effort.

To further clarify- the insert is not moving around in the hole.

Still think I need to plug and re-drill?

[dragan]

Id probably just put it back together if , theres no issues with it case closed alt; make a small shim with a plane ( very thin ) and glue it in( very lightly ) all the way around maybe a little sanding with a rolded pc of 220 ( but I know nothing )

[a.bandini]

Get a Bigsby?

[Studio Custom]

Are you sure your not just obsessing over this? Seems like a lot of trem issues, I have 35 Floyded guitars with no issues.

[ptm1diver]

Stop crapping around and put it in on Ebay with the polka dot guitar as a "2 for 1" special.

[diablo175]

Stop crapping around and put it in on Ebay with the polka dot guitar as a "2 for 1" special.

You're on a roll, ptm1diver.

No need to sell it. I fixed it. It would seem the adage "if ya want something done right, ya gotta do it yourself." has some merit.

Not that I'm not grateful for the well-intentioned advice from all over but truth is, I had some crazy as fuck suggestions come in.

Only I had enough information and insight to make the proper diagnosis and affect the needed repairs. Only when my lack of skill and /or equipment was apparent did I go to a pro for help. It's a good feeling when at the end of the day, you can plug it in, crank it up and go to town and it works exactly how you want it to, exactly how it should, and you were the one who made the correct diagnosis and resolved the problem(s).

[diablo175]

Are you sure your not just obsessing over this? Seems like a lot of trem issues, I have 35 Floyded guitars with no issues.

You bet yer ass I'm obsessing. I'll over simplify this: I paid a LOT of fucking money for this and I expect every aspect to be up to standard. I would imagine you'd feel the same? To put it in context, let's say you are inclined to change pickup settings on your ax a lot; it's WAY important to you. But the selector switch doesn't perform as it was intended to due to how it was installed, how would you react? Now imagine you've been stymied at almost every turn trying to get it fixed and it's coming up on 1.5 years in duration. Then, just when you think it's finally repaired and properly working, you discover one small but critical item that keeps you from being able to move to the rhythm p'up.

That being said, I understand that not everyone is as enamored of the Floyd as I am .

[Tres Aardvarks]

I can certainly appreciate your frustration and don't blame you. If it makes you feel any better my wife had the awesome joy of watching me open the case to my only custom Hamer (that she bought for me) and within seconds heard "hey, they spelled my name wrong"...had to turn around and ship it right back to them. Took a lot of the moment away from it

From your description I was thinking it was looser than it evidently was ("almost capable of removal by hand" makes me think it needed more than a claw hammer). Given that it did take leverage though, I wouldn't be so concerned that I'd plug and redrill. I'd sand those bushings down, get them reinserted and keep an eye on it. It'll be easy to measure if it starts coming loose and moving on you.

[carfish7]

"Only I had enough information and insight to make the proper diagnosis and affect the needed repairs." Whoa.

Only Hamer had the responsibility to sort it out completely - on their dime, before this long drama got fully rolling. I keep wondering why you never brought any of these "issues" up with Hamer CS when they first occurred? I'm genuinely curious - did you ever bring it up with Hamer?!?

I guess if it is sorted now and you have gained some new skills, it's all good and then some. Sure seems like a lot of needless angst over something that the manufacturer should have taken care of though. Food for thought next time you spend a pile of cash and your product disappoints due to some aspect being improperly executed.

[cmatthes]

I thought you had the dealer work on the trem before shipping it out to you and that (at the time) it was set up perfectly?

My memory is cloudy enough, but seem to recall you mentioned that something was done between Hamer and your hands...

[diablo175]

I thought you had the dealer work on the trem before shipping it out to you and that (at the time) it was set up perfectly?

My memory is cloudy enough, but seem to recall you mentioned that something was done between Hamer and your hands...

Correct. BCRGreg Dremel-ed some wood away from the edge where the trem was hitting the cavity wall. He also re-seated the bushing. But I soon after discovered that the trem would not flutter, suggesting some other issue existed. I took it back to Greg again, but because he was swamped with a repair work backlog and other issues relating to his store, was unable to get to it after a 2 month time frame.

I took it to another guy who threw up his hands in utter resignation, saying that according to his mentor (who was supposedly a Jedi Master when it came to Floyd -equipped guitars), "There are some guitars that just aren't ever going to have a trem work correctly." WTF? So, I looked more closely at it and determined the posts were spaced too far apart and had the repair guy move the one insert and post for me, as I did not have the tools or the know-how to do it without risking the finish.

After it came back from him, while it would flutter, I noted that the Floyd would not dive all the way and was bottoming out on the top of the inserts. So, after much ado over nothing, I finally pulled the inserts myself and filed the bottoms down (which, btw apparently Hamer had done, too; as the bottom of the old insert was filed down to fit in shallow bushing hole.) and attempted to reinstall. However, (and this brings us back to OP) the one insert was a little loose. It turns out that one of the new set of bushings and posts I had him use was a tiny bit narrower in diameter than the ones Hamer had used. So to avoid having to plug and re-drill a new hole, I just used the old insert but with new post and... problem solved.

Likely a lot more in the way an answer than you were looking for, Chris

[diablo175]

"Only I had enough information and insight to make the proper diagnosis and affect the needed repairs." Whoa.

Only Hamer had the responsibility to sort it out completely - on their dime, before this long drama got fully rolling. I keep wondering why you never brought any of these "issues" up with Hamer CS when they first occurred? I'm genuinely curious - did you ever bring it up with Hamer?!?

I guess if it is sorted now and you have gained some new skills, it's all good and then some. Sure seems like a lot of needless angst over something that the manufacturer should have taken care of though. Food for thought next time you spend a pile of cash and your product disappoints due to some aspect being improperly executed.

These issues came to light AFTER Hamer was shut down on paper, carfish. More over, knowing that the build guys in Hamer were already swamped with their normal workload of Guild and Fender acoustic builds and that any free time they had was spent trying to fill the last few remaining CS orders, I initially figured it was better to get Greg to do it. Faster, closer by and I trusted Greg's work. At that time I did not know all of the issues the guitar had. Apparently, Greg didn't catch them either. It happens.