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Working on My 1964 Strat Spring Claw and Cavity

3,157 views · Published 8 March 2017 · 3:10 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: millstap · 2017 · Music

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I mistakenly call the spring claw a plate in this video but you know what I mean.  I just looked at the spring cavity this morning and started wondering why the spring claw was more to one side than the other.  Plus, when I sight down the body, I can see the claw is also crooked where one side of the claw sticks up higher than the other side.  I began to investigate.  It appears Fender did not do such a great job in drilling the claw screw holes very true.  The one on the upper side of the body was not perfectly perpendicular to the base of the cavity.  At first I thought the screws might be bent, but after removing them, they are straight.   I know one of the tricks of the trade (Eric Johnson's trick) is to scrape all of the paint away below the top bridge plate so the plate makes contact with the body and not the paint.  So, I deduced that any extra paint in the cavity area may dampen the string vibration.  You see a little bit of the original Lake Placid Blue below the spring claw.  Too bad it is not that color still.  It would be worth a LOT of money.  You can hear the "plinky" sound the claw makes after the paint was removed when I drop it on the body at 0:22.  I wish I would have dropped it before I removed the paint to compare the sound but I am proposing that the new clean "plink" will transfer better into the wood body through the newly cleaned (and hopefully aligned) claw screws.

Tone update:  The clean spring claw definitely changed the tone to a brighter tone and added some sustain.  It just goes to show how critical all of the tremolo parts are in shaping the tone of the guitar, especially the springs.  I only use Raw Vintage springs since it is pretty difficult to find vintage springs at a reasonable price.  These are the original springs in this guitar.  You have to be careful because the tension of standard replacement springs can be too high and make the guitar sound like crap.  Most of you will not have this problem with paint on your spring claw.  I just happened to think about it and I am glad I finally (after 9 years) cleaned it.

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