Hanks tailpiece.

[ecca]

I bought a Mex HM Strat in 2000 and the first thing I did was take that crappy bent thing off and put a proper one on.

[rogera]

I find myself agreeing with Noel.

It seems to me that the favourite time (and sound) of the Shads for the majority of members was the early 60s
and of course Hank only used the standard arm that came with the Strat.
It therefore puzzles me as to why so many buy the easymute in preference to the original.

[Established1958]

My final input on this is that Hank liked it enough to endorse it, and it was Hank who wanted the Mex HBMs to have it. It's true some people love it and take to it and some don't. I use it on my 50th Anniversary guitar and find it comfortable. I like my stubby Fender arm too.
A lot of effort and no little expense goes into the manufacture and if you don't like it fine but it is not "crappy" and as far as I know of the hundreds who have bought one from me or from VML no one has sent one back because they didn't want it.
Howard

[dave robinson]

. . . . . And of course, the 'endorsement' wouldn't have involved any money changing hands ?

For me Fender got it right the first time and like the others have said, i never had difficulty in muting the strings.

The only time I was unfortunate enough to be stuck with one, was on a guitar that was purchased from my friend Robin Woods who recently passed on. It is a beautiful USA Deluxe to which he had gold parts fitted, including an over expensive job on the bridge & trem block, but the idiot who re-threaded the block for the Easy Mute forgot to re-thread at an angle so that the tremolo arm would swing backwards allowing the guitar case to close in the way that Fender do. The arm also had an abrasive knob on the end which fetched skin off the little finger after a few plays, which is why I hated it and later discovered the reason the guitar was sold so soon after the unit was fitted. I rectified part of the problem by buying a real Fender arm and have never looked back. As for the Easy Mute arm, the gold had began to come off above the threaded bit so it wasn't that well made after all and I happily sold it on.
That said, the main reason people have bought them is because Hank uses one .
Happy new year!

[Rjanuarsa]

and.. the same perception with Kinman Pickups too

Happy New Year 2014 friends.

Robby

[TonyL]

Totaly agree the bent trem arm doesn't make muting easier BUT it does make grabbing the arm easier after muting as, if the arm stays where you put it, it's not pointing down at the floor but is only a couple of inches from your hand.

In the photo the arm is in the actual position where I would play the muted part of say Atlantis. The dotted black line indicates where a loose, straight arm would hang.

Bent arm position.jpg

(53.53 KiB) Downloaded 4593 times

[noelford]

I've never had a loose arm on my Strats - it stays where I put it.

[dave robinson]

I've never had a loose arm on my Strats - it stays where I put it.

You beat me to it Noel, same for me too.

[JimN]

Totaly agree the bent trem arm doesn't make muting easier BUT it does make grabbing the arm easier after muting as, if the arm stays where you put it, it's not pointing down at the floor but is only a couple of inches from your hand.

In the photo the arm is in the actual position where I would play the muted part of say Atlantis. The dotted black line indicates where a loose, straight arm would hang.

Bent arm position.jpg

Genuine steel Fender blocks (as fitted to the Vintage Reissue models) allow the arm to be tightened to a point where it will stay where put, without stripping the thread. The assembly costs about £100 in the UK.

Another way of achieving the same effect with a stripped block (even an alloy one) is to fill the socket with Araldite, allow it to harden for a day or two, then drill and tap a hole of the same thread as the arm. I did it to a Tokai guitar in about 1986 and it's still a sound joint, no backlash, no rattling, no lack of tautness, 100% "feel" and response. You aren't limited to using the same thread as originally used (you can drill and tap with any thread you like, irrespective of the original, as long as you have an arm which will fit the new thread size).

The Wilkinson vintage-pattern steel blocks with a pop-in (no thread) arm and socket are also a good solution and are available for ridiculous low prices (£26 or £27 for the whole assembly - not just the block). The tension on the arm can be adjusted with a grub screw.

[shadowkarl]

To dave robinson,
normally endorsements by Hank are not for free, so I suspect he is getting some licence fee.

It is actually an easy decision: If done correctly, the VML can be fitted and will stay in position; and if you do not like the feel you can change it back easily to the original. It also comes with a plastic tip or you can put the original on. ... and today he plays with the whammy bar in his palm all the time. So no possibilty to get sore litle fingers! At least I like it not only for muting, but also for ease of grabbing it.
When Hank played in the "old times" one can see, that he always let loose and grabbed the whammy bar.
Today as stated above he holds the whammy bar all the time.
Your last sentence make me smile, ... because Hank used it. As you cannot normally buy a played in guitar used by Hank (besides the one for 25 k) I wonder why then all the fuss about his signatures, autographs, Burns Marvins, or Replicas like the Oasis strat or the (kinman) pups, which people are after, and prepared to pay a considerable amount for it.
Also a Happy New Year.
shadowkarl