Will a US whammy bar fit an MIJ Strat

[Johnnytone]

Just in case you all forgot, I picked up a 94-45 MIJ Reissue Strat over the wekend. When I bought it, the seller thought he had the original whammy bar in the basement with a bunch of other stuff but hasn't had the chance to look thoroughly. Can I just stop at MARS and pick up a new one, or are they different sizes/threads?

TIA.

[Phil Jacoby]

Unfortunately, they are different. The MIJ is metric. You could get a metric sized bar from an Allparts dealer.

[Johnnytone]

Just got back from MARS and I bought an "Original Stratocaster" tremolo arm for $12.95 and it fits perfectly.

Go figure.

[Don]

The metric threads (m5 x ,7 or something like that) and the standard threads (10/32?) are almost exactly the same. The difference is a few thousandths of an inch.
Either fits fine.

I did this with a Korean made Pro-Tone Squier Strat.

The threads eventually stripped out of the die cast tremolo block.
I don't know if it was due to the cheap die cast part or the slight thread mismatched.

I repaired it with a Heli-coil.