Strat Whammy Bars

[Gtrplyr]

I had ordered a whammy bar for the '73 Strat just to have in th e case if the mood ever hits me. I order an original Fender tremolo bar and while it fits and works perfectly I noticed it is a quite a bit different from my original '87 whammy bar.

The stem on the '87 is approx. a good 1/4" longer and the angle of the bend at the tip is less drastic. This also gave me a nice opportunity to see just how much the '87 plastic has aged and yellowed over the years.

Just curious how many variations of the whammy bar Fender made over the years?

[Dr. Jimmy]

I just went through this not so long ago myself. I ordered an American Standard bar from Musicians Friend for a 70's reissue Strat I'd just bought, thinking it was the longer bar. The Vintage bar that Fender sells is actually the longer of the two.
I always thought they were all the same size, who knew???

[Don]

I've had about 8 Strats in the past 17 years or so.
My first was a brand new '57 reissue.

I don't have that guitar anymore, but it had my favorite tremolo arm. I had bent it just the way I liked.

My restored '57 has that very same arm on it today.

I think Fender has changed the shape of the tremolo arm too many times for it to be accurately documented.