Whammy Bar, My whammy bar detunes my strings badly. Any help appreciated Options

[PKJperson]

I've had my beginners guitar for a while. Its a fender squier strat. I never use the whammy bar it came with because it detunes my guitar badly. It detunes the pitch upward. I can't figure out how to fix it.

Also when I push the whammy bar down it is hard to push. I tried a guitar at the store and the whammy bar was very easily pushed down. I don't know if that is a difference between my guitar or whammy bar and the stores or if my guitar is supposed to be like that.

Another thing is when I push my whammy bar down the change in pitch is much small than the on at the store.

please help! thanks

[Hisham Al-Sanea]

i think you need to adjust the whammy, you have to look to the 6 screws to make a balance
to let the whammy move up and down thats first step .and if you want the whammy to work slightly. there is
a 3 springs in the cover back, you have to get out 1 of these springs to be 2 after that you need to adjust strings
high or down from fretboard . after than you a need a small spring to put it a contra as in picture in this case
the whammy will never loose the tune

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[OrganisedConfusi...]

If you're a beginner then I'd take it into your local store and ask them if you can take a bit of tension out of the vibrato arm so you can use it easier. They'll be able to do that with relative ease. Or obviously if you have a mate that knows what he is doing. It isn't a difficult adjustment.

[Bogdan Radovic]

You can set it up , and maybe the best option is to go to a local store...But keep in mind that on beginner guitars that whammy makes it go out of tune from time to time either way

[FrankW]

You have to realize that a vibrato that is not of the locking type, will inevitably go out of tune, at least somewhat, no matter what you do. This is especially true the more you use it. Putting graphite in the nut slots helps alot. This is where the G string will hang up lots of times. But, again, if you don't use a locking vibrato, like a Floyd Rose, you will have tuning problems. A good guitar tech can set your guitar up to fascilitate a smoother vibrato by optimizing spring tension for playability, but one can only do so much where the out-of-tune problem occurs. Good luck!

[Ivan Milenkovic]

It is normal for strings on a strat tremolo to go up the pitch when using a whammy bar. Your whammy is unsubale if you ask me. If you want to use it extensively - you should buy a locking nut and a good whammy. I'm not sure if that is a good option tho because it can cost more than a guitar itself.

[PKJperson]

FrankW - thanks for the graphite tip, I might try that. Hopefully it will help a little.

I definitely wouldn't want to add anything on to my guitar seeing how it is a very cheep guitar.
I think its about time for me to get a new guitar anyway. Thanks everyone for your advice!

[Ivan Milenkovic]

No worries man, we all had our share of troubles with those.