the Fly Clone Project

Can someone explain the pros/cons of the three different positions? Is it just that the tremolo is stiffest in the ridge closest to the back of the guitar (I think I have that right)? Does it affect tuning stability at all?

Where do most people have this set?

@vjmanzo i saw in your video you seemed to have fashioned a little lever to the step stop so you can move it without the tool. What is this? Thanks!

mockchoi wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 6:46 am Can someone explain the pros/cons of the three different positions? Is it just that the tremolo is stiffest in the ridge closest to the back of the guitar (I think I have that right)? Does it affect tuning stability at all?

Where do most people have this set?

The ridge positions basically determine three different amounts of leverage exerted upon the flatspring, and the consequential resistance felt when compressing the spring by pushing the trem arm down, within a particular range of arm movement - In other words, if you're more of a subtle whammy bar user (dips, light vibrato), you may prefer the feel of the top two ridge positions. I use the bottom one, even though the top two are what's prescribed for my style. They're there just so each player can see which they happen to prefer. The above image comes from the manual linked here.

mockchoi wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 6:46 am @vjmanzo i saw in your video you seemed to have fashioned a little lever to the step stop so you can move it without the tool. What is this? Thanks!

Though I'm not VJ, I think I can steal the good doctor's thunder in addressing this: Flys produced under Ken's ownership from 1994 to approximately 2002 or '03 had a step-stop molding which included a thumb switch:


Flys produced under USM ownership omitted this thumb switch; instead having a hole requiring a cylinder for switching:


Because the step stop material is malleable, VJ simply screwed a thumbscrew of similar diameter into this hole to restore the original step-stop's "on the fly" switching in guitars outfitted with the latter iteration of step-stop.

Illustrations taken from VJ's modeling threads here and here.

Photos of the latch here