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Hi!

I have a Firstman Avenger I believe and I am trying to get it into playable condition.

The first problem I noticed is that all the strings seem sort of "dead", it sounds like they are all slightly buzzing but being dampened at the same time. Im not sure what this is but after doing a little research I suspect it may be the roller saddle. I am not sure though, so any info would be appreciated.

Otherwise the only other problem is tuning. When the trem is pulled up the guitar stays sharp. Now I did some research on the site and found some threads about greasing up and making sure the trem bearings move nice an smoothly, so I am going to work on doing that first.

If there is anything you guys know that could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated! Thanks!

Many (if not most) trem-related tuning issues can be trace to binding in the nut/string guide. You need to make sure the strings slide smoothly through the slots, try lubing there as well. Plus make sure your strings are properly stretched.

I have found that many guitars do not have sufficient angle over the bridge down to the anchor point at the tailpiece. It seems that "round" is not the ideal shape for the production of clean, clear notes, especially if the saddles are relatively large, like the old Fenders. Tune-o-matic bridges generally produce a much "cleaner" string vibration, because I believe, the contact area upon which the string rests is much smaller. Increasing the angle from the bridge, ironically, seems to help rather than hinder the production of clean notes, which, if you think about it, seems to contradict what I just said...but, I believe, the added pressure from increasing the angle does seem to help. I have actually routed out insets for tailpieces to accomplish lowering them with very positive results.

As to problems with strings sticking at the nut, lubrication helps, and I have begun using Elixir brand Nanoweb strings, which seem to be able to slide more easily in the nut. If you are really into bending, and heavy tremolo usage, of course, you may want to consider a roller nut, or a Floyd Rose style locking nut.

This might be some thing to think about, the spring under the arm on the tremolo might have weakened over time causeing less tention, kind of like not leaving bullets in the clip of a gun the compresion of the spring weakens it.