tremelo bar spring

Mark 63 · August 11th, 2008, 10:31 AM

I just purchased an AV 62 stratocaster (it's in the shop now having the 5-way switch installed). The guy at the store told me to be careful about a little spring inside the hole where the tremelo bar screws in, and the owner's manual says something about putting tape over the hole whenever the bar is removed so the spring doesn't fall out.

Is this spring really in such jeopardy? Have guitar players been taping their bridges since 1954.

Doug Ferguson · August 11th, 2008, 10:54 AM

None of my strats have that little spring in them, and they haven't suffered a bit. Even the ones I bought new had manged to loose them before I got them. Recently, I installed a trem unit in a guitar, and lo and behold, there was one of those fabled springs! It fell out, though, and I haven't managed to locate it. As I said, it's no big deal. The original idea behind them was was to help "lock" the trem arm in place after screwing it in. A lot of players like to keep the arms loose and just dangle, so the spring doesn't make much difference. Come to think of it, I kept taping the arm hole on one guitar for years before discovering the spring wasn't even there to fall out....

dugg · August 11th, 2008, 01:03 PM

I recently heard of this too. All these years never knew there was s'posed to be a spring in there! I took a short piece of quarter inch black vacuum tubing like you can get in the auto store and slit it the long way so it could be rolled up into a little 'log' which I stuffed down into the hole. Works like a charm. The trem arm stays put but can be swung around easily and doesn't buzz or rattle. Obviously, this rubber log can't fall out like the fabled, and rarely spotted spring.

bobthecanadian · August 11th, 2008, 06:27 PM

There's a spring?

sevycat · August 11th, 2008, 07:32 PM

From what I have heard the spring was placed in there to keep folks from overtightening the trem arm or prevent breaking the arm off in there. Yea, I had my spring pop out a few times. I purchased some graphit all, guitar lube and covered the spring in it before deep sixing it back down there. I testing to see how well it stays in now.

dan P · August 11th, 2008, 08:53 PM

Hi Guy's ..Musicians Friend sells the springs in 10 packs..around six bucks. One easy way to keep it in is to lube it with pertro. jelly ( good one ! ) But not only do they give the trem threads some protection, they also stiffin the arm so it's not flpping around....

Nobster · August 12th, 2008, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan P

Hi Guy's ..Musicians Friend sells the springs in 10 packs..around six bucks. One easy way to keep it in is to lube it with pertro. jelly ( good one ! ) But not only do they give the trem threads some protection, they also stiffin the arm so it's not flpping around....

I just bought a pack of these for my new CP60 which had no spring in it out of the box. With a spring it's much better, the trem arm stays where I put it but is easily moved. I leave the arm in all the time so there's no danger of the spring falling out. When I put the guitar in it's hard case I just rotate the arm back around to point at the strap pin and the case closes fine without touching the arm.

aznrambo481 · August 12th, 2008, 01:55 PM

hmm... My case won't close with the whammy in. Plus, I got it used, so I never knew that there was anything in there... why doesn't fender make it so the spring doesn't come out, instead of issuing a warning?

dan P · August 12th, 2008, 06:27 PM

They really should put a piece of written material on the darn thing, taped to the hole, hell, a lot of guy's dont know, and if you didn't , how you find out? US ! Another note, on squiers the spring's will fall right through the trem block as it drilled out all the way through...