How to cure a creaking Vibe arm spring?

[dagogo]

Hi all... I've really been loving the '66 Mark 1 I recently purchased from Danny. Having a little issue with the vibe arm though. I put .011's on it which sucked the vibe arm too close to the body so I put a high tension spring under the arm. The height is now better (thought now the arm is about 1/2 higher than I'd like) but the bigger issue is when I pivot the arm up or down the spring rotates with the arm and creaks. The old spring didn't do this (creak). Any thoughts? I'm going to be recording with the guitar this week so the creaking could be problematic.

[olrocknroller]

Is it the spring itself, or bearings groaning under all the extra pressure? Try some lubrication on the pivot points...

[dagogo]

good question....i assumed it was the spring because i only heard it when i rotated the arm but i'll doublecheck.

[panther]

Are you talking about pivoting the arm to position it to operate, or when you actually operate the tremolo.
The pivoting of the arm is probably the spring, but like ORR says it is most likely the bearings when using the tremolo. Oil the bearing, or make sure you have the fibre/plastic washers installed.
Dan

[dagogo]

no, i am not talking about using the arm...i mean when i pivot or rotate it...(grab and pull it up before I use it).
there were no plastic washers....i suppose i could try and make some though they would have to be very very very thin...like i said i already think the bar is a little too high.

[olrocknroller]

My mistake; I didn't read your first post carefully enough! Not knowing the construction of this trem intimately, I can't be specific, but it sounds as though there must be a washer under the body where the trem arm mounts... I would guess that the washer should be between the arm and the top of the trem body, where it can be used to adjust the ease with which the arm swings away from the playing area.

If indeed the washer is directly on top of the spring, the spring has probably "bitten" into it, causing it to rotate along with the arm movement.

If this washer should be on top of the spring, try smoothing the top of the spring with a file, so that it doesn't grab the washer so easily...

Hope that helps!

[dubtrub]

This cure for a loose vibrato arm should also work for your creaking arm.
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