loose arm?

[MWaldorf]

I've noticed that the arm on my '66 Ventures model keeps loosening. If I tighten the screw when I change the strings, within a few weeks the arm is floppy and won't hold in place. Anyone have any suggestions on keeping the arm from getting loose? There's a washer and some felt between the arm and the string plate (whatever that piece is properly called) and the felt is pretty worn. Is that even supposed to be there? I'd keep on re-tightening the screw but I'm concerned about stripping the threads. If it matters, it's a Moseley not a Vibramute tailpiece.

[dubtrub]

It's interesting that you should mention this. I wrote about this very problem on the old Mazzrite forum. Although I did not save the text, I did save the photo of the material I use to cure the problem.

I take the plastic used to carry a six pack of Coke and cut out new washers. This stuff is great and works like it's self lubricating and allows you to tighten the screw yet allows the arm to move freely without loosening. I've used this on my original Mosrite as well as the vibratos I used from Hallmark.

[MWaldorf]

Great, I'll give that a try!

Too bad they don't use that plastic on six-packs of beer, but I'll suffer...

[brutus]

Hey mwaldorf
you can try cutting out a piece of thin leather. I had the same problem a long time ago and called Jonas Ridge to ask about it they sent a leather washer and it still works great. I don't know if that was originally the way they did it,
but it works. I just tighten it when I change the strings and away we go

[dubtrub]

Great, I'll give that a try!

Too bad they don't use that plastic on six-packs of beer, but I'll suffer...

I solved that problem by drinking Brandy and diet Coke. Some people frown on that until they try it.

Actually most of them already have (or should have) the leather washer. The leather is the problem. It grips and does not slide causing the screw to become loose as the arm gets rotated. The plastic solves that problem. I change to adding the plastic and have never had to tighten the lever arm again. I leave the leather washer in place and add the plastic washer. You don't have to tighten the screw as tight either.

[brutus]

Well i'll give it a try. that would solve my problem of a loose arm before i'm ready to change strings thanks for info...this a great forum...brutus

[MWaldorf]

Danny,
Where in the sequence do you put the plastic? Is it base, leather, plastic, arm or base, plastic, leather, arm, or base, plastic, leather, plastic, arm?
I'll have some brandy & diet coke to put me in the right mindframe for the operation.
Mel

[dubtrub]

Danny,
Where in the sequence do you put the plastic? Is it base, leather, plastic, arm or base, plastic, leather, arm, or base, plastic, leather, plastic, arm?
I'll have some brandy & diet coke to put me in the right mindframe for the operation.
Mel

That has always helped me when trying to figure things out.

Base, plastic, leather, arm. That makes it a bearing surface and the movement is on the plastic. Basically the leather is now only a spacer that has some 'give' when tightening the arm. That way you can set the tension of the arm movement to your liking and it should stay that way.

[MWaldorf]

OK, I bought myself some diet cokes and performed the surgery. My Mosrite had both a leather gasket and a cardboard gasket underneath that. First I tried adding the plastic under the cardboard, but it still kept loosening. Then I removed the cardboard and got much better results, though it still loosened a bit, so today I disassembled it and added a touch of lockwasher which seems to hold it well. Below are some pictures from the process. I'll have a better idea of durability after my 3-set gig tomorrow night.

First, the underside of the tremolo mount. Nothing particular to see here, just included because, hey, I haven't seen any pictures of this on the internet before:


next the original leather and cardboard washers


and finally the leather with the plastic.

[dubtrub]

Hey Mel,

I was just taking apart one of my custom builds and see that I also added a small split lock washer at the head of the screw and between that square whole washer. I had forgot about this before. With lock washer added it's not necessary to tighten the screw all the way down. As the screw is tightened it compresses against the lock washer and keeps the screw from backing plus out allowing you to adjust the tightness and movement of the vibrato arm. I've had this on a couple of my clones for more than a year and the arms have never loosened.