Charvel Surfcaster Tremolo--Can anyone help?

[ontheroad97]

Hiya,
I've got an original trans red Charvel Surf with tremolo 9and lipstick pickups), and have spent literally years trying to figure out what's going on with the tremolo arm, so I'm hoping someone her has some insight.

The arm used to push in and "click" in place, but could still swivel. There is a set screw on the side that adjusts the amount of swivel, but there must be something else that holds in the arm. Even with the set screw adjusted, it does work its way out of the bridge (which is a JT490) and eventually hits the ground after a bit of playing.

I've brought it to 3 or 4 shops here in the Bay Area, and no one can figure it out. If anyone out there has a Surfcaster, can you confirm that it pops into place? Any insight would be a huge help...I love my Surfcaster and am determined to figure out what's going on.

Thanks!

[dg]

On most trems with a push-in style bar, there should be a spring made of tough wire that is usually held onto the bottom of the arm socket by a screw that goes through at loop at the base of the spring. The spring runs up the outside of the socket and has a bend in it that sticks into a slot and engages the little concave part of the trem bar near the tip. On your trem, the adjustment screw must regulate the tension of that spring, and it may also be the mounting screw for the spring on that particular model. If the bar is no longer snapping into place, the spring might be broken, bent out of shape, possibly dislodged from the slot in the side of the socket that it's supposed to be poking into, or it may have fallen off altogether.

Hopefully, somebody here with a Surfcaster or ST model will know exactly how the retaining spring mounts & works on that trem.

[Musician78]

Sounds like you need to trade it for a KV3. Just saying. That's what I would do.... It would be a retarded deal. :p

[ontheroad97]

Hmm, that's the first time I've heard about a spring, but it makes total sense. FYI, there is nothing in the trem arm chamber at all--but it could have fallen out. The set screw tightens a plastic bushing that clamps the trem arm in place and prevents it from swinging. Hopefully someone with a trem Surf can look down there and confirm?

[nor]

If nothing else works, a bit o shrink wrap might help.

[dg]

Here's a sketch of the type of spring I was talking about. The red thing here, usually attached with a screw to the bottom of the socket. If yours had one, it would be visible on the outside of the socket if you take the trem off.

trembushing.jpg

[ontheroad97]

Can't view the picture--is there something I need to do to view it?

[ontheroad97]

Ah, there it is! Any idea where you find this mysterious spring?

[toejam]

Use a spring from a pen.

[dg]

On Ibanez trems they call it the "arm holder spring". Here's a pic of one on an older Ibanez trem:



It's not a coil spring, but a springy wire that runs up the outside of the socket & projects into it.

Hopefully, this will give you an idea of the type of thing to look for, and at least it may help you figure out if your trem even had this type of spring on it. It's possible that it uses a different system. I haven't had one of these trems, and was hoping somebody with 1st-hand knowledge would've come along to help by now. I don't want to send you looking down the wrong path, but I figured if there was an obvious dropped or broken spring it might be the answer.