I've bought parts for my Mosrite from Tym's Guitars in Australia (I'm in the USA, RI) and it was a pleasurable experience. You can find him online http://www.tymguitars.com.au/. Don't know if he has the spring you are looking for, but he's worth a try.

Hey Ran and Bong-O,

Thanks for the responses. Being a veteran player, I bought my first Mosrite, a '65 Ventures Model, in stunning Candy-Apple-Blue, back in 1971 for $110.00! That year I also bought a '64 "L" Series Fender Jazzmaster in Olympic White, for $120.00! Between the two, I hardly every played the Mosrite, because to me, at the time, the Jazzmaster sounded and felt better.

In Longboard Ranch, for seven years, I've mainly played Strats, Jazzmasters, and occasionally a Wilson Bros., Ventures Model. I had two Mosrites in storage - One an early 70's VII model, that I hope to modify and restore, and the other, a Fillmore Mosrite of Classics, which I've been playing over the past couple of weeks, and much to my surprise, absolutely LOVING IT! The ONLY thing this guitar needs beyond the trem arm staying nice and high, would be a MIDDLE PICKUP, and since it's not a collector item, I'm thinking seriously about adding a P90 or perhaps DeArmond single-coil to get that middle-pickup tone.

I've said much negative about Mosrites over the years, and on this forum as well as UF2, and I hate to admit it, but right now, I'm eating my words!

The Mosrite was an awesome design, and not perfect by any means, but with a little tweaking, I think it can be made so much better. Anyway I'm going to see what I can do with this Mosrite copy, (which is eerily similar to my '65 original that I got rid of years ago!) I'll keep everyone posted whether the results are good, or not so good.

Best Regards,

Bruce D

I would also check www.zamminc.com , they sell parts for the Japanese repros, including heavier springs. Not sure on what size they are exactly, but Kevin is a nice guy and has always been helpful.

Hi everyone!

Again, I want to thank you for your input and ideas, but, wow, I actually got it figured out, and when I tell you, you'll probably react the same as I did, when the answer hit me - "Like how could I have been so blind as to not visualize this cheap and simple fix?"

Our local True Value Hardware store has a nice selection of springs of differing types, lengths, diameters, and thickness of coils. But nothing the exact same diameter as the trem spring from the Mosrite, except another of the exact same length, which wouldn't change much of anything, so I went home frustrated, and figuring I'm at the mercy of Zamm or Tym's, and I'd better resign myself to waiting for responses to the emails I sent them already.

Went to a niece's wedding on Saturday, consumed a bit too much champagne and chablis and woke up Sunday with a horrendous hangover.

There I am in the bathroom, trying to brush the stale fuzziness out of my mouth, when it hits me - keep the original Mosrite Trem Spring, and buy an equal-length string of the thickest possible coils, but of a small enough diameter that I can place it inside the Trem Spring, for additional compression resistance.

Ran down to Empire Hardware, and they had just the thing, Spring #136 at SIXTY-CENTS each. I bought two, raced home, loosened the strings enough to get the trem spring out, put the new spring inside, re-inserted the springs in the trem unit, tuned up to pitch, and the arm is now about 2 1/2" above the body, a FULL inch higher than before!!

The trem bar even with TWO springs holding it up, is still remarkably responsive to even a light downward touch, still super smooth in the best Mosrite tradition, and dive-bombing (a la the ending chord from Journey To The Stars) is a total breeze!

Plus, I suspect, with the slight additional amount of up-pressure on the trem arm, this should aid the guitar staying in tune a bit more reliably, but we'll see, as the new strings get worked in.

Anyone having this kind of issue in the future, the fix is cheap, quick and easy. Obviously, since the principle of the trem is the same, this fix would work equally well on a Bigsby-equipped guitar.

This Mosrite of Classics is proving to be more fun than I deserve!

Bruce D

I'm going to try the spring-within-a-spring thing first. I have noway of knowing that the $8 spring (+$3 shipping) would work any better than the one already in the guitar. When the nickel rounds get tired i will take the whole tailpiece off and clean the bearings. Between these two operations, I should get my whammy action and tuning up to par.

Squink Out!

David Phantom,
What did you do with the Dremel?

I got a small spring that bolsters the existing one for a dollar; have yet to see if it does the trick. The vibrato arm now rests another 1/4" higher, now a full inch above the plane of the pickguard. Thinking your proffered solution might be an improvement. Gotta save up another $11!

Squink Out!

Kill,
I don't know if I have found a solution yet - the nestled spring only brings up the vibrato handle another 1/4" off the pickguard, and it seems it still wants to stay down. Since I don't have any machinist friends, I may just go for the beefier spring on ebay.

Squink Out!