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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Stiffer Spring for the New Fender Panorama Tremolo

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Maybe you have already noticed that the Fender Panorama Tremomolo does not work with thicker strings. Does anyone know where you can buy springs that fix this problem? So longer or stiffer?

Big Ryan on 60 Cycle Hum did some great videos on his search for a spring that works better with heavy strings w/ the Panorama Trem on his American Pro 2 Jazzmaster. They are on You Tube and definitely worth checking out.

Surfadelphia wrote:

Big Ryan on 60 Cycle Hum did some great videos on his search for a spring that works better with heavy strings w/ the Panorama Trem on his American Pro 2 Jazzmaster. They are on You Tube and definitely worth checking out.

I saw them. He's nailed it. But in need a link to a shop where to buy a spring or how to fix it another way...Alternatively, I would have to buy a new tremolo. And I'm trying to cheat my way around that right now

A long shot, maybe, but put in a plastic washer like you can do on a Bigsby. Metal washer might do the job, too.

If I'd stop buying old guitars to fix, I might actually learn to play.
Bringing instruments back to life since 2013.

ldk wrote:

A long shot, maybe, but put in a plastic washer like you can do on a Bigsby. Metal washer might do the job, too.

The problem is that the tension of the thick strings already presses the spring together completely. Thus, there is no more room to move. Even a washer does not help

There is a long thread about this on OSG and I think the latest is that Daren Riley sold a spring but it's now out of stock - but that may be a false memory haha! Recently a user was able to nail down the specs of the existing spring's dimensions, wire thickness, and PSI. They said they spoke to a spring manufacturer and they were happy to make the spring but the minimum order was like 10,000! I would really love to use these trems and get more swing. Because of this issue I just got a few polished Masterys and they do the job very well. With .013 - .056, if I hit the A on the low E, it goes down to F. With the AVRI trems I couldn't get lower than between G and G#!

Daniel Deathtide

Ok, I tried this.... Let's see what happens...

Hello Fender Support Germany, 
I bought a Fender American Pro II Jazzmaster, RW 3- Color Sunburst at Just Music in March. Brand new. I play surf music and prefer to do so with a 12 or 13 set of flatwounds from Thomastik such as the JS112 Jazz Swing set.
The new Panorama tremolo has the seemingly familiar problem of the spring being too weak. Basically, it is impossible to use the tremolo from the 12 set. The pull of the strings is then so strong that the tremolo, if properly adjusted, completely compresses the spring and thus there is no longer any possibility to "tremolo" the tone down. So unusable.  See also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I8ifaYR91U&t=521s
Now you can imagine that I don't want to buy a Mastery, ()https://deimelguitarworks.com/product/omvp/?v=3a52f3c22ed6) or any other "replacement tremolo" with a cost of about 240 Euro in the aftermarket, just because the spring of this Panorama tremolo set is too weak. 
What can you offer me as a solution? Do you have a suggestion?

DeathTide wrote:

There is a long thread about this on OSG and I think the latest is that Daren Riley sold a spring but it's now out of stock - but that may be a false memory haha! Recently a user was able to nail down the specs of the existing spring's dimensions, wire thickness, and PSI. They said they spoke to a spring manufacturer and they were happy to make the spring but the minimum order was like 10,000! I would really love to use these trems and get more swing. Because of this issue I just got a few polished Masterys and they do the job very well. With .013 - .056, if I hit the A on the low E, it goes down to F. With the AVRI trems I couldn't get lower than between G and G#!

Buying a Mastery tremolo is of course a very good option and everything will work after that. However, I don't really see that when buiying a brand new guitar. Especially because I see a working tremolo as a basic requirement. It's not about customizing anything but to give you a basic functionality. That should work with a guitar from the factory

THX vor the tip with the OSG. i'll will have a look at his now...

Here is the thread:

https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=117440

And yeah I hear you, that Mastery stuff is expensive! I just love wasting money on music crap haha!

I also find it incredibly hard to believe that there is not a part number for a suitable spring SOMEWHERE! Like McMaster-Carr or some industrial thing. Sure there'd be a minimum order but it wouldn't be anything close to the manufacturer's minimum. If there were replacement springs that Darren Riley had, then I'll guess they'll be back because they probably sold out in a day.

And lastly "Bad Fender!" yet again. We get wonky bridges and trems that don't work. This is the reason that partsmasters are so popular, in my opinion. If Fender made them "correctly" I'd guess the partsmaster market would suffer a bit, and I'm including "boutique" builders who make Fender copies.

Daniel Deathtide

After watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNTXt1YFmpA
I odered one of this...https://www.ebay.com/itm/184334360314?var=692025179013

The tension rises and I'm curious whether that works then

That's how it ended

  • Fender USA told me to contact Fender Europe
  • Fender Europe told me to contact the dealer where I bought the guitar. Justmusic Berlin. Cool guys.
  • The Dealer said that running the guitar with 12-56 is out of tech specs. There's no other spring available from fender.

I like this guitar, but when you want to play heavy strings, don't buy it. Otherwise you have to invest money to fix this in one or the other way.

-

Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 15:37:28

I ordered a spring on Ebay (see above) If that's not working I thing I'll try the Mastery

A Mastery doesn't solve the problem at all. All it does is revert you to the traditional Fender range of vibrato while also devolving the bridge design from the rocking setup with full intonation capability to a simple string-dragged-over-a-bar design with compromised intonation.

The problem is that Fender's kluge of the existing Jazzmaster vibrato amounted to altering the location of the fulcrum such that it provides greater leverage to the string side, which of course reduces the ability of the spring to counter them. And they're probably using the same spring they have sitting on shelves already so now we have this problem.

If you want to experiment, you could try adding an "overload spring" in the form of some light rubber bumper placed under the spring end of the vibrato plate, between it and the bottom of the route so that it acts in compression. Some mountain bike forks use (or used to, anyway) these rubber plugs of various rates to achieve their bounce.

image

Do hardware stores near you sell springs? If so, check out what they've got. I've managed to find springs I could use for Bigsbys and Mosrite trems. Haven't looked for a JM spring.

If there aren't springs locally, look online. With calipers, you can measure the thinkness of the spring wire, the diameter of the spring, and the length, and usually find something a little bit more robust. I get mine from Lee Spring (https://www.leespring.com/) here in the US. Usually I'll buy a couple of different ones and find the one that works best.

Last edited: Oct 16, 2022 13:15:54

MelWaldorf wrote:

Do hardware stores near you sell springs? If so, check out what they've got. I've managed to find springs I could use for Bigsbys and Mosrite trems. Haven't looked for a JM spring.

If there aren't springs locally, look online. With calipers, you can measure the thinkness of the spring wire, the diameter of the spring, and the length, and usually find something a little bit more robust. I get mine from Lee Spring (https://www.leespring.com/) here in the US. Usually I'll buy a couple of different ones and find the one that works best.

See what i postet on Sep 18 2022 16:48. That's exactly what I did. Shipping from China to Germany takes time Wink

Ah yes. Good luck with the slow boat!

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