Loose Vibrato Arm

[alanbakewell]

At risk of repeating myself.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9847&start=10#p70237

[Paul Childs]

I find wedging a piece of elastic band down the hole with the arm works.
As for leaving the arm attached when closing the case, it depends on the case. There is no way the case that came with my 1989 USA Standard will close no matter what position you put the arm. you can see marks from the bridge in the case lining from being closed with the arm removed so it's a tight fit that way.

[bor64]

PTFE tape +1 here.
Like Robbo I've used it for about 35 years now without problem.
About those springs, they only make the arm stay more solid on it's place and not fall down, hanging limp....but they don't keep the wobble out.
PTFE tape does both and is easy to replace and doesn't get lost in the case.
Kevin's tremblocks have a Teflon tube pressed in the first half of the thread and stabilized the arm and keep the arm on it's place when let loose.

Cheers Rob

[Ryan]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question to fix this problem.
I think i'm going to use the PTFE tape, the only thing i want to know is this...
I have to take the vibrato arm off the guitar as it will not fit into it's case if i don't, no matter what position i put it in. Will i have problems with bits of the tape coming off and getting stuck in the hole (due to having to remove it when i put it away)? I assume they will be easy to remove with a pair of tweezers or something if it did?
Cheers
Ryan

[dave robinson]

If you have to take the arm off every time then you just remove the debris and throw it away, renewing the PTFE as you need to.
I've had to do that with my G&L S-500 as it was bought used and the nylon insert was missing out of the vibrato socket. It works with the PTFE though and will do the job until the new one arrives from G&L.

[Ryan]

If you have to take the arm off every time then you just remove the debris and throw it away, renewing the PTFE as you need to.
I've had to do that with my G&L S-500 as it was bought used and the nylon insert was missing out of the vibrato socket. It works with the PTFE though and will do the job until the new one arrives from G&L.

Thanks for that, as long as there's no nasty tape getting wedged or sticking then that's the way i'll go
Cheers
Ryan