Trem Springs?

[-Rhaab]

Whats a good number of springs to use in a tremolo?
Like a floyd type, other 2 point types and 6 screw standard fender types?
And how does it affect playability? like sensitivty, tuning and with palm mutes

[-Rhaab]

oops, I guess this should have been in the tech forum

[Dee]

3 is the most common. Less springs obviously give less tension and cause the bar to be more sensitive. More springs will stiffen it up. Some people also like them attached to the spring claw in an arrow shape, most of us use them straight. Playability isn't drastically affected however many you use. Most of the time the amount of springs used is down to the players preference and how much tensiion the want on the tremolo arm, but tightening the springs right up so that (on a tradition, Strat-type trem, for example) the bridge rests on the body (non-floating), maybe it can give a slightly improved tone and better tuning stability.

In general, I would say that 2 springs is the absolute minimum, and 5 is too many. Also consider there are different kinds of springs -- some will be much more flexible than others, and basically that the best thing you can do is experiment and find out what feels best for you. I'd say 3 should be the best option for most people.

[sniperfrommars1]

My general rule of thumb on springs is how often does the player use the vibrato bar and what gauge strings does he have? Then i decide how many springs to use from there. For a non floating floyd ala, evh axis, wolfgang, charvel, older kramers, two springs are often ideal to get that floating feel out of the bar, i still prefer 3 personally myself but ive known of evh and other cats to only use 2 on a nonfloating tremolo.

ON floating bridges i always start with 3, for gauges 8 and 9, ill only add a 4th spring for 10's if the springs are too open, or i run out of rum on the tremolo claw. Imho 11's and up in standard tuning work much better with 5 but, its more common nowadays to have people using those gauges tuning way down so make sure you match the tuning with the amount of tension you need.


*looking back over that it looks like some mad rant but i think you get the ideal from the post*