Scratchy Arm Bar Noises - a bit annoying

[Scott Smith]

I know this was discussed on the old forum but I'm having trouble finding it so I thought I'd ask again...

The bar on my Lo-Pro on my JS is making this annoying scratching noise. Like someting is scraping on the shaft of the bar and it seems if some of the black paint above the top washer is getting scraped off. But it only happens in the 6-9 O'Clock area, if your sitting with the guitar on your lap. It doesn't "scrape" anywhere else. Anyone else have this problem before? I did on another Ibanez but traded it. Anyone know what's causing the scraping noise and how to fix it?

[Rich]

Curious, you sure the socket itself isn't moving?

[Scott Smith]

Rich,
Yeah, I'm positive. I'll try to give a better explanation now that I'm not under time restraints...

If you take off the back cavity cover there is a phillips head screw on the bottom of the bar recepticle. Around that screw is a wire (what's this wire for anyway?) that proceeds up the recepticle and into the bar socket. (I don't know the actuall terms so I'm hoping your following) I assume its the end of that wire that is scratching the bar. If I don't push the bar in all the way, just so the top of the top washer barely disappears into the bridge, it won't make that horrid scratching noise. But if I push it in all the way and rotate the bar, it makes that noise only in a certain "area" of the radius of the rotation. It's a strange scratching noise, kinda soft but very very annoying. It does appear to be taking the black paint off the bar just above the top washer. Kind of odd but like I said, I had another Edge that did the same thing. Any ideas???

[Rich]

The wire is the bar retaing spring. My suggestion would be, PUSH THE BAR ALL THE WAY IN!!! :biggrin: A little 3 in 1 oil won't hurt either.

[Scott Smith]

Rich,
Pushing the bar all the way in causes the problem. But, I will try to lubricate it a bit...

[Rich]

There's that word!!! ehhh, nope, I'm gonna be good *You might want to pull the spring and make sure there's no problem with it, I've seen them twist or bend inside.

[jemsite]

Get a new 'arm holder'. It sounds like your is worn... glen

[jay ratkowski]

Quote: from Scott Smith on 8:32 pm on Feb. 3, 2001
Rich,
Pushing the bar all the way in causes the problem. But, I will try to lubricate it a bit...

Sick-minded people like Rich and I should NOT be getting posts like this e-mailed to us. *:biggrin:

Anyways... I have that scratching going on with a few of my guitars now and then... just whipe everything down to get rid of any rust or dust or whatever... and it seems to fix things.

[Scott Smith]

glen,
I hope the arm holders don't wear out that fast, it's only a '99!

Man, you guys! I'll admit, I tried to set you up. Kudos for being "good". I'll check the spring, maybe it is bent...

[steve]

The bar retainer spring might be sitting at an angle - the 'ball' of the spring protrudes through a round hole in the shaft of the arm-holder, and interlocks with the jack-like tip of the bar to give it a bit of a lock-in. Anyway, when that spring is rotated to one side of that access hole through the shaft wall, it can scrape 'unevenly' against the bar when it rotates, causing that type of noise. It can also be the 'ball' end of the spring touching the side of that relief hole - again, a symptom of the spring being off-center to that hole. So, you might try releasing that spring, and very carefully re-tightening the locking screw so that the spring is perfectly centered in the relief hole.
(Needless to say, I've had the same problem before, and this was my faithful solution.)
Hope this helps.
(PS: a tiny drop of lube on the 'ball' end of the spring - or the channel at the tip of your bar - could help here, too. A teensy spritz of WD-40 or something might do well here...)