So, I got my new Highway One on Wednesday of last week. I took the little sticker off covering the trem arm hole and there is a tiny little black spring just sitting in there. I turn the strat over and it falls right out. What is this mysterious spring? I opened the trem cover on the back and everything looks in order. Hmm?

it's there to stabilize the tremolo arm.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

So, I should just let it sit in there, loosely? My VG nor my MIM have the spring in there. Thanks!

If you're not going to use your trem arm, put the spring back in and cover it up with the sticker. That way you'll always know where it is in case it's needed.

Now, the point of the spring is that it compresses on the point of your trem arm inside the bridge. This makes the arm more stable in the hole and also helps you to hold it in a particular playing position if thats your thing. Obviously it won't stop you pushing the arm out of the way if you prefer to reach for it only when it's needed.

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This is my guitar, there are many like it but this one is mine.

That spring leads to a fair bit of tremolo arm/blocks having their threads stripped. Best thing you can do with it is sling it in the bin.

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No no and no

May be completely wrong, but I heard that it stabilises arm movement in the bridge block and actually reduces incidents of that type of damage. Obviously no-one should be going crazy on this type of trem system anyway - it wasn't designed to take a lot of abuse.

It is supposed to be there. Most people lose them before they even know they have them. Some people just put it with the rest of their guitar odds and ends. As most people have already stated it is there to provide tremelo arm stability. I use mine as it keeps me from over-torquing the arm when I screw it down.

RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head