Question: When my tremolo arm is on my case presses down on it hard when I close it. Will this damage and / or cause problems with the bridge ..?

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billritt

Am Std Strat
Am Std Tele
Martin D-18
Vibro Champ XD & Mustang I

Easy answer... YES. Take it off before you put the guitar away.

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No no and no

Yes, Yes, and Yes!!!

I made the huge mistake of leaving the arm screwed in on my 78 lefty Strat "Once" the very first time I did it as I was "only" going across the street to my buddy's house.Someone took my case and dropped it on the floor upside down,guess how much a vibrato arm and block costs for a 78 lefty Strat,you wouldn't want to know.Don't ever put your guitar in the case with the arm screwed in or you'll be screwed also,I was.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Just in case no one has mentioned this yet....Yes!!! Take that tremolo arm off your guitar before closing the case lid. This can cause any number of issues, some of them are costly.

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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

I just got my strat and am learning about it. It came with the Fender hard case. I put my tremolo arm on today and was putting it back in the case and noticed it was hitting the top - pressing down really hard. I immediately took it off. I'll just put it on when I want to use it.

Thanks for the reply's .. this forum is cool and helpful.

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billritt

Am Std Strat
Am Std Tele
Martin D-18
Vibro Champ XD & Mustang I

Billritt

We've all been there mate, you should have seen the disaster I caused with my first tremolo. We live and learn mate.

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No no and no

I keep a small tab of electrican's tape on the trem spring cover. When I remove the trem arm I place that tab of tape over the hole the arm came out of. This keeps that little spring in place. Those springs can be tough to find when they fall out. I also keep spares of the trem arm tension spring. Of course some trems don't require the spring, but all of my Strats do.

The time it takes you to remove the trem arm and put it back in will equate to less than the time you'll spend cussing yourself out with tears in your eyes for not doing it when you open the case to a broken instrument.

So save time... do it right.

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You're only as strong as
the drinks you pour,
the tables you dance on,
and the friends you roll with.

Take it off when you put it away, it takes seconds to remove and put back on and they`ll be no damage.

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Yep, you gotta take it off, I remove the spring every time myself so it doesn't get lost and I keep it in a small pill bottle in the case. One of my strats the spring is stuck in there and won't come out, but it still works and never gets lost. Oddly enough the Fender guitar owners manual I recently got with my pink paisley 60's reissue (Japan) suggests leaving the tremolo arm on the guitar so it doesn't get lost. Thats a stupid thing for them to suggest since no official Fender case I've seen will allow room for the trem arm still on the guitar. But they don't change the owners manual ever.
Don

The best thing you can do is put that original arm away for safe keeping and get a callaham or somesuch other stainless steel trem arm. It's a liitle springy on tight springs, but it won't bend or break unless you're trying really, really hard. Having said that, you still should remove it before putting the guitar in the case. Better yet, leave the guitar out and you'll play it more often!

Cheers

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!