I just bought (end of August, 2012) Fender's Stevie Ray Vaughn Artist Series Stratcaster. I noticed, the first time I pulled it out of the case, that here is a tiny spring in the hole where the whammy bar screws in. The spring is so loose in there that it easily falls out; as a matter of fact, within one week , mine fell out and I lost it. I now have to find out where to order one. Anyone out there with any ideas? Also, does anyone know what I could put over that hole (when I don't have the whammy bar in) to kep the screw covered and in that hole?
mike

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessor ... springs-12

Tape

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Bill

I see a lot of posts with this comon complaint. Not much else to do but replace it, and put some tape, or just go without it as some do.

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"Where would rock and roll be without feedback?"

I had 3 and its not that important to worry about however, tape as Bill said and enjoy the playing that's what counts.
Best

well tape works. but I went a different direction,
I just glued one of these in the bottom of the hole. you just stick it to the bottom of an Allen wrench and then put a dab of CA glue or epoxy on it and poke it in. just try not to bump the threads on the way down so that you don't get glue in them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50x-3-mm-x-2-mm ... 3cc5700ed3
I am pretty sure I got the 3mm x 2mm but its possible it was 2mm x 2mm. I will throw some calipers on a bar when I get home though, i cant quite remember how thick it is off the top of my head.

but it works really well and now when I put the guitar back in my case I don't have to worry about the spring falling out.

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Thank you all for the advice reference the spring on the SRV stratocaster.
mike

Just be careful you don't hold your guitar to close to your chest and rip your pacemaker wires out.

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Bill

I don't recommend this for everyone. What I did to solve this problem was to bend that little spring so that just enough of it is now seated in the threaded whole where it won't fall out but can be easily 'fished' out if required. The majority of the spring still functions as it was intended. Clearly, YMMV on this one.

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You dig?

Wonder why they didn't just make the snap-in a standard feature? Though one can get along without it, that little spring has been a problem for more than half a century. I suppose they assumed that no one would remove the bar during storage, but we've recently had a discussion about the wisdom of storing that guitar with the bar still on it, even swung away.

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"Another day in paradise!"

+1 Works for me, no tape, no glue, no fuss.

Well I currently have 10 Strats of various pedigrees and I honestly don't think -any- of them have the springs left in the trem blocks. Was never a fuss for me as I just let the trem bar hang anyways. Unless you really have a reason for having it in there, my suggestion would be not to worry about it.

Just my opinion as always,
Jim