Help on tremolo spring and ribbon on a Fly I'm buying!

[nuovonormale]

Hi everyone,
I've been following closely this incredible forum for months. I've had a 1998 Nitefly (my main guitar) since 2003 and always have dreamed of a Fly. Recently I decided to hunt for one and just got the opportunity to grab one in very good condition cosmetically, but with two main concerns.
The most critical is related to the trem spring. It has only the 9 installed and not the 10 spare, but what's worst.. from the photos I realized the 9 spring installed is missing a piece!! and the T-block has been moved much more "up" to compensate for that.
Would you help me understanding if
1) my assumption is correct
2) if yes, do you think this might have damaged the guitar?
3) I'd definitely need to buy a new spring (as a minimum) - it'd be a 10 in my case
(about this.. I still hope the flyclone project will succeed soon in that respect - as I see online only the ones from Billy's shop- 110 € each!! and with insane shipping costs)

On the ribbon thing.. it broke for this guitar, and the owner had it replaced with point to point solderings which cost him 250 €!! I'm attaching a photo of the result.. maybe some of you can comment if this seems a good job or it de-valued the guitar somehow.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[vjmanzo]

Hi and welcome!

from the photos I realized the 9 spring installed is missing a piece!!

Yes, it appears that the spring broke in the usual place and that someone has tried to make it work in spite of this.

2) if yes, do you think this might have damaged the guitar?

It has probably not damaged the guitar (if we are considering the spring to be not the guitar), but the bridge won’t work bend properly, so the current spring—at best—is functioning like a blocked bridge.

3) I'd definitely need to buy a new spring (as a minimum) - it'd be a 10 in my case

Got it

On the ribbon thing.. maybe some of you can comment if this seems a good job

If it works, then it was done properly, and it appears like the technician knew what they were doing. You can go through all the controls including the mag/piezo split controls and, if it all works, you’re good.

…or it de-valued the guitar somehow.

This is more of a personal question I think. Objectively speaking, the wiring in your Fly is not original. The extent to which someone considers it “de-valued” because it has replacement parts will only be established by a hypothetical person in the future to which you are trying to sell this guitar.

[nuovonormale]

Hi VJ, thank you so much for your swift and informative response.
I also had the impression the soldering job was a clean one (assuming all connections are correct, of course).. and thanks about the spring, I had no idea about this..
I think I'll go for it then!
About the new spring, I was wondering if you foresee your lab (by the way that's a great initiative! I've read the relation on the "12 string fly", for example.. really interesting projects for your students ) will be able to produce or lead production of new springs in the near future.. I would much trust them much more then nos (or assumed so) springs bought off the web!
I might still use it as-is or making it "hardtail"-like for a while.
Otherwise has any in the group commented on the quality of Billy's shop springs on reverb?
Feedback comments seem positive.

thanks again VJ, both for replying and for the overall FlyClone project!
Andrea

[vjmanzo]

Happy to help, Andrea—any time! Thanks for being part of this site.

We have a thread here documenting the “spring thing” as well as an internal beta thread about spring things. We’re continuing to work on this and have some prototypes, but it’s been a slow process.

In summary regarding USM-era springs, there is an ideal spec to hit in order to produce a proper spring for a rated set of springs, and many USM-era springs we hardness-tested in our labs missed this spec. The result is fracturing in a few very specific areas on the spring as a result of a particular type of buckling that occurs in the spring while it’s being used.

Billy had a stock of USM-era springs that were never tempered (the springs were unfinished). He recently had them tempered by the same spring company that did this work when USM/Parker was operational. They did him a personal favor, it seems, by finishing this batch for him, so my sense is that the springs that Billy is selling are as good as the other springs that were being made by this company during the USM-era of Parker Guitars.

[nuovonormale]

Thanks again for your precious help VJ!
Andrea