Pat Pend Trem Spring

[fullerplast]

I was looking at the parts from that '59/'65 JM on eBay. This is the one that had all 1959 parts except the body and trem unit. The 1965 body was stamped ES and only drilled for a nine hole pickguard, which confirmed the seller's story that it was a factory replacement.

Well, I was looking at the trem unit, which is also '65 and of course has the pat number. It's in great condition and the seller posted nice pics. I happened to notice that the trem spring is black with larger coils. I've only seen this spring on 1958 -1962 Pat Pend tails. The seller never says why the tail was changed out. I wonder if someone at Fender swapped the springs in that unit with the original '59 trem?

Has anyone ever seen the thick black spring on a pat # tailpiece? 


http://cgi.ebay.com/65-Fender-Jazzmaste ... dZViewItem

Compare to this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/62-Fender-Jazzmaste ... dZViewItem

[i love sharin foo]

I haven't ever seen that style spring on a later pat # tail piece. That is really weird. You wouldn't have though that they would have swapped the spring from an used unit into a brand new one at the factory.

Justin

[fullerplast]

Yeah - It would have had to be either an employee/player who knew it was a better spring, OR at the customer's request. Either way, someone wanted that stiffer spring in there!

I agree, it probably wouldn't have been done otherwise....

    :-\

[zhivago]

how weird!

I actualy also had no idea there was a difference in springs...here's a pic of the Pat Pend on the '61 I got off Doug....

[Marc]

yeah I've seen the heavier duty spring on Pat pend trems - but saw it once on a Pat No trem.... easy as it's just left overs. I think they were valve springs from cars or something.... maybe they changed from Ford to Pontiac cos they were cheaper or something?

[fullerplast]

Yeah, John, that looks just like the spring on that '65. I've never seen it on a Pat # trem, but you know Fender. Marc says he's seen them.

[mynameisjonas]

i have a pat # trem with a thick black spring. the seller originally claimed it was a '59 trem, it came from a gold guard JM. but when i told him it couldn´t be a '59 because of the pat # he said it might be a '65 since the guitar had some work done to it in 1965.

[fullerplast]

Hmmmmmm....

Maybe the spring vendor changed again around '65?

(or he kept his original spring too)

[TheMilford]

I'll have to check but the '64 jag I'm working on has a black spring.

[fullerplast]

Maybe the coveted heavy black Pat Pend spring is just an old wive's tale....

[sookwinder]

I've just checked the photos of the trem unit from the 66 jag i have restored and it too has a "heavy black" trem spring.  The trem unit  is the "numbered" version.