'84 Skyhawk Stiff Vibrato

I have both an '84 Skyhawk and an '85 S-500. The vibrato mechanism on the S-500, though not entirely original (doesn't have the stronger copper-colored middle spring -- has three springs that are the same color), is very smooth and works beautifully. The mechanism on the Skyhawk is original but is rather stiff, which makes it difficult to use. One of the springs makes a kind of tension-adjusting "kink" sound when I bend it down more than just a tiny bit.

If anybody has any suggestions as to how to get it to be more responsive and usable, I would greatly appreciate it.

I have both an '84 Skyhawk and an '85 S-500. The vibrato mechanism on the S-500, though not entirely original (doesn't have the stronger copper-colored middle spring -- has three springs that are the same color), is very smooth and works beautifully. The mechanism on the Skyhawk is original but is rather stiff, which makes it difficult to use. One of the springs makes a kind of tension-adjusting "kink" sound when I bend it down more than just a tiny bit.

If anybody has any suggestions as to how to get it to be more responsive and usable, I would greatly appreciate it.

My suggestion is to do a setup using the Owner's Manual. Here is a link to the Album: Owner's Manual, Version 1 (1980-1987) we have in our Gallery.

Regarding the center Copper clad spring see this post in our G&L Knowledgebase: What's the logic behind the Leo era copper tremolo spring?.

Hope this helps.

I have both an '84 Skyhawk and an '85 S-500. The vibrato mechanism on the S-500, though not entirely original (doesn't have the stronger copper-colored middle spring -- has three springs that are the same color), is very smooth and works beautifully. The mechanism on the Skyhawk is original but is rather stiff, which makes it difficult to use. One of the springs makes a kind of tension-adjusting "kink" sound when I bend it down more than just a tiny bit.

If anybody has any suggestions as to how to get it to be more responsive and usable, I would greatly appreciate it.

My suggestion is to do a setup using the Owner's Manual. Here is a link to the Album: Owner's Manual, Version 1 (1980-1987) we have in our Gallery.

Regarding the center Copper clad spring see this post in our G&L Knowledgebase: What's the logic behind the Leo era copper tremolo spring?.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, Craig, that does help!