The British Steelies Society

I have a Sho-Bud which has been refurbished by Bernard Curnow with a complete refitted undercarriage. It has served me well for three years. Recently some of the springs seem to have 'lost' compression. I contacted Bernard, who told me he had used RS steel alloy compression spring 38.5mm x5.63mm x0.7 N/mm - and where I could get them from. So, I phoned the company in question and told them I wanted two springs, as stated. "We only sell in multiples of ten." OK, I said, I'll have ten, one for each string, I added.
"No.... we only sell in volume - 10 packets, each containing 10 springs". But I only want two, says I. Silence.
Now, what I know about springs is pretty much equal to what I know about rocket science - has anyone got any ideas/spare springs (or is there a market for springs, 1 or 2 at a time. I'd happily order 100 springs if I could pass them on to members for postage only).

There speaks an 'old hand'!

I haven't tried John's suggestion yet, but I was walking through North Shields the other day and passed a 'model' shop - but serious models - real 'grown-up's toys' so popped in and asked them about compression springs. They came out with an old box full of 'em - all shapes and sizes, including a couple that looked just right for my needs. Haven't tried them for size yet, as I've done my back in and can't even sit at the steel at the moment, so will have to wait before attacking my old Bud with the Allen keys and screwdrivers... I also thought that if one or two springs governing lowering strings are the ones that are worn, then maybe just swapping over springs - say the 7th string's spring which doesn't raise or lower should be as good as new... just a thought. Anyway, I left the shop with several springs - for a quid!

if they're no good, Nick I have a few. Email me dimensions etc. I'll see what I've got.

Thanks Jason - I'm struggling with a bad back at the moment and having just moved house can't find my camera either. I've got the dimensions of the springs somewhere in an email and I'll look it up. I'll also see if I can't find a photo of the underside of my guitar with the springs 'in situ'. If I can I'll email it to you. They are quite small - maybe 3/4" long and about 1/8" wide - but quite strong too.

The pedal travel adjustment screws on my ShoBud just had a lock nut on them and made for a lot of fiddling about to get under with a spanner, adjust and then tighten again and as has been mentioned before, gone are the days when you could wander into a shop and buy two springs.

I was tidying up in the garden this weekend and noticed that a couple of plastic clothes pegs left on the line had compression springs in them that were just the right size. I informed the wife that the frost had got to the plastic and just touching them they fell apart. This was actually true, but hey presto they are now under the steel. All I have to do now is reach under and tweak. Now I am hunting through the peg bag for a few more. Even looking at the other springs now to see where they can be of use.