Hello Everyone,
I love the Vintage Ludwig Spur Lock hi hats (the pressed steel, non-tubular leg models, anyway). When I get them from ebay or wherever, I always take them all the way apart and throughly clean them, get all the old gunk out of the lower shaft, clean the spring etc. When I put them back together they play great and look great! I've noticed though after a few hours of playing at a gig recently the spring was squeaking pretty loudly. It was the classic "eeeeee-urrrrr, eeeeeee-urrrrr" up and down squeaky noise. I don't re-lubricate the spring at all when I put it back in, because I don't think it really needs it, it's not a bearing or hinge. Here's my idea to fix it, tell me what you would recommend or have done in the past:
What if I take appropriate sized rubber grommets (easily found at a hardware store) and put one "in the groove" at the top and bottom of the spring? That way, the spring is not touching any metal at the top or bottom (the rubber is cushioning it), but it can still compress/recoil normally without anything interfering with that. Do you think that would work? Also, I figure the rubber grommets would help stop the metal spring from "resonating" to make it quieter (just imagine putting a big rubber grommet around your ride cymbal). Do you think that will work?
I also thought about stuffing the spring with some cotton balls, like people do inside old lugs to keep them from rattling. I thought that may pose two problems though: 1. How would I get the lower pull rod through the spring if its stuffed with cotton? and 2. I think the spring action would be affected (reduced) by stuffing it with cotton.
Any ideas, my ears are WIDE open! Thanks!
