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[Sy Zabrocki]

>From Sy Zabrcoki (Billings, MT)

Here's one for all you techies out there. You're slaving away on a job
hoping to get to your next appointment on time. Then you discover a broken
jack spring. You rush out to your truck to pick up a new spring and find
them all entwinded together in a big mess. Don't you hate it when that happens?

So how do you store jack springs? Here's my solution. BICYCLE SPOKES ! !
Pick up an old bicycle wheel and remove all the spokes. One end of the spoke
has a 90 degree bend with a flange on the end. This is the end that fits
into the hub. The other end which fits through the rim is threaded and has a
special nut which is used to align the wheel.

Jack springs have a small coil on one end and large on the other. The small
coil fits into the jack and the large coil fits into the whippen. So you
slide the first spring onto the spoke with the small coil going down to the
90 degree turn which has the flange. The small coil can not slip over the
flange. Then thread the second jack spring on with the large coil butting
against the large coil of the first spring. These two coils are the same
size and will not entwine with each other. Place about 14 springs on each
spoke and put on the nut on the end.

Jack come in two sizes, one for uprights and one for consoles. I have a
plastic tray in my supplies with a partition. There are about 8 spokes of
springs for consoles and some more for uprights. The springs are always in
perfect order.

Here's another idea if you want just a few jacks in your tuning kit. Use
pipe cleaners. These are wires about 9 inches long covered with fuzzy stuff
to clean smoking pipes. Bend over one end and thread on a few jack springs,
then bend the other end over so they can't come off. Doesn't take much room
in your kit.

Sy Zabrock RPT--Billings, MT
only4zab@mcn.net