What is a good tremolo bridge upgrade for a MIM Srat?

[elsupermanny14]

What is a good upgrade tremolo bridge for a MIM Standard Fat Strat? Any suggestions? I've been wanting to upgrade that part of the guitar for some time now but have no idea. I haven't really seen anything about upgrading bridges for them. What about the Wilkinson fits all strats tremolo? Help please!

[elsupermanny14]

Anyone?

[aloha]

Don't bother changing the whole tremolo.

 

If you aren't happy with the tone and tuning stability, then just change out your saddles and tuners.

 

I highly recommend titanium saddles. They are pricey but add a lot of top end detail to your sound (if you're playing through a good tube amp).

 

Cheap locking tuners, like they sell at guitarfetish.com, are excellent. I've used them on a few guitars and they hold tune well, even when it comes to plenty of whammy.

 

The only thing is: with these GFS cheapies, you wil need pliers when changing your strings.

 

Good luck.

[aloha]

Oh, and Burlingame is a nice place. I had a girlfriend living there a long time ago. I went to Berkeley.

[tomh777]

Try the Wilkenson I had a vintage compensated bridge on my strat and I think it was one of the better upgrades I did to it.

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar_tremolos/Wilkinson_Gotoh_VSVG_Vintage_Tremolo.html

[hondro]

callaham

[GarysBlues]

Go to Guitarfetish,. Jay has a Wilkinson that will drop right in. BIG DIFFERENCE. The Callahams are real nice but REAL EXPENSIVE. You could put a GOOD STEEL bridge in for $29.00.

 

I swapped just the saddle's on my RC Strat. But its a HARDTAIL? The saddle's alone cost me $30. for Orig. Vintage Fender? So I don't know that your saving a whole lot with a GOOD set of saddles?

 

I use my Trems all the time and only play Trem guitars. Wilkinson Trems are "ONE" of the best I have played. PRS and Fender CS being the other's.

[jimwratt]

super-vee

[BobbaFret]

callaham

 

[elsupermanny14]

Will all these bridges fit the MIM? Cuz I was looking on GFS and he sells stock replacement MIM bridges and then "vintage" bridges with the 6 screw plate. All the bridges everyone mentioned above all have the 6 screw plate but are all vintage. Will they still fit the MIM regardless?

[Oaksong]

if you are willing to do more work, and want total tuning stability and increased sustain, try the tremking. I put one on my strat and love it. That said, you would have to do some extra routing. Worth it in my opinion.

 

Otherwise, Wilkenson.

[bungholio281]

IF you can find it, see if you can grab a Music Man vintage tremelo system. I think it would fit, and they are stable as all hell (I used to like floyds...)

[Joranges]

Isn't the Wilkinson sold at Guitar Fetish the water-downed version?

 

(I probably shouldn't believe half the stuff the internet says but anyways..)

 

Try changing the block, from my experience it helps a lot with sustain (i.e. www.callahamguitars.com)

[elsupermanny14]

 

if you are willing to do more work, and want total tuning stability and increased sustain, try the tremking. I put one on my strat and love it. That said, you would have to do some extra routing. Worth it in my opinion. Otherwise, Wilkenson.

 

 

What kind of extra routing would be needed? And out of curiousity I'm still curious if a vintage spec tremolo bridge would fit in my MIM bridge. Can I get a good wilkinson and just drop it in?

[Oaksong]

As for routing, nothing extensive. You need to extend the trem cavity back (away from the neck) a bit and drill an extra hole where the trem claw is. I didn't drill, I just used a lot of pressure, a screw, and a screwdriver. Finally, you have to add an extra hole in the top of the guitar >

 

So, you can't go back to stock withotu that extra hole. That is worth considering. DO watch the video on the tremking site and see if you are interested.

[guitarchaz]

Before you upgrade, here are a few things that I have found very helpful on all tremolos, even cheap ones. Lots of folks have lots of tricks, but these work for me.

 

-String trees are killers. I've had the best luck with the graphtech string trees and leaving them as tall as possible. They just need to keep your strings from rattling in the nut. The less sting angle the better for tuning purposes. The best advantage of locking tuners to me is that that they are typically staggered and that allows you to eliminate the string trees altogether. They're also nice and easy for changing strings, but I don't think they are mandatory for a good trem setup personally.

 

-Minimize the number of wraps on the tuners, and wind em good and tight without any slop in the string at all. Make sure you are using the proper stringing technique for your particular tuner. It does make a difference. It never cease to amaze me how many folks I run across that have been playing for a long time that don't wrap their tuners properly.

 

-Make sure the nut is cut nice and clean, if the strings aren't gliding through the nut, that'll hose you. If the slots are big enough, use some pencil lead in there to lube things up a bit and you should be good to go. If your nut is binding, locking tuners and a new trem won't help too much, and it'll need to be addressed anyway.

 

-Go up to 10s at least if you can stand it. I have an easier time keeping my trems in tune with slightly heavier gauge strings.

 

-Allow the trem to float up off of the body a bit (by adjusting springs in the back). I personally have never been able able to set a non locking trem up flat with the body without tuning issues after diving hard. The dang G string always wants to come back sharp after a dive. Then you tune it back down to pitch, then the first time you bend it, it goes flat again. I've found that if I float the trem with about 2 frets worth (1 full step, i.e. G to A pitch) up pull up on the open G-string, it seems to work pretty well. When the G string does come back a little sharp, i can wiggle the stick a bit and pull up and it settles back in.

 

-I adjust the bridge mounting screws as follows: Remove all of the strings or at least loosen them. Loosen each of your 6 mounting screws (I'm assuming it's a vintage type) enough to have the head raised up a bit off of the plate. Put just a small but of lube of some sort around the screw head and screw shaft at the plate. I use stew mac's guitar grease. Don't use anything too oily that will be a mess or potentially mess up your finish. And you only need a little. Next tighten each of the 6 screws, one at a time, until the bridge just starts to rise, then back off slowly till it lays flat, then move to the next one. When you've finished all 6, loosen up the 4 inside ones another quarter turn or so that they are just slightly off of the plate.

 

-of course, do the usual setup, intonation, etc as well. And stretch those strings all along their length and work the tremolo heavy for quite a while after changing strings. Also, it probably won't hurt to put a very small drop of lube on the bridge saddles and where the strings do through the plate. Don't put too much on the saddle, as it'll make the string sound dead. u usually just dip Q tip in some WD 40 and apply a very thin film.

 

All just my opinion of course, but as I said, I've had good luck with it. With some TLC and the tips above, I got a squire affinity working just as well as my American strat plus. Hope I wasn't too verbose, and I hope it's of assistance to you.