Wilkinson/Gotoh VSVG Vintage Tremolo

I've played for 25 years, and owned a lot of different guitars over the years. For the past five years or so, I've strictly been playing Ibanez Prestige two humbucker equipped guitars, and I missed the single coil Strat sound, as well as the Strat neck. So I finally bought a Deluxe Players Strat, and that's where this Wilkinson comes in.

I love everything about the guitar - except for the bridge. I realized right away that I would not be able to use the whammy bar with the stock Fender bridge. I overnighted this Wilky as well as Sperzel locking tuners. Install was a snap. It's literally six screws and three springs - DONE. Intonation was almost dead accurate out of the box. I restrung the guitar BEFORE I switched out the machine heads, and the Strat stayed in tune even with the stock vintage style classic tuners (the inexpensive ones, made by Ping I believe). I then switched to the Sperzels (be prepared to drill if you do this), and I can NOT make that guitar go out of tune once the strings are broken in. Unbelievable.

The only thing I did notice is that it doesn't quite resonate the same as the stock bridge, but I switched to Fender Bullet strings (I think there's something to that bullet end, as opposed to the ball ends with wraps around it), and the resonance came back. Very solid bridge, I love the adjustable tension pop in trem arm (I can't stand screw in arms - another reason for the upgrade), and the trem arm has NO slop or "wiggle" in it whatsoever once the tension is set right. This is a very fast, very easy, relatively inexpensive upgrade that solves a lot of problems. Not only is tuning stability attained, but intonation is better and string breakage is reduced because the saddles actually have a notch/groove in them, unlike the stamped steel Fender saddles in which the strings can slide side to side on. I highly recommend it!

I thought I was buying something that would last, but within weeks the bridge started to actually rust. Not just tarnish, but actual oxidization. The bar will not stay in the bridge without placing one wrap of tape around the end of the trem bar to keep it from falling into the floor.

Setting the intonation is probably the worst feature. It is accomplished with a small thumbscrew that sets parallel to the body of the guitar. You will grind your fingertips raw screwing this thing in and out. After you unlock the saddle and get it adjusted, locking it back in place takes it out of adjustment and it's back to unscrewing the thumbscrew again.

For $117 I expected more. I will be undoubtedly replacing this bridge in the future, it will have to work for now. Poorly designed and cheap materials

WOW! I can't say enough good things about this bridge. It replaced the standard 6 hole Fender tremolo. It has increased sustain and resonance, given me MUCH more intonation flexibility. Stays in tune/intonation better and because the saddles lock down to the baseplate, I don't have to re-intonate with every string change. The stock bridge required this because of all the slop in the saddles. Excellent performing and very comfortable bridge and it doesn't look out of place. Also, the trem arm has adjustable tension and it simply pulls out/pushes into the bridge block. No more screwing/unscrewing to put it back in the case, nor stripping of the threads. I could go on. This is simply the most effective and noticeable upgrade I could perform for about a hundred bucks, making a guitar I very much love a whole lot better.

I have installed the tremolo unit on my guitar without problems. The sound is full, fine, a definitive improve. Finally the tremolo arm adjustable with no more stress.
The unit is aesthetically beautiful. Thank Stewmac for your service, quality, competitive prices and courtesy.

I waited for a while to give my opinion in case it changed after the honeymoon was over. It's been a long road but I've finally got a whammy that stays in tune. This one's a 'floater'. No more flush or blocked whammys on a Strat if you have everything else set up as it should be. Don't expect ANY whammy bar to fix the rest of your guitar's problems because they WON'T! The simple small locking screws are the secret with this unit because they keep the little wiggliy bridge height adjustment screws from rocking back/forth/sideways. And they didn't make the unit look like a Sherman tank either. Just a nice looking, un-obtrusive, working, and floating vibrato that doesn't need a lot of gimmick to come back to 0 tuning position. I say GET ONE (with the short -'Gilmour' style - bar option)!

Ive installed it on my project guitar a week ago, everything is doing fine, installation is as easy, finding intonations is superb, tone wise , full of harmonics and dynamics and its looks, very interesting than the traditional Tremolo sets,