Fender vs. Wilkinson trems

I really want to get a Fender American Deluxe Strat (HSS). I wish it came in a fixed bridge version, but that's okay. If there was a fixed bridge version, I would either keep it that way or get it retrofitted for a Kahler trem.

Maybe after a while I would order a chambered replacement body (I'd go with ash but then there's the possibility of neck dive; what about mahogany?) from Warmoth, routed for a Kahler.

Well, as far as stock goes, it seems I will have a choice between the standard Fender tremolo, and the locking Wilkinson tremolo.

In principle I would prefer a locking tremolo because it goes two ways and not just one. However, I have a MIM Strat with a Floyd Rose, and I hate it hate it hate it!!! I despise Floyd Rose... biggest guitar-related mistake I ever made. It's a massive pain-in-the-@$$ and it sucks the tone right outta the guitar, and murders sustain. To hell with FR. Never again!!!

I know the Wilkinson was designed to be far less of a pain (no locking nut, don't have to snip the ball ends, etc.), but does it bleed out the precious tone/sustain like the Floyd Rose does?

And how does it compare to the Fender trem in terms of how it effects the tone/sustain?

If I go with the regular Fender trem, I would get a replacement from Callaham because I hear tell it is made of better metals and will give back a lot of the tone that such a trem would normally diminish.

Tone and sustain matter a lot to me because I plan on running it through two amps simultaneously, clean and dirty (with the occasional stomp of a metal pedal that precedes the A/B-Y box on the chain). And I'll be using big fat jazz strings (.056-.013), for I am delighted to find (according to the replacement parts section of the Fender website) that the LSR Roller Nut can accomodate such a massive gauge.

I would plan on replacing the pickups (as good as they may be on that model) with an HSS set from Bare Knuckle... namely, the "Nailbomb" humbucker plus two "Irish Tour" single coils.

Man... when I'm done with that thing, it'll be a serious tone monster... whether for jazz or grind/death/noise/puke core metal. :D

My HSS has the stock trem in it, no LSR nut and stays in tune really well. If I had to upgrade it though, I'd think about one of these......GuitarFetish

Another thing to consider is if you need a trem in the first place. If you don't do any divebombing and things like that, you could even get by with a hardtail bridge. For that matter, you could dispense with the LSR nut and get a little cheaper guitar.

A Wilkinson tremolo on a Vintage style trem Strat would be no different in range than the stock style vintage bridge... The "locking" pertains to the fact that the bridge has locking nuts that you screw down onto each individual string to keep them in place... It helps stay in tune slightly.... But in the end doesn't make much of a difference. I have vintage trems on both my strats and I wouldn't change them for anything.... If you're worruied about rocking forward and back... you can set a vintage style trem up to "float" it won't have the same range as a FR but it will give you the ability to sharpen notes slightly.... A floating setup is the basic setup for a vintage strat trem. If you want tuning stability in a fender trem you either screw it down to the body or block it... It's a fact that a Fender Strat bridge will never stay in tune 100% all the time.... unless its screwed down or blocked.... But the Wilkinson would be a slight upgrade... nothing special though. Personally, I like historically correct guitars.... That's why my vintage guitars still have there vintage trems.... It all comes down to what you want in the end though.

I think I'll go with the normal Trem and block it later if tuning issues get too annoying.

From all the negative stuff on floyds you post, I can't help but wonder if you just need to experiment more, or get it setup slightly differently. I don't have the problems you suggest, and I would imagaine the other floyd users on the site would say the same... I wouldn't use them if the tone was crappy.... Steve Vai and Joe Satriani wouldn't either....

I can use my trem quite heavily and not have problems running out of tune. I don't have sustain or tone concerns. Forgiving my possible ignorance of your setup, if you're running a serious signal chain with effects and (mostly) distortion, how much of the resultant tone to you think is down to the guitar anyway?

You should talk to James Tyler or Tom Anderson - they'll make you a guitar exactly like you want, and be able to advise on the tonal properties of certain build combinations...

I usually run on pure clean, no effects or distortion or anything. One day I want to run through two amps, one clean the other dirty. I don't use any pedals or anything. Right now I have cheap gear... I practice on a Hartke practice bass amp, and I jam on a Peavy 2x12... not sure the model but it's a 400w solid state.

Well, okay, what more can I reveal....

The FR was on a MIM Strat (HSS). The pickups on that thing were garbage. I bought the thing intending to upgrade the pickup, and got the FR model because I figured it would have more bells and whistles than the normal trem. The other reason I dislike that guitar is the neck. On the other hand, every time I try an AmerDeluxe, the neck is like sweet buttah.... The neck is always the one thing that'll make or break a guitar for me, above all else.

The FR stayed in tune pretty good, actually. The downsides I perceived were that it was a massive pain to set up, and that it sucked the tone and sustain outta the guitar. I would have preferred tuning problems to the amount of tone/sustain I perceived that it diminished.

I put big huge .013-.056 strings on it and had to detune to C# so the thing wouldn't buck up. I kept intending to add two more springs but never got around to it. I know SRV had that gauge on his Strat and he tuned flat to make it easier on his left hand. If I get the nicer Strat I'd do the same and make sure to beef up the springs first thing. I prefer fat gauges... I've currently got 12s on this 60s era off-brand Japanese-made surf guitar someone gave me.

I thought Vai and Satriani used the Ibanez trems? I wouldn't know.

I plan on one day installing a Kahler on a guitar. By all accounts it is very much the superior machine.

The guitar I use now has equally cheap electronics (though cheap by 60s standards), and the slab (I think it's mahogany, I'm not sure) and neck are much thinner and flimsier than on the Strat. But it's a hardtail (primitive design), and when I run it through the same settings, it sounds far, far better to me.