Wilkinson VS-50 tremolo bridge with locking tuners

[CEB]

I'm wanting something different for a rock gig. I am interested in this:

 

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/el-guitars/pacifica/pacifica611vfm/

 

For a whammy I've only used Floyds and Kahlers. Any body familiar with the Wilkinson and locking tuners? How does it work. Does it stay in tune like a Floyd does if you mash it?

 

Thanks

[Scott Fraser]

I'm wanting something different for a rock gig. I am interested in this:

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/el-guitars/pacifica/pacifica611vfm/

For a whammy I've only used Floyds and Kahlers. Any body familiar with the Wilkinson and locking tuners? How does it work. Does it stay in tune like a Floyd does if you mash it?

Thanks

 

I have a couple Wilkinson-style trems on my PRS's. I occasionally have the bar down to where it's hitting the body or strings, i.e. as far as you can go. They come back in tune, although it helps to give it a little pull to get it to settle into position. Locking tuners don't really affect tuning stability, though if you plan to do that kind of whammy madness you might consider a roller nut, as found on the Jeff Beck signature Strat.

[CEB]

Thanks! I probably won't mash it. But if I could then it should do anything I need. Thanks again.

 

The specs says it comes with a graphite nut and saddles. I like the demo vids I have heard with the P90 and Humbucker working together.

[Scott Fraser]

I might get the bar down that far once per gig for some string slacking noise, totally effects stuff. At the end of that tune I check tuning & maybe have to touch up 1 string slightly. These are on the PRS trems on both the SE imports as well as the USA model, & near as I can tell are closely modeled on the Wilkinson design. My 50s Strat, on the other hand, is a complete basket case when you do that kind of dive. Same with the Bigsbys, though at full dive they only go down about a whole tone, while the PRS's are down around a half octave.

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have 3 Fret-King guitars. They're a Trev Wilkinson company, so naturally, they use his pickups & hardware. The two I have with trems are these:

 

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-FRK-VENTURA-BLU?src=Y0802G00SRCHCAPN&scid=scplp12376618&sc_intid=FRK+VENTURA+BLU&gclid=Cj0KEQjwjem-BRC_isGJlJ-0h-MBEiQAbCimWIUKW-0eAZJqOd6_yTScrn3j_SL0jRml_E1xix7-hQ0aAi4I8P8HAQ

 

http://fret-king.com/super-60-hb.html#.V9rsQOs8KrV

 

I've had one of those for more than a year, the other for a few months. Now, I'm no whammy warrior, but I've yet to have a single tremolo-related tuning related issue with either one.

 

[Guitarzan]

I'm wanting something different for a rock gig. I am interested in this:

 

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/el-guitars/pacifica/pacifica611vfm/

 

For a whammy I've only used Floyds and Kahlers. Any body familiar with the Wilkinson and locking tuners? How does it work. Does it stay in tune like a Floyd does if you mash it?

Thanks

 

 

I have had a yamaha pacifica with both locking tuners and a wilkinson vs100.

I highly recomend these. Very solid and stable. The saddles do not flop when diving. They are "locked" down to the plate and the whole trem is an improvement in every area . If you have a well cut nut and no loose neck the tuning stability is great. Not to mention the bridge is super freindly to palm muting when in full floating mode.

My super favorite non locking trem.

I am unsure of the difference in the vs50 and vs 100 as they look damn near identical.

Wilkinson has nailed the two point trem in my humble opinion.

 

[Guitarzan]

Oh, just noticed the vs50 is a six screw trem . But if it was well set up I doubt it would have any issues.

[CEB]

Thanks guys!

[Sharkman]

I have the Wilkinson VS50 with Sperzel locking tuners installed on my Carvin CS6T. It stays in tune for me, although I don't use the vibrato arm very often. Oddly, I use the bridge frequently by pressing the palm of my hand down on it to raise the pitch, instead of leaving the arm in and raising up on it.

 

A lot of Carvin owners complain that the company should use the VS100 instead. I have not used a VS100, so I can't give an informed opinion. My VS50 makes creaky spring sounds when I put the arm in and use it agressively, but those sounds never make it through an amplifier.

 

The only complaint I have with the locking tuners is that nobody told me you're supposed to tighten the locking wheel first, and then tune the guitar. I was tuning the guitar first, then locking the tuner. It was always going out of tune that way, until I looked up on the Internet and saw that I was doing it the wrong way.

[Larryz]

I have locking tuners on my 3 Strats and they come in very handy for making fast string changes and helping the guitar stay in tune. My Strats have rounded bridge saddles. As far as working with the various whammy/tremolo set ups, I like a roller bridge or rounded saddles more than I do the locking tuners. The strings do not hang up on the bridge like they sometimes do when moving across sharp bridge saddles...