Trem Tone Comparisons

I really wanted to try the Super Vee double locking system, despite it being entirely proprietary parts that you'd only be able to get from the maker, if they'd sell them to you. I was living in Denver, and the company was only an hour south in Colorado Springs, so I called and asked if there was any way to try it, but they said at that point that the trem was not being produced. I see though that it's still on their website now.
 
W/r/t bronze. I always wondered about these small bronze bits on a PRS bridge. Don't seem worth the hassle.

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Andy Eagle said:
The Vega is good but it has zero personality and doesn't stay in tune better than any other non locking unit. It looses the "air" in the tone of a vintage fender. It sounds no better than a 1996 without the tuning stability. I don't see the point of it.
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You get the range of a recessed floyd in something you can drop in a guitar without mods in 5 minutes. And it's softer and smoother in feel than any floyd ever made. I very much see the point of it. Love them.
 
For you guys who are using the Vega, are any of you going for vintage Strat tones? Do you find any difficulty getting those tones with the Vega?
 
Blix said:
You get the range of a recessed floyd in something you can drop in a guitar without mods in 5 minutes. And it's softer and smoother in feel than any floyd ever made. I very much see the point of it. Love them.
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Exact this - I like the Vega for muffled playing too, I never had a trem so stable and smooth at the same time. I have 2 guitars with a bladerunner - not really bad, but I love the Vega much much more, say, when I know about Vega before the Bladerunner I would install the Vega on all 3 guitars. So I very, very much see the point of it. 👌😊🎶
 
I like this text at the assembly instructions of the Vega VT1 UltraTrem :D

"And if when you hear the word dismount you see the Antichrist, do not worry, your luthier or your trusted store will be happy: they will never have earned such easy money for doing something so simple"
 
State of Epicicity said:
I've been thinking of going for something like a strat in the future, using a Vega trem and the Guitar Nutbuster instead of a Floyd. That seems like the best balance between range, stability, and tone. The big compromise, from what I've read, is little room to adjust the saddles for intonation. But that may only be a real problem if one uses an a non traditional gauge of strings.
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A friend of mine just got a Nutbuster and installed it on a strat.
In my opinion, its quite ugly.
I would rather try a high quality set of locking tuners and a properly dressed nut with lubricant.
 
Hi Henry,
Not only does bronze have inherent lubricity, it’s softer than the nickel of the strings you probably use. Because of that, the strings will not get stuck on the bridge affecting tuning, nor will the bridge contribute significantly to string breakage. I never realized anyone was going to such great lengths to have the best product. I like it!
Thanks
Pauly



Henry said:
W/r/t bronze. I always wondered about these small bronze bits on a PRS bridge. Don't seem worth the hassle.

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State of Epicicity said:
From the other side, does anyone get great strat tones with a Floyd or Edge?
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Yes!

I have a love hate with Floyd and the Edge (licensed Floyd) trems. You can get them sounding really good, however they are painful to get setup and operating at tip top. They seem to need more finicky tweaking to get them stable, but once you do they are usually pretty much set it and forget it. I feel the Evertune is way easier to get setup and easier to work on, personally.
 
jamesmarshall said:
Yes!

I have a love hate with Floyd and the Edge (licensed Floyd) trems. You can get them sounding really good, however they are painful to get setup and operating at tip top. They seem to need more finicky tweaking to get them stable, but once you do they are usually pretty much set it and forget it. I feel the Evertune is way easier to get setup and easier to work on, personally.
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That's interesting. I was wondering how much the six and two point strat trems have to do with the strat tone. I love Floyds, but I just couldn't tell if they rob you of the vintage vibe sonically. I generally have had great luck in setting up Floyds easily.
 
They can to an extent. It is all in how the cavity is setup from the routing, to the way the posts are drilled and installed.

Same goes for vintage strats. I played a few '59 strats in the 80s and some were just amazing and played very well. Some needed a ton of work and just did not play or sound like a '59 strat. Usually it was because someone gutted the guitar and replaced all the hardware with the modern stuff of the time. Ones that I played where you could see they should have rejected them off the line with not the best cavity or how the six post was aligned, etc. Were not fun to play nor did they sound right. Same can be said about any floyd or other trem system.

Tone wise it is hard to say unless you know a little more of what you look for in a tone. If you want spanky highs and warm mids with some low end roll off or really warm low end less mids and spanky highs. Those change what some would use for a bridge.
If I want good low end and low mids I would go for a tail piece since they transfer low end resonance really well. For warm mids and spanky highs the Gotoh 510 comes to mind. For spanky highs I think Wilkinson.
It is all in how the resonance is transferred to the guitar. Six post has more of that than a 2 post, usually since there is more contact with the body. Floyd trems use the block and springs more for that resonance transfer IMO.

Just my feelings and things I have noticed over the years from playing and maintaining my own guitars and working with several manufacturers for signature models while learning what does what and what I personally like and don't like.
 
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I'd suggest to take a look at G&L's "dual fulcrum vibrato". I have nothing but the best things to say about that - in my experience, stability-wise, this thing is the non-locking Floyd with the traditional Strat sound.
I didn't have to tune the guitar for weeks, while working it Scott Henderson-style. None of the Fender vibrato's I've tried were as stable and smooth as this one, not even close. My S-500 also had locking tuners, and together these two didn't care if you take a guitar through the city at winter from a warm home to a hot stage and back, it was always in tune.
 
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