Wudtone CP tremolo advice

handsomerik

Hi. I have a strat with some tuning issues and i'm considering this tremolo as an upgrade. 

Anyone have any advice/opinions with the tremolo/company. 

I see that Andy who owns and runs wudtone has been banned from this forum. What was that about? Is there a problem with the products or his conduct?

Thanks for any advice offered.

sweepy

Andy had a certain combative attitude with some people and put a fair few back up as a consequence. What Strat is it,? locking tuners ? and what tuning issues are you having ?, we might be able to save you a few quid

handsomerik

Vintage tuners. Not 100% sure on the issue. It seems that it may just be quite worn on the baseplate and screws from all the pivoting as it's quite old. 

handsomerik

Thanks for the info by the way. :-)

handsomerik

The trem actually looks good and seems to have some good reviews but it also seems likely that some reviews may have been fake as many have been posted on various forums by people with only 3 or 4 posts to their name and never bothered posting since. hmmm...

sweepy

If it’s a Mex or Jap Strat, I’d go for the Wilkinson Vintage trem, under £30, steel block and a push fit arm, they really do offer the best vfm in relation to performance 

builttospill

sweepy said:

If it’s a Mex or Jap Strat, I’d go for the Wilkinson Vintage trem, under £30, steel block and a push fit arm, they really do offer the best vfm in relation to performance 

I have one of these on my K-Line Springfield and it sounds great, tuning stability is fantastic too. 

handsomerik

Thanks for the recommendation.

Looking at the Wilkinson’s they look e celebrate value for money but I can only find the narrower string spacing of 10.8mm saddles and a 54mm total string spacing on their vintage trems. I currently have 11.3mm saddles and a 56mm total string spacing. 

I suppose i could could go to a narrower spacing without too many issues but I’m concerned it will change the feel of the guitar too much. 

Andyjr1515

Axesrus? https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Axesrus-56-4mm-2-7-32-Tremolo-Steel-Block-p/bs113-sb.htm

DrBob

I’ve got a Wudtone CP trem on my GSPBasses Strat. I think it’s amazing.
When I put the guitar together I was building a more vintage spec Strat to sit alongside my more modern Strat with a 2 point trem because much as I love the super fluid feel of a two post trem I’m not convinced they sound great compared to a six screw vintage type.
however, in my opinion the Wudtone feels much more fluid in operation than any other vintage trem I’ve ever tried and yet still sounds “proper”.
I’m so impressed with it that I no longer have a Strat with a 2 post trem !

interstellar

+1 for the Wudtone trem regardless of the blokes attitude he certainly has produced a brilliant product

Adam_MD

I always thought Andy came across as a bit of a knob on here but I picked up a second hand wudtone trem when I was putting together my strat and it’s fantastic.  I’m using vintage tuners and the tuning stability is rock solid it also feels super smooth to use.  

In all honesty I like it so much I’ve been considering buying the prs version and putting it on my ce22.  

handsomerik

Ok. Thanks very much guys. 

normula1

I've got one of his 56mm mount 54mm string spread going spare. It didn't look right on the Squier that @wezv rebuilt for me so I put the original bridge back on.

CasperCaster

As others here have said, the trems are very good. I have a couple of the baseplate/shim/ mounting screw upgrades mated with Kev Hurley blocks and Callaham saddles. I like them a lot and prefer them to other vintage trems that I have tried, though I would still like to try the ABM5050. Anyway, I just wish Andy had stuck to designing and manufacturing hardware rather than his behaviour on here.

thermionic

interstellar said:

+1 for the Wudtone trem regardless of the blokes attitude he certainly has produced a brilliant product

He was granted a patent for it after all.

Mojopickups

I also initially had a tuning issue with my Wudtone trem system, but it turned out not to be the fault of the tremolo, the trem block was very slightly rubbing on the trem cavity of the guitar (guitar build body)......which prevented it returning to pitch.
30 seconds with a files sorted it out.
You might not have the same problem, but it's worth checking.

jaymenon

I have a Wudtone Holy Grail - which addresses  most of the shortcomings of the conventional six screw tremolo whilst retaining the nicer vintage sound as compared with a twin post newer model.  

From my understanding, the Callaham  is built of higher quality materials compared to the original Fender trem but retains  all the fundamental design flaws.

The Wudtone works beautifully and pretty much renders redundant the advantages of a twin pivot model.

One thing it doesn’t address however is the tendency of the strings to hang/stick on the bridge saddles - only locking saddles would do that.

I had mine set up in such a way that I could dive bomb at will and it would come back on pitch -  amazingly spot-on.  If however, I bent a string, it would come back significantly flat.

So now I tune after I’ve bent/stretched all the strings.  String bending and upward movement of the trem leave the strings perfectly in tune.  Gentle depression of the trem arm does not destabilise tuning.

If I really divebomb (which I don’t do) the strings will come back very slightly sharp. A gentle upward movement of the trem and they’re back in tune again.

But all in all, by far the best vintage style tremolo I have ever played - and I’m very, very picky...

I am however  fascinated by the Gotoh 510 -  specifically the zinc block which has the FST deep drilled mechanism -  which means that after the ball end of the string the next point of contact is the saddle (the strings don’t doesn’t touch the bridge plate at all). 

sweepy

Odd, never had string/saddle issues, even with the cheap Wilkinson Trem are you sure it’s not the nut or string trees ?

jaymenon

Very much sure - the nut slots are  beautifully cut and lubricated. And my string trees are interesting bucket handle designs which move with strings. Again no friction...


John Suhr told me about the strings hanging on the saddles being a fundamental flaw of non-locking bridges. The non-fine tuner Floyd Rose (on the Guthrie Govan guitar) of course addresses this. Suhr themselves are at the moment trialling a bridge with locking saddles which is on the Pete Thorn Prototype...

 You may find this thread interesting:
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/124970/keeping-a-stratocaster-in-tune#latest

Suhr Locking Saddles
[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/IZPX9xr.jpg)

impmann

Sounds like a knife edge problem to me.

Basically if its reliably returning to a pitch in one direction and then reliably going sharp (or flat) when used in the opposite, it usually means that the fulcrum point is moving - this manifests itself on worn Floyd Roses so it isn't a string locking issue necessarily.

FWIW, I had this on a Wudtone as well. I flagged it to Andy who instantly told me I didn't know what I was doing setting it up (despite being a guitar tech for some time - and following his instructions)... I never did resolve it, and got so fed up with it (and him) that I sold it.