Wilkinson VS100 Baseplate

jaymenon

Does anyone have a dismantled VS100 that you could take a photograph of for me please?

Specifically the baseplate please - and whether it has slits or holes for the stringa to come through. I’m wondering if a trem block could be designed such that the strings don’t touch the surface of rhe base plate and go straight to the saddles...

Funkfingers

I have one of the original Wilkinson USA Pat .Pend. versions with the stupid locking off mechanism. 

The strings pass through the sustain block and the underside of the base plate through circular holes. On the upper surface of the base plate, a tapered channel has been machined away towards the nut. This allows the strings to pass directly to the saddles, unencumbered by metal edges or any other friction points.

This contrasts with the WVS 50 II K which only has circular holes on the upper surface of the base plate. 

I cannot vouch for any of the other versions of the Wilkinson VS design between these two extremes of the price range.

jaymenon

Thanks Funkfingers
So undersurface: round hole
Top surface: sort of bevelled

So even if the string does not encounter any contact with the superior (machined away) surface of the baseplate, it will contact the edge of the round lower hole, bend at an angle there, and then make its way towards the saddle...
Would that be correct?

So the Gotoh FST mechanism would be superior, at least in terms of eliminating that point of contact...
[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/TjJOewp.jpg)
[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/IghK97t.jpg)
[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/mk6517w.jpg)

ICBM

Why does it matter? The string doesn't move at any point of contact even if there is one.

jaymenon

The string does move John - at the angle where it exits the top of the base plate (usually a sharp 45* angle, and on some baseplates a 'radiused' curve).

I've noticed this phenomenon with pretty much every strat style tremolo I've played (Wudtone, Wilkinson VS100, Fender, Callaham etc)
- tune strings
- depress trem arm - comes back in tune
- Bend a string by 2 or 3 semitones (particularly the G and B strings)
- the previously bent strings come back flat
- depress trem arm - strings sharpen and come back in tune again

That's fine if you remember to quickly depress the arm after every string bend - and the tuning is functional again.

The Gotoh 510 with the FST feature - on the same guitar / neck greatly reduces this phenomenon to a degree that the guitar still sounds 'in tune' after bending strings (to my ears anyway, on a tuner they read as very slightly flat).

The Non-Fine Tuner Floyd Rose pretty much eliminates it - stays in tune beautifully.

All with the same neck / nut / tuning machines.

John Suhr has also come up with a new bridge with locking saddles (currently on the Pete Thorn prototype guitar)

Funkfingers

The Gotoh FST cross sectional diagram illustrates chamfering in both the baseplate and the sustain block. 

The early Wilkinson VS100 only has the chamfer in the baseplate. Hence, the string path begins perpendicular to the to the neck and turns through a sharper angle towards the saddle.

https://i.imgur.com/WA3poqd.jpg?1

The white area down the sustain block hole for the low E string is light.