ESP Ltd ST213 tremolo replacement options

spev11

I've got a lovely (to me anway) ST213, its great but the trem is a cheap one with the screw in arm , its floppy and annoying ( i dont wiggle it a lot but its there for when i do ). Its string spacing is 10.8mm by my measurement but the distance between the outside securing screws is 52.4mm (or 2 1/8th " ) . I have a space wilkinson WPV6 with 10.8mm spacing but the elongated holes are 54/56mm so it does'nt quite fit. Should i fill and drill and drop the WPV6 in or go looking for a good quality trem with a push fit arm ( I quite like the modern saddles on the WPV6 as well, I like the whole thing really, the lip is nice under the hand).

ICBM

You'd be better off fitting a top quality 52.5mm bridge than filling and redrilling, which is very difficult to make really right, especially if the new holes overlap the old ones.

Edit - no, scrub that, it has 56mm screw spacing even though 52.5mm string spacing. That's a good thing I noticed that, I was thinking of getting one for my Aria...

spev11

Cheers ICBM

CasperCaster

From your metric measurement any good replacement for Fender Mexican Standard trem would work (which I think is 2-1/16" rather than 2-1/8").

My preference is the ABM 5050M. Not cheap, but at least as good as Callaham but actually less expensive. 

ICBM

Sorry, I checked the drawing for that Gotoh again and it has the wrong screw spacing.

spev11

ICBM said:

Sorry, I checked the drawing for that Gotoh again and it has the wrong screw spacing.

I know, I just checked, theres a Babicz one that looks right and a Wilkinson Deluxe but I dont know what the quality is like. I'll keep searching

spev11

Found this on Amazon of all places (i'm really not a fan). Its a brand called Alnicov, really nicely made, heavy brass block with push in 5mm arm, has 52.4mm hole spacing and its lipped. I'll  get it fitted tonight and see how it goes. Looks the part though.
Cheers for the help everyone

ICBM

spev11 said:

Found this on Amazon of all places (i'm really not a fan). Its a brand called Alnicov, really nicely made, heavy brass block with push in 5mm arm, has 52.4mm hole spacing and its lipped. I'll  get it fitted tonight and see how it goes. Looks the part though.

That looks like a repro of the PRS bridge - in which case it should be pretty nice.

spev11

ICBM said:

spev11 said:

Found this on Amazon of all places (i'm really not a fan). Its a brand called Alnicov, really nicely made, heavy brass block with push in 5mm arm, has 52.4mm hole spacing and its lipped. I'll  get it fitted tonight and see how it goes. Looks the part though.

That looks like a repro of the PRS bridge - in which case it should be pretty nice.

I did think it looked similar but i've not seen a PRS in the flesh. Either way, it fits, the arm fits nicely with no play, i run the bridge flat and dive only with 3 springs to make it stiff, I may set it to float a little in the future. For know I'll stick with what I know and just sort string height and intonation. Seems pretty good quality though, nice and beefy feeling.

ThePrettyDamned

Looks like a nice piece of kit, review please! 

spev11

ThePrettyDamned said:

Looks like a nice piece of kit, review please! 

So far I'm very pleased. The plate is very well finished as are the saddles, trem block is huge, solid brass  you'll need a full thickness body to accommodate it. Trem arm was a little high so I bent it lower, its a snug fit and the tension is easy to increase, unlike the wilkinson trem the Allen bolt is above the cavity. It's currently set up with minimal float ( very little lift,  maybe a little under a semitone) , I may even deck it as I'm not a huge user of the bar.I'll update once I've played it a bit more but so far it's very good.