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Callaham or Wilkinson tremolo system, what do you guys recommend or prefer..

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Gravityfield

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This is the last piece of the puzzle before I order my strat.
Is there any difference in tone or sustain between the Callaham or Wilkinson bridge?

    I've also read alot of diffferent opinions about various companies that manufacture Wilkinson tremolos and have noticed a huge price discrepency from sellers of Wilkinsons. It seems they can range anywhere from $80 to $200 for the same model.
I'd assume the ones sold at Warmoth are legit.

Thanks for all comments, but I'm really interested in a tone/sustainl comparison of the two.
 
depends on which Wilky you are after... the VS100 is a completely different system compared to the Callaham...
The callaham has a great reputation, especially if you want to go vintage style,  but I have really good experiences with the (Gotoh) VS100... I like them floating and recessed :) a great alternative for me for a Floyd rose.
 
Marko said:
depends on which Wilky you are after... the VS100 is a completely different system compared to the Callaham...
The callaham has a great reputation, especially if you want to go vintage style,  but I have really good experiences with the (Gotoh) VS100... I like them floating and recessed :) a great alternative for me for a Floyd rose.
Click to expand...

+1  :icon_thumright:
 
Gravityfield said:
This is the last piece of the puzzle before I order my strat.
Is there any difference in tone or sustain between the Callaham or Wilkinson bridge?

   I've also read alot of diffferent opinions about various companies that manufacture Wilkinson tremolos and have noticed a huge price discrepency from sellers of Wilkinsons. It seems they can range anywhere from $80 to $200 for the same model.
I'd assume the ones sold at Warmoth are legit.

Thanks for all comments, but I'm really interested in a tone/sustainl comparison of the two.
Click to expand...

If it's tone you're looking for in a whammy, pretty much anything but those *stamped saddles* (found on vintage-type Fender 6-hole trems, Callaham, etc) is gonna give you a thin, pingy treble.  Stamped saddles produce that famous Strat "crang" on the hi-end of the tone.

Sustain... can't really say much there and I'd doubt there'd be much *noticeable* difference 'tween any of them because of the bolt-on factor.

I have the full Callaham vintage 6-hole trem (lefty!) as well as the Callaham refit kit for the Am Std Strat Trem (stamped saddles, etc) and both produce that "crang" in spades.  Every other trem I've had in 26+ years of playing pales in comparison tone-wise.
 
Thanks much for comments. I should have said that this is guitar is a hum-sing-sing configuratioon so "vintage" tone isn't much of a requirement.
Thanks, none the less though.
 
Gravityfield said:
Thanks much for comments. I should have said that this is guitar is a hum-sing-sing configuratioon so "vintage" tone isn't much of a requirement.
Thanks, none the less though.
Click to expand...

Just for the record, I never mentioned anything about vintage *tone* - the only usage of *vintage* in my explanation was in essence *vintage-style trems/vintage-style stamped saddles*

As far as humbuckers, I have a SD Seth Lover (bridge) mated to my Am Std Strat (warmoth neck) with the Callaham block, saddles and bar fitted to the Am Std Strat trem,
and it gets a phenomenal tone... fat, clangy & crunchy.  I'm not one of those "brown sound" chasers, but it is eerily "Eddie-esque":

That70sCaster2.jpg
 
I have the callaham bridge in a strat, and would get another any day. Sounds better than any other tremolo bridge I've tried.
 
I can't testify to any of the sound qualities of the Callaham, but I have certainly heard nothing but positive comments.
What I can talk about is their customer service.  They are a great friendly bunch of folks...  :headbang1:

I am getting a ABR-1 bridge for them currently for my firebuild. 
I originally purchased a Tone Pros Tune-o-Matic bridge from Warmoth.  I had Warmoth drill the stud holes. 
Later, I decided that I wanted to use the Callaham ABR-1 bridge.  Unfortunately, the Callaham takes a different size stud. 
I wrote the folks at Callaham to ask about making custom studs for their bridge...  No problem!
I sent the sample Tone Pros stud to them priority mail this past Saturday. 
Wednesday morning I got a call from Bill Callaham checking to make sure that I did not need the saddles to be notched.
It specifically states in their instructions to notify them if the saddles need to be notched.  Bill took the time to double check incase I forgot.
I just thought that was really cool of him to call and make sure I did not screw up.  The new bridge shipped out Wednesday morning.
Very Impressive  :hello2: :hello2: :hello2:

 
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