Fender Am Std bridge fit Wilkinson recessed route?

[WindsurfMaui]

I admit I'm not very knowledgeable on Trem systems. I own a Warmoth Tele and a couple of Strat's one a hard tail and the other I have the Tremolo blocked.  So I never paid much attention to tremolo systems. Now I am considering buying a Solotist  for a new build and putting a Fender American Tremolo bridge on it.  There is an in stock Soloist that has already been cut for a Wilkinson recessed bridge. So my questions are. Will the Fender American tremolo fit this recessed Wilkerson route? Is there any advantage to the recessed route for a Fender tremolo? Why is it that the Wilkinson is the only bridge offered the recessed route? So is there an advantage to this pre cut recessed Wilkinson route or should I pass it up for another in stock body?

 

[stratamania]

I assume you mean a two post Fender American tremolo, versus the 6 screw.

The Wilkinson rout is bigger. So it would look probably unsightly. Use a Wilkinson bridge for that rout.

A recessed rout, allows the bridge to sit lower and also for you to be able to pull upwards in pitch in addition to down.

Of course you could take the plunge into Trem nirvana...http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=29468.0

 

[Cagey]

Recessing bridges has to do with picking/strumming hand comfort. In the case of vibrato bridges, it sometimes has to do with sharping range.

For comfort's sake, some players like the bridge to sit lower in the body. For example, "Tune-O-Matics" sit so tall that you have to angle the neck to get the strings anywhere near the fretboard. If you drop the bridge down into the body a bit, you can straighten out the neck and your picking/strumming hand sits closer to the body while playing. No advantage one way or the other, it's a personal preference thing.

For range's sake, the recess sometimes allows for greater stretching of the strings, which means you can sharp them to a greater degree. Given enough room, you can pull up on the operator to gain as much as a step and a half.

Some bridges of both types are designed naturally flat, so recessing becomes either unnecessary or impractical.

There's very little difference in height (or form/function) between a modern Fender and a Wilkinson VS-100, so why recess one and not the other? Tough call. Neither needs it. If it was me, and I'd found a body I wanted that was cut for a Wilkie, I'd just buy a Wilkie. They cost a little more, but they also have better operators. It's a close call, but in the long run, you'd probably be happier.