Help a beginner out, will you? part 2 (the bridge & tuners)

[poppijoni]

Hey guys!

I've been saving money for more than a year or so and I think it's about time I finally got the guitar I've dreamed of. The problem is, though, that there are so many things I don't have experience about this being my very first customized guitar. I want to do it RIGHT the first time so I came here looking for help.

I have many things figured out already but there are a few things I'm still not sure about. One thing is the neck and I've already made a topic of it. The other big thingy is the bridge - 'cause I wanna have a tremolo bar in a LPS guitar!  :doh:

Okay, that doesn't sound too bad but the problem is that I'm not really sure what parts shoud I use. I've heard a lot of good things about Wilkinson tremolo but I think that the look of the guitar is also very important and I'm not sure if VS100 is really the thing for this particular guitar. Then I heard about Wilkinson VSV (wich sadly can't be ordered via Warmoth) and I though "well that's pretty cool!" ... but I'm not sure if VSV fits the "hole" if I choose "Wilkinson tremolo" in the body builder (sorry for the bad English, I hope you can understand what I mean). Do you know about this? Are all Wilkinson tremolos the same size?
The other option would be The Vintage 6 hole tremolo from Gotoh (I'm aware that Wilkinson, too, is from Gotoh) but I'm not sure if it's any good. Is the bar screwable or do you just press it in? Does it stay in tune?
Any other good options? I'm looking for a really good bridge here, I don't want to buy a new one every two years or tune my guitar every two minutes. It should be gold/bronze/copper/rusty -coloured... Kind of a vintage vibe perhaps.

Oh, and the tuners. It's going to have a standard Les Paul neck. What kind of tuners should I get? I've never used "lockable tuners", is there a trick to using them because I want to be able to change my strings and tunings just like that and not with a screwdriver. Right now I'm thinking about getting just the basic grover tuners, I've heard good things about them... Just wish they hold the tune when I use the bar...

Thank you in advance!

 

[Ace Flibble]

I cna't comment ont he bridge, but I use locking tuners on all of my guitars. There's no "trick" to using them, there's just a little wheel on the back of the tuner that you tighten to lock the string in place. You just turn it with your hand. So all you do is unscrew the wheel (which opens the tuner peg), put the end of the string through the tuner, pull it as tight as you can and then screw the wheel in again. If you get the Planet Waves tuners then you don't even need to cut off the excess string afterwards, they even trim the end of the string for you.

I've used both the mini locking tuners that Warmoth sells and the Planet Waves ones (as well as ESP and Fender brand locking tuners and Steinberger locking banjo tuners) and my favourites are the Planet Waves. I first had a guitar with Planet Waves Trim Lock tuners three years ago and in that time that guitar has never gone out of tune while playing.

However, if you're going to use a vibrato bridge then make sure you get a graphite, TUSQ or roller nut. Even with a great bridge and great locking tuners, the guitar can still go out of tune if the strings bind in the nut. Graph Tech make a lot of great products that help keep vibrato bridges in tune including bridge saddles, string nuts and string retainer bars. Warmoth also offer TUSQ nuts that will help a lot.

 

[tfarny]

If you order the body with the 6-hole vintage trem route, you can use either the Gotoh one that warmoth sells, a more expensive but higher quality one from callaham guitars, or the Wilkinson one with 6 holes that stew mac sells. They all fit, and they all do the job. The Gotoh one is perfectly decent quality, the more expensive ones are a bit higher quality of course.
Warmoth's "Wilkinson route" fits the 2-hole wilkinson trem that they sell, My own feeling is that if you're a heavy trem user you ought to get the two-hole type and don't worry about the looks. If you are not a heavy trem user, the 6-hole one supposedly offers better tone.

 

[poppijoni]

Thank's a lot both of you! Do you happen to know if Wilkinson VSV (link) need the "Wilkinson route"? Right now I think it's my best choice.