Saddles slide around on Strat Bridgeplate

[arealken]

I ordered a Wudtone Tremolo from England. I have a problem with it in that the Gotoh saddles I bought slide around on the bridge plate , especially the Low E, which does so enough to cause it to go out of tunes. I think it's the Plating, I haven't had these issues with any other Trem ( Callaham, Fender).
Any ideas?

EDIT-

I'm going to try some different saddles screws that came stock on the Gotoh saddles ( although I doubt that's the issue- I have Gotoh saddles on a few of my guitars and there is no issue) , and if that don't work, I'm afraid that it's just one of those disappointing ( and expensive) pieces of kit.

 

[AirCap]

It's not the plating. It's the bottom of the set screws that actually touch the plate.

 

[Cagey]

If I'm looking at the right thing, it seems to be a fairly traditional design with some material upgrades. I wouldn't expect it to stay in tune too reliably because of the design, but certainly not any worse than the lower quality versions of the same thing. Are you sure it's saddle movement that's causing the problem? 6 screw trems are notorious for tuning problems related to not returning to neutral, but it's because of the 6 screw fulcrum, not the saddles.

 

[arealken]

QUOTE- Wudtone HOLY GRAIL

The Wudtone HOLY GRAIL is made from much higher tensile steel. It is around 3 1/2 times as hard as the original plates. Indeed it is the hardest metal we have so far been able to machine with modern tooling. The plate cannot be bent and so has a separate rear bar and this gives it a more modern look, comfy feel underhand. This produces a trem that operates with what we firmly believe is the most dynamic efficiency of any available on the market today.

6



The Wudtone HOLY GRAIL is for any guitarist who wants a trem that will

    deliver a maximised enhancement of dynamic, sustain,
    maximised clean boost, all frequencies
    stay in tune no matter how hard it is used

The Wudtone HOLY GRAIL is available as either a bridge plate upgrade here, or as a complete tremolo assembly here.
Additional features and benefits.
Best of both worlds, trem arm fixing.

block2There is nothing worse than a load of old trem arm slack. This means you have little precise control for neat effects such as chord shimmers. The other problem some guitarists experience is arm breakages when threads are placed at the top of a block. This causes a weak point where there is most stress on the trem arm. Any risk of the trem arm pulling out by accident during some moment of extreme whammy ectasy is also a complete no no.

To solve all these problems, Wudtone employs both a nylon bush and threads in the construction of our 1018 cold steel blocks, to deliver a best of both worlds approach.

A nylon bush is inserted into the top of the block, precise engineered to support a 5mm stainless steel trem arm which eliminates any slack. We use improved 5mm diameter stainless steel for strength and some malleability and have never had a single arm break reported.  The threads below the bush, fix the height and also prevent any accidental pull out with any amount of some extreme whammy action. You can adjust the arm swing tension with more or less turns into the threads.": -END QUOTE

okay.
All well and fine, however I suppose the bridge plate is SO hardened that it is TOO hardened. I installed gotoh saddles, which I have with zero issued on other guitars with different bridge plates, including Gotoh, Callaham, and Fender, but , and here's the rub- The Gotoh bridge saddle screws slide around on the bridge plate, do not dig in, and cause the strings- especially the  Low E, to go outta tune! (the Wudtone does not come with saddles).

I am thinking this is must one of those potentially great pieces of kit, that is just disappointing, AND EXPENSIVE!

 

[Cagey]

Can you see the saddles moving? I suppose it's not impossible, but it seems unlikely. There really isn't anywhere for them to go. Plus, there's a lotta tension on those little rascals.

I'm still stuck on pivot point friction. It's a known and inescapeable problem with that design. It would be unsual if you didn't have tuning problems.

 

[arealken]

Yes, they move. I may have the wrong saddle spacing. I'll try vintage correct saddle for a 2 and 7/32nd bridge, which i belive are 11/32.

 

[Logrinn]

It could also be a combination of things. The saddles moving (sideways I presume - although that should be a very small movement) and the six bridge screws acting as (six) fulcrums and of course the nut and possibly the tuners.
An easy thing to try is to remove four of the bridge screws (2, 3, 4, and 5) and see if that helps. Also make sure that bridge moves freely on the two screws left (1 and 2).
Hope you get it fixed.

 

[stratamania]

Its not an unknown problem on traditional six screw trems for saddles to move from side to side, because there is nothing to make sure the set screws stay in place.

Now it may be with the Wudtone one and the graphtech saddles the problem is just exacerbated. Do you have the original Wudtone saddles, as I would try those if they were designed to go together. Perhaps the graphtechs may be slightly wider also contributing to the problem (I'm speculating here)

Also make sure that each saddle is level and straight not at an angle. You don't need them at an angle to achieve the string radius.

More modern trems often will have grooves for the saddle screws to locate in to prevent any side to side movement.