Wilkinson Tremelo installation

[moobox]

Hello everbod. I bought a Stratocaster body from Warmoth and against Cagey's sound advice, I got an unfinshed one and did it myself (with a little help). And then I also bought a Wilkinson Tremelo. And now somebody gotto point me to some instructions because it looks to me like this thig has got to hang in mid air. Or what?

Cheers - Ed

btw i'll post pics of the body in the diy finishing

 

[Cagey]

The only things that hold most two-point fulcrum bridges like Wilkinsons, Floyds, PRS, Fender, Gotoh, etc. in place are spring and string tension. So, without those two things, yeah. It sorta just lays there and will fall off if you turn the guitar face down.

I went looking for a formal set of installation instructions and didn't have any luck. But, there's not much to it. Installation involves pressing in the two stud bushings and threading in the studs, screwing in the claw, put the bridge in place, install the springs, then string 'er up. After that, it's all setup.

 

[Steve_Karl]

And to add to Cagey's tutorial ... a little block of wood helps a lot when stringing it up and setting spring tension.

Cut a slightly V shaped block that's about 1'2" to 3/4" or so long, so that you can slide it between the trem block and the body (in the back cavity) behind the block (towards the butt end) to get the whole thing level with the body.

Put your low e and high e on and slightly tighten them just enough to support the weight of the trem.
Insert the block and check your level against the body face as you tighten a bit more.

String it all up and tune to pitch and hand stretch them a bit. Retune.
Now install your springs and tighten until the block drops out.
Tweak the springs so that it stays in tune after diving or pulling up.

 

[moobox]

OK folks thanks. So I put my hardware away. Why? Because I dont have a neck on the guitar yet. Why? Because the neck aint finished yet. Finished as in painted. And I'm still toiling with ideas to do this. Whether I should take the spraygun with some 2K to it or do the Tru-oil thing. We'll see.

But anyway, does that mean that with a Wilkinson trem you cant leave your guitar unstrung at any time?

Cheers - Ed

 

[Steve_Karl]

If you're going to be unstrung for a while I've seen it suggested to relax / loosen the truss rod to where it is not applying tension.

 

[Cagey]

...does that mean that with a Wilkinson trem you cant leave your guitar unstrung at any time?

No, not at all. But, it's possible that without the counter-balancing tension of the strings that the springs will fall out of their moorings. It doesn't happen often (more frequently with 5 spring setups where the initial tension is lower) and it's not the end of the world if they do. Usually a single string's tension is enough to keep the thing in place. I wouldn't worry about it.