Gotta start with a retraction of an earllier posting I made after installing my GFS tremelo. I was pretty darned happy with the 40 dollar trem I'd gotten from GFS. I mean, it sounded great. Stainless steel saddles, steel plate and a solid steel sustain block. Had to be steel cuz a magnet would stick to it. The bar didn't wiggle around (SNAP) like the stock Fender arm did (SNAP), and the tone was night (SNAP) and day better than the Fender. I was in (SNAP) love with the thing (SNAP). Oh, by the way, that snapping sound is my string snapping every (SNAP) other day!!! And I'm just a home player who goes out and jams in local bars a little.

I tried sanding the saddles smoother but kept on snapping strings. And I almost never bend past a whole step. Dang. Anyway, couldn't fix it.

I put on some Graph (SUK) Tech String Savers on it. Forty bucks, and they (SUK) fixed the breakage problem (SUK). By the way, the "sukking" sound you hear is the tone leaving my strat, thanks to the string savers. I know some guys like them, but I mean to tell you the kill the jangle and the magic of a Stratocaster. Sounded like I turned the tone knob halfway down. So I returned the damn things.

Now, I just put on a Wilkinson Gotoh tremelo. Strings are NOT breaking, and my tone is BACK!!! Arm does not wiggle. It happens that the sustain block is not steel, as a magnet will not stick to it. I'm told they're zinc, and there was a discussion on this forum as to whether that's a problem. I'm of the opinion that it's not. For one tthing, the total weight of the Wilkinson is slightly greater than the GFS, while the sustain block is actually a little smaller than the block on the GFS. That tells me that it has plenty of mass in the plate and the saddles. Bottom line: it's a nice design and sounds great.

I decided to "float" the trem and it's staying in tune extremely well. I used the Carl Verheyen method for adjusting it (that I learned about on this forum). Here it is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZnQt9yiBMg

I can't speak to whether the new trem or Carl's method or both are the reason why I'm staying in tune so well, but I don't care. Now I have a floating trem, great tone, I'm staying in tune, and my strings aren't breakin'.

That's nice to hear. I'm getting a friends old squier soon and was hoping to put the 5+1 Wilkinson bridge on it (I'm guessing it has the 5 oval screw holes to enable it to fit on standard and non standard screw spacings...?)

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72 Custom Tele
50's Strat
Sqiuer Classic Vibe 50's P bass
Blues Junior
DG acoustic
Sparkly Thong

Hey thats cool, I have heard those wilkinson bridges are great!
congrats !

My wilkinson has a steel block. great trem either way i suppose. I got graphtec saddles here that are about to hit the bin. That stuff is ok for nuts because more than half of what you play is fretted so the nut has no impact. Saddles are active in every note.

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No no and no