well since i built up the 85 mij 50's reis it's been giving me some bother , i've tweeked it endlesly and followed a few things niki has been posting but no luck , it still go's out of tune with some heavy whammy use , today i messed about some more still the same probs then i remembered i had a wilkinson big block trem , so i stuck it on and after a wee setup , the bugger is holding tune now theres a surprise .
my 89 mij std got a steel block fitted ages ago and the tuning is super stable on that (never had much bother with it anyway ) so i just thought i'd give the wilkinson unit a try and well the result is excellent . i don't know wether to leave it on or get a block made for the original japanese block , i'll have a think about it , also with the mij block on, string tension was always high , now with the new block, setup the sameas it was before , the strings are much lighter feeling , which was a surprise cheers
Alan

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Do you have a link, or pics of the one that you installed? Did you change only the block, or the whole assembly?

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

a couple of pics , it doesn't look to bad at all i think shimmilou , i replaced the whole assembly and here's a link scroll down to the wvp6 , it's the eleventh one down http://www.axesrus.com/axehardware.htm




cheers
Alan

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Looks great! Thanks

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

thanks mate , i've been giving it some heavey abuse and it's working just fine , i might just leave the unit in the guitar i know it's not the look of the vintage unit , but it works cheers
Alan

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well after playing the strat with the wilkinson bridge unit using 9's and tuned down half a step , the strings were just too slack for my liking , so this morning i stripped of the 9's and bridge unit and had a look at the original bridge plate. And i could see where some strings had created a grove on the top of the plate , so i drilled out the holes to make them wider and fitted it all back in with 5 springs and a set of 10's and everything appears to be fine a much better feel when tuned down the half step .I do love using this guitar for playing hendrix songs on , it must be the 7.25 neck radius it just feels perfect . so from now on the 85 mij strat is being fitted this way and i'll leave the other 2 strats with 9's on them for standard tuning cheers
Alan

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Glad you're getting the trem issue sorted Alan. Agree with you 9's are way too light for tuning down to Eb, too loose feeling. 10's definitely the way to go there i think. I did something similar in the past when i had a Les Paul custom and i used to use 9's on everything, but they were way too slack on the LP 'cos of the shorter scale length, i had to go up a guage with that guitar to make the action feel similar to my strat with 9's on it.

Don't have that guitar anymore i sold it. Eye popper of a sunburst LP custom with SD pickups 57's.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

hi gary , yees i'm glad it's sorted out as well , the only thing it needs now is a paint job whenever it decides to get warm up here again , i picked this up from the bro in law , in bits and he had sanded down the back ,and some of the front , so i finished sanding down both sides and gave it a going over with the paint , but that was the last warm day we had here last year so i never got it really finished , that'll be happening this year now , i might sand it right down again and go for nitro , i'll see what happens . Also i know what you mean about the gibby scale length and 9's , i tried it with the epi sg and sheraton , both were back to 10's straight away , cheers
Alan

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Hey Alan, Yeah as soon as i tries the 9's on a LP it just didn't work for me, the action felt to flimsy and not enough resistance, not to mention if you wanted to detune for a song or two, the strings would be like rubber bands as soon as i tried that; the 10's went on the LP just to feel equal to the resistance on the strat. The Gibson scale length make a big difference for string guages and when you compare the same guage on a Fender the difference is very noticeable.

I had one of those Sheraton's too, i got it from Sound Control in Jamaica street, it was good and i liked it but it got sold or traded as well. never get rid of any guitars you buy or acquire you always regret it years down the line even tho' you think you won't.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.