Hi!
I'm new here and firstly, want to say hello!
I've been a gibson user for years and I've recently converted to fender. Woo!

I got myself a 1989ish Strat Plus Deluxe. Ash bodied with the Blue, Silver and Red lace sensors.

I found the trem really doesn't hold its tune even after a little wiggle, and the strings stick when tuning up. I tried some dry Teflon lube on the Wilkinson roller nut, and while i was looking closely at it, I found a bit of broken G string lodged in their. So maybe the rollers have been blocked for however many years, and are now worn in spots?

Anyway. I really want this to be a workshorse guitar, so I'm debating getting the LSR roller nut change done, and I also feel like I want to try the wilkinson VS100N trem, since the arm in this trem has a LOT of play in it, again, probably down to age.

Stewmac says the VS100N fits in the american strat, and strat plus guitars without modification, but I think I've read elsewhere that it require some shaving of the trem route.

I wondered if anyone had any personal experience with this?
It plays beautifully with the trem flat to the body and so on, but I'd like the option of getting a bit wiggly on the bar... if you know what i mean!

(PS LOVE this guitar. Don't think I'll be buying another LP any time soon!)

Welcome!

Can you upload and post a few pics?

ha!
I can once I get home from work.

Here you go!
not one for the vintage fans I guess, but I love it.

That hipshot tremsetter is twisted in a way I haven't seen before. The tremsetter on my 97 Strat Plus is straight.

Maybe it's nothing.

Not sure about the experiences of others, but I never had any luck at all with the tremsetter arrangement, no matter how well set up it was - even when it (rarely!) did the job of keeping things in tune, it made the trem feel awful. My Plus had that removed ages ago, replaced it with a standard claw and three springs, stays in tune with no issues. If the nut really does need changing, worth hunting down another Wilkinson unit rather than the LSR - the retrofit looks pretty awful on a maple neck, not to mention the assorted little niggles the LSR brings to the equation.

Certainly try evening up the lengths of those springs, that can't be helping. Plenty of setup guides for the tremsetter to be found online if you want to keep it. The two post Strat trem will be every bit as good as the Wilkinson one, you might find the slack in the arm disappears completely if you hunt down the little spring which should sit in the bottom of the hole which has inevitably wandered off over the years.

Yet you can put a mini floyd rose tremolo and remove the tremsetter if you want better tuning stability.
Those mini floyds are very scarce to find since Fender discontinued the product in 2007.

That stuff in the trem cavity is the original stuff. The previous owner didn't even know there was a tremsetter in there.

One of the first things I did was remove the tremsetter and put in a proper claw (a brass one I had spare) and I put 3 springs in and tightened it up so it's flush with the body.

I dont understand how the spring would help the trem arm. I can see how it might make it rotate less, but the problem is the arm wiggles a hell of a lot up and down, so If I push down, there is a lot of movement of the bar before the trem even starts to come up. The end of the bar is a bit threaded, and I can't tell if the same is true of the insert in the body of the trem.

I have improved the tuning stability but I think it could still be better. What are the drawbacks with the LSR?

Do you think there is anything else I can try with the wilkinson nut?

I thought the wilky trem was a bit more stable since all the saddles bolt down, keeping them in place when string tension is reduced on them?

I'm not saying the Wilkinsons aren't good - they're absolutely fantastic, I love them.

The two post Fender system can be every bit as good though, just needs fettling, so probably more work (and far more expense) dropping the Wilkinson in and getting it settled than just sorting out the perfectly good trem which is already there. Worth popping the bridge off and checking that the knife edges aren't damaged though - it does happen, and dodgy tuning is normally the result.

As for the arm - the spring does take away some of the lateral wobble, but if it's that bad, I'd look into getting a replacement block and arm from somewhere like Callaham - will solve the issue completely, cost less than the Wilkinson unit, and give you a nice tone upgrade at the same time.

You only have to look at Jeff Beck and the sheer amount of abuse he gives his trem to see that the bridge, nut & tuners setup you currently have can be extremely good indeed.

Ah! good point.
I'll check the knife egde. I forgot about that element. I'll check out callaham too. thanks!

I should have a closer look at the nut again. Having the broken bit of string wedged inside it feels like it could be the source of a potential issue.

Anyway. It's going for a setup soon . I'll how it is after a pro takes a look.
The tuning is fine as long as I don't go crazy on the trem. I really like this guitar.

Hey BobPaigeWilliamsIII, I have looked at your thread here many times on my phone. I decided to get on the laptop and just add a little about your bridge. These bridges and the tremsetters work great. Most people that do not like this setup usually comes from not having them set up correctly. When I looked at yours I was in great pain because the whole bridge is out of whack. I wish i could reach out and fix it for you! A tremsetter, when set up properly will look like this:



I need to get you a bigger picture. The picture above has the spring set too tight because the guy I got this guitar from had the bridge flush on top of the body. Someone has tightened your springs crooked and the tremsetter is screwed down way too tight. Trying to get help you correct this by a Forum is pretty hard without a detailed step by step process. I have many Strat Plus guitars that have these in them, and have set up a lot of them myself. There is some good You Tube videos on how to set these up that were created by the guy who invented them. Search for "Hipshot Tremsetter." If you do not want to use your tremolo, just screw the two springs really tight. Or take it to a good tech (many do not know how to set these up BTW.) Here is a PDF link that gives you the step by step process on how to set these up:

https://hipshotproducts.com/files/all/faq44108b515302d.pdf

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