Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

[Xeromus]

I'm probably going to build a rockin' strat sometime in the next few months. I was originally going to do a hardtail. But I love yanking the **** out of my notes and harmonics every so often. So, tell me what you guys think, I'm aware of the pros and cons of each

floyd pros: super stable once set up, stays in tune, very expressive

cons: huge pain in the ass to set up and tune

wilkie pros: easy to set up, and tune, smooth action

cons: not as expressive as a floyd, not as tuning stable either.

Which do you think is the better way to go?

Keep in mind I don't use it all the time, but I feel it's a nice thing to have.

 

[sosomething]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Well, I voted for the Wilkinson, but I have to take issue with some of your pros and cons.

First, a Wilkinson trem can be every bit as stable as a Floyd if it's set up properly and coupled with a graphtech (or similar) nut and locking tuners. I've owned several strats with this set-up and believe me, it's not going out of tune for any reason other than a string stretching, and that can happen just as easily on a Floyd.

Second, the level of expressiveness depends on the rest of the guitar to an extent. If the Wilkinson is set up to float instead of flush against the guitar body, or if there is an uprout in the body underneath the trem, you can pull up on it just as you would your typical floyd.

I also feel that the Wilkinson is a better-sounding unit than any Floyd Rose, in part because of the denser, more compact nature of the hardware and also because the strings are strung through a solid block like a traditional trem and not pinched between two little pieces of metal and held in by a thumb screw. Floyds always sound "sproingy" to me.

MHO, YMMV and all that. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Well, I voted for the Wilkinson, but I have to take issue with some of your pros and cons.

First, a Wilkinson trem can be every bit as stable as a Floyd if it's set up properly and coupled with a graphtech (or similar) nut and locking tuners. I've owned several strats with this set-up and believe me, it's not going out of tune for any reason other than a string stretching, and that can happen just as easily on a Floyd.

Second, the level of expressiveness depends on the rest of the guitar to an extent. If the Wilkinson is set up to float instead of flush against the guitar body, or if there is an uprout in the body underneath the trem, you can pull up on it just as you would your typical floyd.

I also feel that the Wilkinson is a better-sounding unit than any Floyd Rose, in part because of the denser, more compact nature of the hardware and also because the strings are strung through a solid block like a traditional trem and not pinched between two little pieces of metal and held in by a thumb screw. Floyds always sound "sproingy" to me.

MHO, YMMV and all that. Good luck and have fun!

no it's cool, that's exactly why I started this thread, I want to get input like this. I'm kind of leaning toward a Wilkinson myself.

 

[sosomething]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

no it's cool, that's exactly why I started this thread, I want to get input like this. I'm kind of leaning toward a Wilkinson myself.

Another good option is the trem I chose for my Warmoth project. I went with the Hipshot contoured trem:

http://www.hipshotproducts.com/guitar_bridges.htm

I like it because it has a much cleaner, low-profile look over the Wilkinson, and the way they have it rest against the bridge posts has serious advantages over the typical knife edge system.

Plus, a no-wobble arm. I hate hate HATE the wobbly "play" in the arm of most trems. I'm using it with a graphtech nut and Schaller locking tuners for a rock-solid setup with no headaches!

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

i'm now a hardtail guy and am slowly selling all my trem equipped guitars asside from one strat which has the trem locked down anyway lol...i'm sick of dealing with trems...so hardtail is still my vote but if you must go with a trem go with the hipshot as mentioned above! i think i may also sell my red tele and build a mahogany strat like you are...i want a thick sounding strat and string through/mahogany is the only way to get that IMO.

-Mike

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Bah trends....
Block this and block that, hardtails blah blah.
Anyways if you want to go bananas on the trem nothing beats a Floyd at all.
Preferable with forward motion only, no floating.

 

[MikeRocker]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

I voted Wilkinson, but only 'cause Callaham isn't an option. If you really wanna go nuts get the Floyd, but what a pain to bring a tool kit with you wherever you go. With a traditional vibrato and locking tuners (or even non-locking), you can have a broken string fixed in less than 30 seconds. The other thing to think about is this....when you look back over the history of the electric guitar, specifically at all the timeless classic models, none that have Floyds or Kahlers come to mind (unless they were played personally by Eddie Van Halen). This statement is not ment to offend anybody, but think about it:
-Stratocaster
-Telecaster (or any classic Fender)
-Les Paul
-ES-335
-SG (or any Gibson)
-Various Gretsches
-Various Rickenbackers
-Various Danelectros
All these guitars have 4 things in common - 1)most (if not all) originated over 50 years ago, 2)all can be purchased as new models with very minor changes today, 3)all above mentioned guitars can be played live or in the studio and sound and look timeless, 4)and none have Floyds. To me, a Floyd seems to date a guitar to the 80s and limit it to the hard rock/heavy metal genres. It's hard for me to picture a lot of classic guitars in 25 or 50 years with Floyd Roses on them, but I'd bet the rent that a good Strat or Les Paul will still be a classic then.
Please, nobody get offended, everybody should play whatever they like, and I'm sure some of you Floyd lovers would dislike some of my guitars. I just think for classic tone/look/value retention you should stick with classic parts. And hey, Jeff Beck manages to go pretty nuts with his 2-post Strat vibrato!
Again, no offense intended, just my point of view.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Well I use my Floyd guitars for alot other stuff than 80's music.
It is not all of us who rooted so deep in "traditional" guitars, timeless my bare
The strat alone has so many variations and alot of those has floyds, besides the floyd is not 50 years yet, but it has been around for more than 20 years now...it is still not gone!

 

[some_dude]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

4)and none have Floyds.

Strat's, SG's, and Les Pauls have been sold with factory equipped Floyds. I'm sure some of the others have as well....

 

[kherman]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Another thought is going with a Roller Nut with what ever trem you decide on
if you don't want the hassle of a locking nut or worry about binding in a conventional nut.

Also, there is the Floyd Speed Loader now. But, does require special strings the same way the Stienberger Trans-Trem had to.

Just some thoughts.

OH, and I do feel the Ibanez Jem/RG , ESP Horizon /MII, Jackson Soloist/Dinky, Carvin DC models are classics. All have been around for over 20 years now. Are still being made. Have Floyd style trems.

The Super Strat may have gotten buried for a while with this whole Retro vibe thing that went on in the 90's to present. But, they weren't dead, and over the last few years have been making a very strong comeback.
Ibanez almost dropped the RG series all together in the late 90's. But, there was a strong demand by the consumer for their return. Today, there's like a dozen variations of it in thier product lineup again.

I also, feel a properly setup and maintained Floyd is not a hassle.
If you know the little tricks and techniques, it doesn't take long to change a string, or set of strings.

Kent

 

[MikeRocker]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

I agree with the previous points, but when you look at the real classics of all those models, the kind that inspire drooling ('54 Strats, '59 Les Pauls, etc.), none have Floyds. And to most classic guitar fans, Kramers, Ibanezes, Jacksons etc. just aren't in the same league as those old 50s and 60s guitars. I'm sure that there are quality guitars with Floyds and lots of great music which is not 80s-style hard rock being played on those guitars, but in my opinion, those guitars will never be in the upper pantheon of classic guitars. But then again, I'm kind of a traditionalist....I believe that Leo Fender and Les Paul pretty much got it right. That's part of what appeals to me so much about the Seymour Duncan company, from the top down (The Man himself), they have a reverence for classic guitar technology. Part of the beauty of being a guitar player is that you can play a great 50 year old guitar through a great 50 year old tube amp and it still sounds beautiful. The poor synth players have to buy a new one every couple of years as technology changes. If Floyd Roses are your thing, all power to you, I just voted and expressed my opinion based on my partisan traditionalist bias!

 

[kherman]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Strat's, SG's, and Les Pauls have been sold with factory equipped Floyds. I'm sure some of the others have as well....

The new Neal Schon LP model will be Floyd equipped.
Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Mike, nothing wrong with liking traditional.
There are many out there that are set on one type or style of guitar.
I was at one time. For me it was neck thru, 2 hums, 24 frets, floyd rose, ebony board superstrats or nothing. Still my main choice.
But, I've been adding Lp styles to my collection as of late. Eventually I want to add some PRS styles to the collection, like the Carvin CT or Dean Hardtail.
Starting to branch out.
I think many are doing this. Adding more than one style of guitar to their arsonal.
Variaty is the spice of life.

Kent

 

[MikeS]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Properly set up, the Wilk is every bit as stable as the Floyd, IMO. If you don't use the trem for massive dive bombs then a Wilk with locking tuners and either a roller nut or a graphite nut should serve you very well and is much easier to restring and tune (I know you avid Floyd users compulsively argue that the Floyds aren't difficult once you get the hang of it, but fact still remains that it takes much much longer to restring and set up a Floyd equipped axe than it does a more traditional tremolo design with locking tuners).

That said, as stable as the Wilk generally is, I wouldn't likely use it for much more than 1 note dips and tremolo. Dive bombs likely will throw you a bit out of tune, even with a graphite nut and locking tuners. For that, I'd definatly go with a Floyd. Si, it all depends on what you want to do with your tremolo, IMO.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

I should probably add that I'm a prog rocker. Vai, Satriani, Dream Theater kinda stuff. It's what I study along with jazz guitar and composition at college.

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

I prefer the wilkinson. I have one on my Brian Moore and it is very stable.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

The new Neal Schon LP model will be Floyd equipped.

I'm buying one of those and I don't give a fu*k what I have to sell of mine to get one. You got anymore info on them?

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

I voted for the Wilkinson because I agree with everything "sosomething" said, plus Floyds are just plain ugly. They may be functional, they may work great for you, they may even look beautiful to you, but the Wilkinson does everything I need. The adjustable nylon bushing on the tremelo arm is a big plus, and so are the saddles that lock down once you have the intonation set properly.

All that said, Hipshot makes some beautiful and functional products. I really want to see and play one of those new tremelo bridges. The ball bearing approach to the pivot makes tons of sense provided that it stays stable.

YMMV, IJAOOF (I'm just an opinionated old fart), etc.

Chip

 

[Arkitkt]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Where's the option "Fender 2-post trem"??

Never liked the Floyd, just doesn't feel (and look) right.
The Wilkinson is OK, but I still think a Fender trem, properly set up, is just as good. (Either vintage or 2-post). But then again, I quit doing dive bombs in the late 80's. :smoker:

Ol' Leo Fender just knew what he was doing.

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

For your style, I'd go Floyd for its stability. You'll want it floating if you want an axe that can do all the radical tricks.

 

[Farkus]

Re: Wilkinson or Floyd Rose?

Where's the option "Fender 2-post trem"??

Yep. The AS trem works just great for me. I have to admit though, I'm considering getting a Callaham steel block for one of my MIA strats. I've heard so much about them, I've just got to see if they make that much of a difference. I think I'll go with the Callaham vintage trem for my Strat project that uses a Malmsteen body (vintage trem was stock).

FWIW, I HATE Floyd trems. At the same time, for your playing style, I wouldn't feel comfortable at all telling you to get a Wilky or Fender 2 point trem, no matter what nut and tuners you're using. DT and Satch stuff just has too much trem play. So unless you want to be re-tuning after each dive bomb, get the Floyd.

Mark