Its nice to see someone who honestly goes into the a quality and craftsmanship of the product, and not just the marketing hype and overedited sound demo. Yours are some of the only reviews I trust on UA-cam. Keep it up!
Well thanks Ryan. I intentionally tried hard to show it all as an experience that any user might have had and just got on with the fitting etc. Ha who reads instructions :) but overall it was a great experience and the tremolo performed as good as any I have ever used. That trust to me IS important and I've always valued those comments - in fact mentioned a lot by viewers and when they say that for me it's confirmation that the videos really are meaningful to guys who watch them. I can't ask for more! Thanks - its appreciated.
sure, its well made because it is expensive. Couldve told us how well it keeps in tune, which is the reason we are all here. Dive bombs and flutters can be achieved with any system, returning to tune isnt so common...
@@godsinbox I can tell you on my partscaster with tusq nut and radius locking tuners it's absolutely solid and will stay in tune throughout any amount of abuse. Most stable guitar I own now beating even a 2001 PRS Custom24 in terms of tuning stability. Literally never needs tuned. Luv and Peace.
I put one of these on a partscaster I built and I have to say it's my favourite trem ever. It's perfectly stable when paired with a tusq nut and locking machine heads but it's the feel of it that makes it stand out. There is ZERO slop in it whatsoever. It is smooth as silk to use and I can't recommend it enough. It is expensive but it's exquisitely machined and feels like a premium quality product. Luv and Peace.
I’m doing the same thing. Tricked out Partscaster with vintage Lindy Frailen pickups, push/pull blend knob, locking Gotah tuners, etc. Next up is the Tele-Partscaster with vintage Lollar Pickups, 4 way switch, locking Gotahs, etc. The cool thing is no modifications for Strats or Teles! Genius how they use the 6 springs on the Tele Trem!
It’s most likely the greatest tremolo ever designed but for guitar players who don’t use the tremolo much, it’s probably not necessary. Plus, if the tremolo arm gets lost, finding a replacement may be a little inconvenient since it’s not common as the standard Fender tremolo arm. Still an amazing unit though.
Well thank you John those comments are appreciated. Alas I'm not too sure you will find the others out there changing their ways though :) Back in 2009 I started this channel because I watched those others out there and became bored with watching purely sales videos. I always try and show stuff just as the reality of things as I can. And hey thanks for watching - it's always appreciated.
The VT is designed to be slightly smaller than a stock Fender vibrato rout so it can pull up, that’s why it’s doesn’t cover the routing completely. It’s also designed to work with two springs, varying the tension between the springs strength and claw adjustment. It’s a wonderful vibrato bridge! I’ve installed a dozen of them so far, and highly recommended them for a floating Stratocaster type bridge!
Yes, that's true I agree and the float on the unit is excellent. Well, I have fitted many tremolos over the years but this one with my 9's strings seemed a bit more balanced and stable with the two light and the one extra light in the middle. As your comment attests too, they have a very good tremolo unit and of course it makes the everyday standard stuff look bad by far. The improvement to this guitar was a really useful thing and of course once you play one then you notice the feel - and that's unlike the cheap stuff certainly. There's no doubt that it changes the guitar for the better regarding playing too. This tremolo for more extreme effects easily beat the Floyd Rose unit I recently reviewed and it's much easier to set up than the Floyd. I actually tried hard to create a genuine review and did NOT watch anything or anyone before the video was completed purposely, and I think in general my view was the same as any user who has never seen of fitted a VegaTrem before - a real review if you will. Thanks for the post... good to hear your comments and of course for watching.
What's the string spacing please? I have a Squier CV 50s, with narrow 52.5mm string spacing (same as its 6 screws). I assume the Vega screws would fit my guitar because of the slots.
Since you installed dozens, if i have a choice to use 2 point or 4 screws version on a new guitar body, what option would you recommend for stability and sustain?
@@iromanovskyIt really doesn’t make any difference, as they both have the same mounting points essentially. I don’t think that the two additional screws have much to do with anything other than cosmetics…
One advantage of the VegaTrem that is never mentioned: Even on a 22 fret guitar, you can remove the pickguard and access the electronics cavity without killing the strings.
Loosen strings to take tension from neck then use a capo to keep strings in place before removing neck. Easy 🤠 I do it all the time, any trem - doesn't matter.
Hopefully it helps some guys - the little bits of info and warranties etc. I always think are very useful to potential buyers etc. - knowledge is king :) Thanks for watching.
This is a very informative video. The VegaTrem was a bit of a mystery to me, but you did an excellent job of explaining all the details of its design and construction.
Tony you are absolutely BY FAR the most thorough UA-cam reviewer I have ever seen. Earned a subscribe from me! Great Job. I have installed 2 of the Vega Trem's on guitars and Love them!! I don't know how they can improve on the design. Again, Great Job!
Well thank you for your very kind words... and for the sub. I try very hard to show what's in front of me. Usually I'm not far off the same experience that someone might have if they bought one and that to me is a good feature. Thanks again for the sub and of course for watching.
I've watched every single video on this, being nearly $500aud, I wanted to research as much as possible, your video is by far the best, the most important thing (for me) you covered is the bar itself, no one else went into detail, and funnily enough, the bridge I'm replacing is exactly the one you replaced, mine wasn't stripped but it's awful to adjust and there's a tiny amount of annoying play, and most wilkinson have that, thank you very much good sir.
G'day :) just hopefully making you smile... and firstly thanks for the very kind comments about this VegaTrem review. Yes the Wilkinson actually was not for me either and it had to go. I have reviewed many different tremolo units over a number of years (as far back as 2009 or so) and I always try and show everything I can... These are pretty expensive I agree, but fit one and you can forget it really. Great to hear the review helped a little... and if you do buy a VegaTrem do come back and post YOUR opinion too, you're more than welcome. Thanks for watching.
Very good. Impressive how it stayed in tune. Viewers might also want to check out the Trem King. I have one fitted to my old strat. The advantage of it is if you break a string, your guitar stays in tune. Same if you change to a drop tuning, for example.
Hey Tony. Great video and you sold me to purchase a VT1 for one of my Strats. Another company that makes unique tremolo systems is a company called Stetsbar. I have one on a Tele and one on a Les Paul. I have a very subtle trem style and not really a "dive-bomber"... so the Stetsbar trems work well for my style. Staying in tune isn't a problem. I'm really looking forward to installing the VT1. Thanks for such an informative video! Cheers for SW Florida! Billz
I have used a StetsBar on a Telecaster and ultimately removed it because I was not a fan of the shimming of the neck. Some guys wont care, but for me it destroyed the feel of the guitar somehow. On the VT1 its hard to find a 'better' tremolo and amazing how it sticks in those slots :). Ah SW Florida... a great place I've been a few times and will be back in Florida in September :). Thanks for watching.
Well, this trem was ultimately very good. The one I had fitted (A Wilkinson) was problematic on the guitar featured, and I tried very hard to get this Vega tremolo out of its grooves but it stayed solid. Check it all closely and I really thought that I should have bought something like the Vega Trem when I built the guitar. It just shows that the low cost stuff (Wilkinson in this case) was not really the best choice for the longevity of the guitar. Anyway, I hope it helps a bit... and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial It did help - thanks a mil Tony. They're expensive and tests like yours (honest, warts and all) make a massive impact. How did you find the sustain? Reason I ask is the trem block seems quite small. I have the same Wilkinson bridge on a Strat I built, but in my case using a Warmoth neck. Its complete garbage and £30 down the crapper. One thing that I've found in my 30+ years of playing is that the bridge is one of the most important parts of a guitar. I'll never make the mistake of cheaping out again on that critical part of a guitar again.
That’s a lovely guitar and a kick ass shirt, brother. Great video, I’m thinking about ordering one when I got some pocket money, but I got to take my girl on vacation first, haha
The only concern I have and the reason I went with the Floyd Rose "Rail Tail" is that the Vega brand is only available in a 10.7mm string spacing, which is total width of 53.5mm. This causes the 1 st & 6 th strings to be out of parallel with the edge of the fret board. If you prefer a 1.625 or 1.65 you really need a 10.5mm string spacing or a total of 52.5mm , to avoid falloff when pulling down the 1st string. Most Trem manufacturers make a narrow 52.5mm & a wide 54mm ( for 1 1/16" nut, found on the Ultra & Elite Strats.) Good video though, I would consider putting one on My Elite Strat.
Absolutely amazing team system I have two one on my Warmoth partscaster I built with the 6 point, and another in my 2006 Fender American deluxe Stratocaster with LSR nut. I would give this trem a 10 out of 10 it’s the best I’ve ever used stays in tune perfectly. I’m Not sure if it’s been mentioned before but it feels amazing. Both of my guitars using the Vega trem have locking tuners.
:) I tried everything to get the trem to 'jump' off the fulcrum but could not do it. But the question is, did you notice the 'Fat Owl' in the background? There's a story to it and I'll be making an off-topic video about my little trip to Florida which actually could be interesting to some people. That video talks about the Fat Owl :) Thanks...
@@tonymckenzieofficial I'll be interested to hear your story - Florida is a never ending source of strange events. Sadly the hurricanes are part of their fate.
Vegatrem is amazing! I also use 9-42 and the two light springs wasn’t enough, but instead of a third I used two medium springs. I guess the effect should be about the same. Maybe it could have worked with two light if I had forced the screws all the way in. The guitar is a PRS SE 35 anniversary.
Thanks for the great info. Once you get it right on the springs its perfect though and I have not had a single problem with this one... better I think as you had it with adjustment on those screws.... thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial I changed to one low and one medium spring and that works fine. On my other PRS that is 22 fret scale I could use the two low springs. I guess it just to try what works best.
I like the VegaTrem and this one was really cool. I am considering a tele one, but I wanted a gold one (for specific guitar) that I don't think they do yet, but I'll buy one when they do... thanks for watching.
The tone was from Dimarzio pickups (check the online build for the full guitar details) and the amp was a Marshall 2525 Studio (you know them) with a TS9 (I think it was) modified heavily. I had the usual Wah occasionally used but was focused on really trying to make the trem jump out... I failed! :) Tone went through a mic into the desk. Glad you liked it and thanks for watching.
I've been playing 41 years and honestly had more Stratocasters than i can recall, and can't remember one that stayed in tune, so this might be my answer? I don't want it for 80s screaming i have floyd ready axe's for that, but it would be nice to be able to use a trem sensible and not go out of tune ! Nice job Tony, and i do love that strat mate ❤
I love playing tremolo...... striking a harmonic and riding it like a Surf a massive wave..... AIN'T IT JUST AIN'T IT 😜 lols....And from your playing.... I can see you get it,..... Awesome... never quit....😎
I've put this in my strat 2 years ago. 6 months after I got the guitar I stripped everything out. Not a fan of fender components except for their locking tuners too Haha. Great video and incredible playing man. I fully agree with everything you said, its worth every penny. I'll definitely be coming back to learn from you my friend Happy New Year ✌️❤️🤟
Well thank you. And thanks for posting exactly what you think about yours after two years worth of playing. I used this one just the other day and it really is a very good design and feels pretty awesome. While I know them to be expensive, the VegaTrem eats most tremolos for breakfast... and that is not some biased comment - when you use one you quickly realise just how good it really is. Thanks for watching and have a great new year.
Hello. I need a little clarification: To my understanding when you pull, you never reach the deck, meaning (in my case) you don't have a final pulling point. I like to actually have the typical minor third interval as max excursion. So the question is... Does it reach the deck? Thank you
Tony ….my only concern would be how the height adjustment screws feel on your palm when you’re picking…I tend to do a lot of palm muting…I really like the graphtec saddles…the screws are flush with the saddles…excellent review as always my man!!!!
A few mentioned this. I did not really have any problems myself, but I get it. They are smooth and did not seem any bother. The saddle screws (for the height) on the other hand probably need shorter screws in there. Again, for me it all worked OK but could be problems to some guys. Thanks for watching.
I have been looking at the Vega trem as an upgrade for some time, but never took the plunge and bought one mainly due to the high price. Yes it quality is beyond reproach, and makes most factory fit ones look cheap and nasty. But from other reviewers that i know who have fitted one, they both said the same in terms of it being a pain to get the spring tensions just right, but the biggest issue was the pain in your hand/wrist from the grub screws if you have a low action. Plus if like me you are used to a Floyd style, this one although better than a standard trem, it is not a Floyd. So until the price drops, i will give it a miss. Thanks for your indepth and honest review Tony, hope you are keeping well.
Try a Babicz tremolo their saddles take some getting used to , but they are fantastic! Their design improvements are wonderful over the traditional design. And Babicz worked for Steinberger and designed their bridge.
I purposely did not look at a single video about the VegaTrem because it would influence me about the unit maybe unfairly before completing my review. You are the second guy to mention the grub screws though. However, they were not a problem for me; go watch that video again in the demo section - I never even felt them. Often, I'm the first to shout about that and have changed out the grub screws on many tremolo units even in the reviews. I did not experience the problem (yet) on the VegaTrem but different players might/could get that problem I guess. For low action the grub screws come further out of course, but my guitar was set very low and they were fine for me. If I get that problem, I would get shorter screws. A good point you made there for sure. You know, for your comments on the springs, this is exactly WHY I took pains to show the strings and their 9's size and mentioned the springs I actually used. A similar setup would be most likely a similar answer for the springs. With two springs it was just not really right for me but the third lighter one in the middle made things easy. I can agree on the Floyd style of trem and you know my Ibanez RG550Ltd has a Floyd style on it - probably my most playable guitar. @Dennis Applegate mentioned a Babicz (and I agree they are pretty good) and likely you have seen my reviews on the Babicz tremolo. They certainly do have their place. In fact, the Babicz is going to come up again in the near future (ha I did not want to talk about it yet) and you can see the options and why I cite a particular reason for my choice for the unit when you see it (but that is NOT a tremolo on the particular guitar but rather a bridge). The VegaTrem is expensive, but no more so than a similar one (with spring steel fulcrum) I have used before. The quality will most likely always demand a higher price - as I have found often when reviewing gear and I guess tremolos are no different in that respect. Well either way, I sincerely hope you gained something from my closeup of the VT1 UltraTrem - it was interesting to me too :) and thanks for watching. Yes, my wife had co*** and that after the vacation put me back a week or so, so it's good to be making a few reviews - I really like the stuff... and I have a few unusual reviews coming up that are actually very interesting and show stuff that I don't really see many reviews of. I also have a couple of pedals too, but finding new amps is pretty hard currently... it seems to me that there is somewhat of a slowdown on new tube amps - well actually ANY new amps. I might take another look at some of mine and just do some playing. Alan Bruce is currently working on a 'play' around the second album we did some years back (Berner Street). He is great with all that sort of thing so likely it's going to turn in to a rock musical play. Interesting stuff.
@@tonymckenzieofficial I think they may have listened to feedback regarding the sharp grub screws, the reviewers that warned me about them were Jonathan Koh and Tony from Addicted To Gear. Johanthan has fitted a few of them, and in his most recent review he never mentioned them as an issue. The Vega Trem has be around for a while now and interest in it seems to have waned a bit, they were criticised about it's price when released, and replied saying they were not mass produced to maitain the quality, and as we know good quality is hard to find these days. My best Floyd style trems are on my Ibanez RG550 and Jem 7V both are early samples made in Japan and outshine the indonesian models of today. This seems to be the trend with guitars and amps these days, the quality of the cheaper stuff has improved, but not the expensive ones, if anything they have just increased in price while the quality has gone down. I only recently visited GuitarGuitar and was shocked at how many guitars well over £1000 had quality issues and very poor fretwork. The problem is that we have samples from the best years, and won't pay for bad quality at todays inflated prices. Looking forward to your next reviews, finding new gear to review is not easy, the supply vs demand issue is still there.
In the past I've solved that problem by filing grubscrews down (not the hex key end...) or shimming the heel to change the neck angle. Just looking at my Squier CV 50s Strat, the screws do stick out a little, but they don't seem to have particularly sharp edges, so there's no problem with them. Arguably, you _could_ gently rub down the hex end with fine abrasive paper, to smooth away any sharpness.
@@ParaBellum2024 This was an issue with the early samples, i can only assume that they are now fitting grub screws with smoother tops. You can always replace them with shorter ones which is what i do, they are far too long if you want a low action.
I've been looking at these with extreme envy for 2 or 3 years now. So far I just haven't been able to justify the crazy price. I do like the smaller size and locking saddles but, I have read some posts in forums that a few people have had trouble with intonation. I would guess the problem is likely at the other end and the Vegatrem just makes that more apparent. I could be wrong. I posted a comment myself in diverse forums that Vegatrem should consider trying to collaborate with the folks at SuperVee and incorporate the pivot design from their Bladerunner trem into the Vegatrem. That would, in my estimation, be a near perfect mechanism. I just bought a nice new strat during Fender's recent "HUGE Sale" and it has the bent saddles which I don't care for. I decided I would use it as a platform to build the nicest strat I possibly could, over time as $$ allows. This may be the inspiration I need to go ahead and make the investment in a Vegatrem. Thanks for the detailed intallation, setup, and review. I nearly always learn something from your videos.👍
They are expensive for sure. But when you hold one with alternatives it does show that the VegaTrem is made very well. I don't really get the intonation stuff because it's as adjustable as other tremolos out there for that. But some people have different opinions, and my guess is that it's mainly subjective - what's good for one guy is not for another. I have a blade runner tremolo and that 'feels' a bit weird because it sort of just floats there... it IS a funny feeling and takes getting used to, but it also is a good tremolo. Maybe I'll come back and review that on the guitar... Yes, the great thing about the Strat guitar is it's so customizable (as is the Tele in an upcoming video) and probably 50% why I like them. If you get one of these do come back and post your opinion because it does matter. What might be good for one guy the next might dislike, oh and thanks for those kind words and for watching. Appreciated.
I can and I'll probably make a video of the 'Earvana' nut. It's one of those items we don't see often but it can get the compensation needed for each string on the guitar. This is a very good descriptor: felineguitars.com/pages/earvana-science#:~:text=What%20makes%20Earvana%20so%20special%3F%201%20This%20system,and%20the%20BLUE%20numbers%20are%20cents%20flat.%20 and worth checking out. Thanks for watching.
No clue what I'm doing but, had the idea to get an Affinity strat with the thinner body and upgrade every aspect of it, including the trem. I have found trem blocks available and in the right size. Question - does the Vega-Trem have a separate block under the saddles that can screwed off and replaced? Haven't seen info on this/pictures of the trem without saddles anywhere.
Ha me too :) But don't worry :) I think you might well have trouble there. The tremolo block I believe does come off, but its so specific I doubt another might even fit... just an opinion of course but I would not recommend it. Thanks for watching.
In the interest of completeness, I wish you'd shown us HOW it strings up. Another reviewer mentioned that the holes in a standard Strat's backplate don't align with the string ferrules in the Vega-Trem. Not a dealbreaker in my case, as I remove the backplate on mine.
Interesting point. I have not had issues with the stringing up except that because of the pivot you have to be a little careful and mindful that it is just a pivot. Good point and thanks for posting it. And for watching...
My Deluxe Plus Strat came with a Fender Floyd Rose bridge system that kills. In 1996 I bought a used Strat that has this F FR on it and recommends a Hipshot Tremsetter (even has in the case when brand new) for stability. Bought 1 to install on mine. Adjusted bridge to move up and down( to whammy) and set intonation. ALMOST 30 YRS AGO. Haven't touch it since. Bar will touch the body ( strings so loose) let it go and be back in prefect tuning. Fender and Floyd Rose did this in the early 90's and no one paid attention. Damn thing has worked for 28 yrs without problems. Locking tuners, roller nut, and change the strings more than I do. When I not playing out often I don't change strings often and that's when I have to constantly tune. But I KNOW it's the owners fault and not the guitar. Actually this guitar needs fretwork now not bridge work.
A great answer really, and you know, tremolos work. Often to varying degrees, and generally (IMO) dependent on the player and how used. This one really is good - and I was surprised just how good it really is, with the trem slots I thought maybe a problem, but I was wrong, they work very well. Thanks for watching.
Tony, I liked your video and info that much I bought a Vega Trem to fit to my Strat. Its a great trem there is no doubt about it! I gotta ask what nut did you fit to your guitar neck as it looks like a chrome plated brass unit?
Thats a Fender roller ball nut. Also known as an LSR nut. They work well, but you have top buy the right width and there are shims and different adjustments etc. That's a Jeff Beck neck I bought from stratosphereparts - thanks.
Having been a Floyd Rose fan for years as its the best system I've seen to keep a trem guitar in tune. The nut for sure. If this trem can keep in tune and is smooth, no modifications to the body thats a win. The saddles bolting down is a huge plus. Besides the floyd nothing else has bolt down saddles.
Great points... but a recent Bbbicz tremolo had bolt down saddles too. On the one I saw that was for a telecaster and not a tremolo, but I do think that Babicz maybe do make a tremolo with bolt down saddles. Great point like I said and thanks for watching.
I've always thought of a guitar trem as an amalgation of parts that work together to get the required result. For anything more than the slightest touch on a non locking system I would always go for locking tuners, a well lubricated or roller nut and ditch any string trees. You've done all that and you've got yourself a fine instrument. Anybody getting one of these trems for their Classic Vibe would be best advised to make similar alterations to achieve the kind of performance that you demonstrate here otherwise they'll feel underwhelmed by their quite significant outlay. Your neck came with a roller nut installed. I'd no doubt make a mess swapping a standard nut for a roller so I've limited my noodling along those lines to filing the slots and lubing them with pencil graphite which has worked ok for me. Love your clips Tony. Honest and detailed. Have you tried an Evertune bridge? That's a piece of gear that has intrigued me for ages. The notion of being able to disable pitch variation due to sloppy or hard playing would seem to be of merit to rock players who like to be precise. Keep up the good work.
Yes, I agree with the mods too. The roller nut was on this guitar as you said, but I have fitted the Fender roller nut historically. Its adjustable with small shims etc. and although a bit of a pain, it can be very accurately set up. On the Evertune bridge I looked but did not get one. I might get one and create a video because it's very unusual in how it works. We shall see in due course. Too many parts too little time :) Thanks for watching.
Good point, but I prefer the guitar like that really. The shielding on this one is ds copper tape... thanks for the recommendations though - I always take them on board :) and thanks for watching.
Thanks Tommy... its taken me until now to reply to these posts! so sorry for the delay. Ha those springs are weird and I never saw that before. Thanks...
Well I think you demonstrated that works Tony! Looks a lovely guitar that now. I was a bit disappointed to find problems with Wilkinson parts, I always thought they were well regarded. I spoke to Trevor Wilkinson once with a query about a guitar fitted with his self tuning system. Seemed like a nice guy. Sadly no one wants self tuning guitars so that was a financial flop as was Gibson’s. Tuning up isn’t a problem…staying in tune is…and if that stays in tune it’s a winner…..
Yes, the Wilkinson I too was surprised about. The metal for the block was more loke horrible metal than the real stuff. I have met Trevor Wilkinson a couple of times (one on camera at Music Messe a number of years ago) and he's always friendly. But this tremolo was not the best and in retrospect I should not have fitted it to this guitar in the first place. Others have asked me about Evertune bridges... and I might review one if I can get one, but we shall see. The Floyd for me is probably the best for staying in tune but finicky for setting up. This VegaTrem seems fine on the tuning though. Thanks for watching.
Is that the Warmoth where they promised you that they could do the Fender style contoured neck heel but then just shipped it with a normal 4 bolt neck heel?
Well there is the Halon trem, but that is more 'custom' than you might or might not want... check my review of the Halon trem... and compare the two, but little wrong IMO for this one... Thanks for watching.
Just installed one, it does everything I wanted and stays in tune way better than my previous trem (wilkinson wvs 50 ii k). However, I'm quite surprised that nobody mentions the fact that the small screws used to set the height of each saddle are super sharp. They hurt my hand when I play, and if you want to keep the action low, those screws will keep staying out and you will feel them a lot. Maybe it is just the way I play, but if someone experienced that, any tricks to "cover" the screws with something softer for instance? Thanks!
I like mine and the only thing you need to do once in a while is tug up on the bar to reset the tuning and pull out a little string slack. It's nice to rid yourself of nut locks etc. Sure a Floyd Rose may be more stable but it's more of a pain to deal with.
I like the VegaTrem and it has a really great 'feel' to it - literally 'floating' in a way that only I have seen once from others... but this one remains great... thanks for watching.
Mine is very sensitive to every touch. Too much really. Do you know how to make it a little less? I bit more stable I would like it. I use 10's so I use the recommended springs.
I love the Wilkinson trem. They are great bridges. Excellent design and materials, but the quality of the manufacturing is inconsistent. I have two; one works flawlessly. The second, the bar wiggles in the hole, and if you tighten the little set screw more than a moderate amount the bar teeters on it. FYI, the set screw should never be cranked in, that's not how it works or what it's for; it's an adjustment for the spinning tightness of the arm. But anyway, the problem doesn't go away on some of them. If they had them made by somebody else they would be unbeatable for the type of trem they are. Always love the videos; keep 'em coming.
I agree. I have had Wilkinson that strip the grub screw for the tremolo arm. Rubbish metal. Good ideas though. Ha brilliant how you have the exact same issue :) Great points... and completely agree. Thanks.
Hey man can you do a review on the VHT Dumble clone ? Glad to hear the wife's better. I liked the Babicz tremolo so well I'm using their fixed bridge on a black limba build I'm doing. Cheers.
I don't have a VHT Dumble clone :( so can't... Yes wife is 'back to normal' (whatever that is!) Ah Babicz... should be interesting later... keep watching... and thanks...
I was always adjusting spring tensions on various guitars that I had Floyd's or licensed by Floyd Rose on. Ken Hoover who founded the guitar company Zion built me a custom Radicaster model in the late 80's. He built my guitar personally and it came with the Floyd set up near perfect. It had lots of pull up range as well has the typical dive bomb range as well, while the bar when held up in place over the pickups was just slightly less the horizontal parallel with the fretboard, angled up slightly.I really liked that positioning of the trem bar. Again, it had lots of pull up and dive range both. But that particular guitar would flutter much better,easier,more pronounced than any of my other guitars with Floyd type trems. It had two springs and back then I don't believe there was all the different tension rated trem springs like they have now? I think you adjusted the tension with the spring claw mostly or the amount of springs used. In doing that it would have an adverse effect on your trem bar height setting. One thing that was so frustrating about the Floyd's anything you did to that damn trem adjustment to make it more suitable to your playing or your preference had a direct adverse impact or change on other adjustments or 'settings' regarding something else on said guitar! Whether be it bar height, tension, tuning, intonation, pull up range, flutter capability,string height above frets ECT ECT ECT. Not to mention the locking nut brought its own share of 'joy' also. I think there's a dreaded Albert Einstein physics theory at play that you have to deal with being a Floyd Rose user.😂 Once you get a Floyd equiped guitar completely set up to your liking it's a beautiful inspiring instrument. When I was gigging a lot that also brought forth challenges as playing in different locations,different weather, temperatures,humidity, not to mention sweating profusely all over said instrument gig after gig caused the requirement of ongoing adjustments to keep it in playable range of your personal liking. So it's not like you're Eddie Van Halen with your traveling guitar tech making sure your instrument's are perfectly set up to your liking, cleaned and tuned before each gig. Ultimately you have to learn how to work on and adjust about every aspect of your guitar. You in fact, have to become at the very least an amateur guitar tech otherwise you're setting yourself up for mega frustration! So after quitting music for well over a decade, I have a new found inspiration to start playing again. The thought of the old Floyd maintenance requirements just doesn't vibe with my now older, hopefully wiser, better utilization of time, calmer, zen like stage of my life. So seeing the Vega trem has me mega excited and no string lock at either end of the guitar! That thought alone almost induces me into zen like state of tranquility and Harmony becoming one with the universe.💆 Sure, I think having locking tuners is a must but that's a given for me even on my standard nut, fixed bridge guitars. If just using it at home, once set up to your liking, Floyd's are pretty stable.You can relax, pretty much forget about it until you break a string. That string replacement alone is an hour or two of the 'joy' I mentioned before.God forbid if you decide to change string gauges or drop tuning a half step. It always brought me great joy having to adjust the intonation on my Floyd's. 🤔😤🤬 My 1988 Radicaster basically a fender style guitar with a hot humbucker in the bridge with a recessed Floyd Rose trem fluttered effortlessly. My fluttering technique is influenced by Steve Via's song Blue Powder. I think Blue Powder is his greatest guitar playing. I have two flimsy 45 records of that song that were attached inside of Carvin Magazine and an issue of Guitar Player back in 1984 or 85. Dating myself as I was 17 years old when I got my first guitar in 1984. Where does the time go? Anyhow, at the end of Blue Powder Steve starts phrasing with the fluttering. A technique I've actually progressed even farther fluttering my way through scales and licks, phrasing in general instead of just hitting a note to get a flutter. I flutter through a phrase of notes much like Via Does at the ending of the song Blue Powder for anyone curious as to the technique I'm talking about. I thought that Via had the pivoting edge of the trem filed to a fine edge to enhance the fluttering capabilities? Anyhow,damn I got to write a book to basically ask a single question regarding fluttering and which tension spring recommend for ease of fluttering with the Vega Trem and how many? Wouldn't the extra light springs give the most exaggerated flutter effect? Whew,apologies I'm a windy old bastard. Lol
I certainly 'get it' on the Floyd, but with practice I have it covered. As you say, the Floyd can be inspiring for sure. Ha I'm 'old' too :) but we're as old as we want to be :) On the flutter of the whammy I can't really say that the more springs (or less) have any real effect as you ask. I do know on the Floyd I have its completely standard and can create the flutter easy (Ibanez). I did not try and set up the VegaTrem in any particular way except as I assumed it would operate like. This one has a particular 'feel' and once you try one you'll understand what I mean. But that's not a bad thing and actually I do like the VegaTrem - it is very 'free' in operation and is as good as any tremolo I have used including the Super Trem from Super Vee, those operate on spring steel, but the feel is very similar. I did think that the VegaTrem would somehow 'pull out' of the groove, but I was completely wrong and that trem has never failed re the location and staying on the right place. Steve Vai is a very good player and have seen him a few times pretty close up and of course he's a master with that tremolo. My guess is he would be the same with most whammy bars too! Thanks for taking the time to watch the video, it is appreciated, and VegaTrem is at the top end of all the tremolo's I have used over the years since about 1970. Thanks for watching.
Don't really need three springs... it only increases the tension and makes it a bit more difficult to depress the tremolo arm. But hey... to each his own! Only my .02 cents based on years of tremolo experience. Nice vid!
It's more a case of the grub screws that are potentially for digging in as some guys have commented, the saddle locks are not sharp, the grub screws are. I found no problem with either, but I would recommend short grub screws for the saddle height adjusters. Good point and thanks for watching.
Really liked your review! It's been a few months...would you say you're overall happy with the tuning stability afforded by the Vega? Does it consistently hold tuning? Forgive me if you feel you went over this enough already.
It's OK you can ask me anything about the VegaTrem. The unit remains a substantial upgrade from what was fitted and has proved to be an excellent tremolo unit or whammy bar. It does stay in tune very well. The stability remains excellent. It does remind me of one other brand but that brand uses a spring steel fulcrum, whereas the VegaTrem is metal to metal - and thankfully its high quality steel. I use locking tuners too and that certainly is an option that I would use personally again. Hope it helps and thanks for watching.
Nice unbiased review as always Tony. The product looks well crafted, and looks nice on the guitar. Are you thinking of fitting it on your Telecaster build or are you going full puritan on that build.
Glad you liked this review - I liked doing this one and good to see something that was well made. No, the Telecaster does not have a tremolo on it, but it's not really 'standard' like a 'true' telecaster - that neck sort of gives some indication towards the ideas to it but I don't want to tell you about it :) - yet! Ha you KNOW I'm no puritan about guitars and they tend to all follow an idea thought up before I get the bits. Thanks for watching.
I too own a Super Vee Tremolo Unit on a Stratocaster. I do believe that they each have their own thing going on and they are a little different. The 'feel' of the Super Vee at first does take a bit of getting used to I thought, but it's still a good unit of course... but so is this one. Thanks for the post and for watching.
Thats a great question. If you look at how they are set up for the intonation, you will see basically the bottom three start further forward and by the time you get to the 6th string its further back... same with the first three strings - the first string is further forward. This is 'just a guess' but if you look at most tremolo saddles when the guitar has been intonated, the saddles tend to look like that. My 'guess' is that the maker knows that, and they made specific saddles to accommodate some sort of intonation by design. I commented in the video that the intonation was nearly spot on even though the tremolo had never been on a guitar before. I believe that VegaTrem set that all up (somewhere to where they expect it) and honestly it was very near to being correct... I made just one adjustment! Hope it helps and that's the only explanation I have for the reasoning of the saddles. Thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial yes it needs. It's just like other regular tremolo without locking. I got one and keeps going out of tune after dive bomb and wse . Locking tuners don't help that much lol
You made a very off comment about how the bridge itself would be better if it were little bigger, however there is reson for this, s it's supposed to float so you can also pull up on it as well as down..
Good review Tony. It seems like a quality piece of equipment! I like the whammy bar locking system. Definitely took a leaf out of the Floyd Rose book! Sorry your Wilkinson trem was bad. Who knew that established names can have bad quality products. 😂 That guitar looks and sounds absolutely stunning too. Definitely worth the time and effort!
Glad you referenced Floyd Rose :) I did sort of... The Wilkinson Tremolo was relatively cheap, and the materials used for the 'block' were not good high-quality steel, but rather seemed less so and stripped the grub screw instantly. Ah the guitar was created some years back from Fender Jeff Beck neck (a fave) and Warmoth body, with sprinklings of me throughout :). Thanks for watching.
I’ve been thinking about building my on version of the Guthrie govan guitar, I like the idea of using the V with the strat routing , there’s more contact to body than Guthries charvel has this way seems a better choice. 👍
Seems that bridge/tremolo is a Charvel piece? I have not tried that one (so many tremolos so little time :) - all I can say is that this one certainly works well. I tried hard to dislodge it but the tremolo beat me :) and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial it’s a non fine tuner Floyd rose that pulls into the body like the vtrem but there’s no body contact with a Floyd it’s just floating yours is definitely better 👍
:) man, everybody is telling me to try their fave tremolo :) OMG... I'll wear out the screw holes :) Thanks for the tip and I will look at them... and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial t Sophia tremolos and they're fixed bridges are above and beyond anything else trust me. The Gotoh 510 trem used with Wilkinson locking saddles is bullet proof too.
You know wilkinson stopped selling the locking saddles right? I wanted some and they are gone,lol. Thats my problem with vega trem as well. Cant just go to guitar center and buy replacement saddle or whatever, got to get it through vega trem. Thats ONLY issue i have with the vega, is all the parts are proprietary.
Will this fit in a starcaster? I tried upgrading the original bridge with a new one but not all the holes on the body lined up plus the block in the back was thicker than than the original
Well for this guitar it was 'right'. I did look at the 'Telecaster' one but they did not have a gold at the time... maybe its changed these days.... thanks for watching.
You don't provide any information about the sound and sustain of the vegatrem. It is a very thin block which I think causes the sound to be thinner and less sustain? A steady tremolo is great, but if the sound becomes thin and sustain decreases, I think many strat players say no to the vegatrem!
Well listen to it? The Vegatrem is IMO not noticeably different sounding than other stuff, except maybe you won't hear those springs that Strat tremolos sometimes emit... hope it helps and thanks for watching.
I opted for one of these on my Gordon Smith, it's amazing. The build quality as far as i can see is first class and their sleek. Vega hit it out of the park. I feel sorry for you not having an electrical device to show us the guts of, lol. Your reviews don't mess about, thanks mate. Tony have you ever heard of a Virtual Jeff? Digital Trem goes on any Guitar?
I just posted a ZOOM G11 and show the insides.... a very useful and great sounding device... check it out. I'm still looking for new Marshall amps? where are they... No not heard of that one... come back and post a link if you have one... and thanks for watching.
I've no idea from this if the guitar actually stayed in tune after all that abuse. To be honest, the guitar sounded out of tune (28:36) to start with. Thought the Headstock tuner might have been there to demonstrate the tuning before and after...
Oh I agree - and I always look at the warranties. Some companies (and insurance companies for that matter) are just snakes when it comes to warranty - or even 'accidental' damage. I could create a video of that stuff, but it might be boring to guitarists :) But well said and make no mistake warranty is hyper important no matter what some might suggest. Great point and thanks for watching.
I got my guitar fitted with VegaTrem couple of days ago. So far, it seem it needs a bit "breaking in", then I'll be able to give an honest opinion. So far, for the price, I am not really impressed. It should cost far less, half the price would be fair. Unless it's made from best german steel infused by kryptonite retrieved from an asteroid that had to be pulled from Mariana trench via a deep see submersible and hand made by spanish unicorns, only fed with caviar and 75 year old irish whisky, it's not worth the asking price.
Well, the trem is expensive I agree. However, generally I do think you get what you pay for with tremolo units. Look at the one I pulled off... while it looked good, in reality it was not that great mainly because of low-cost metals used. The Vega Trem was entirely different. I love the description :) great and very entertaining :). I assume you saw me trying to get it to jump off the slots. I failed and that trem was being used about 15 minutes after completion (it's one reason I mentioned tuning because the strings literally had just been put on there). I have tried out a number of really very good tremolos (opinions vary I will agree on tremolos) made with exceptionally good materials - they are all on my channel and I still have every one of them to this day without any major issue. Some guys are concerned about the grub screw height - and looking at the video again I can see their concern. I have had aggro with even Fender tremolos like that... but watch my video at the end of the review and somehow it was not a problem for me - and to be honest I never considered it because I had no problem. Maybe I'll fit shorter grub screws just to be sure, but it's only a maybe. Sincerely I hope you spend a bit of time with the unit and that you get great value out of yours. Great post and thanks for running through your opinion - always useful... and thanks for watching.
I've had one for about 2 years now and it never needed breaking in. But I also installed an LSR roller nut and locking tuners. Stays in tune beautifully no matter how hard I am on the trem.
@@warrenmooney9422 I have the same setup, m8. Vega trem+LSR+locking tuners. It does hold a tune really well, and it would be even better on a better guitar. Still overpriced.
@@69vrana Well they aren't cheap. My German made Floyd Rose '84 was even more I believe. If you want quality you gotta pay for it these days. I am okay with the price I paid for the Vega trem and even the German Floyd Rose only because of how well my guitars stay in tune and the fact the trems will likely outlive the life of the guitar.
Saw your video and bought one, in gold. Amazing - almost no movement when bending strings; and it has the divebomb up 'n down range of my Floyd ROSE Ibanez, but with the advantage that the strings stay in tune without pesky nut locks. My only slight dislike is that the arm is a bit long and sticks out so is easily accidentally caught. So thanks for the review.
![The Perfect Stratocaster Trem / Vibrato Setup [Floating, Flat Or Blocked?]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PjVXWyUGpwc/mqdefault.jpg)
Its nice to see someone who honestly goes into the a quality and craftsmanship of the product, and not just the marketing hype and overedited sound demo.
Yours are some of the only reviews I trust on UA-cam. Keep it up!
Well thanks Ryan. I intentionally tried hard to show it all as an experience that any user might have had and just got on with the fitting etc. Ha who reads instructions :) but overall it was a great experience and the tremolo performed as good as any I have ever used. That trust to me IS important and I've always valued those comments - in fact mentioned a lot by viewers and when they say that for me it's confirmation that the videos really are meaningful to guys who watch them. I can't ask for more! Thanks - its appreciated.
sure, its well made because it is expensive.
Couldve told us how well it keeps in tune, which is the reason we are all here. Dive bombs and flutters can be achieved with any system, returning to tune isnt so common...
@@godsinbox I can tell you on my partscaster with tusq nut and radius locking tuners it's absolutely solid and will stay in tune throughout any amount of abuse.
Most stable guitar I own now beating even a 2001 PRS Custom24 in terms of tuning stability.
Literally never needs tuned.
Luv and Peace.
I put one of these on a partscaster I built and I have to say it's my favourite trem ever. It's perfectly stable when paired with a tusq nut and locking machine heads but it's the feel of it that makes it stand out. There is ZERO slop in it whatsoever. It is smooth as silk to use and I can't recommend it enough. It is expensive but it's exquisitely machined and feels like a premium quality product.
Luv and Peace.
Exactly as I found that tremolo... a VERY good device indeed. Thanks for watching.
I’m doing the same thing. Tricked out Partscaster with vintage Lindy Frailen pickups, push/pull blend knob, locking Gotah tuners, etc.
Next up is the Tele-Partscaster with vintage Lollar Pickups, 4 way switch, locking Gotahs, etc. The cool thing is no modifications for Strats or Teles! Genius how they use the 6 springs on the Tele Trem!
@@tonymckenzieofficial You the man tony thank you for the vid very thorough
It’s most likely the greatest tremolo ever designed but for guitar players who don’t use the tremolo much, it’s probably not necessary. Plus, if the tremolo arm gets lost, finding a replacement may be a little inconvenient since it’s not common as the standard Fender tremolo arm. Still an amazing unit though.
@@ramencurry6672 guess I’m lucky, never lost an arm in 25 years 🤷♂️
I wish more youtube reviews/testing vids were like this, perfect down to earth bs free stuff. Keep up the crackin' work fella.
Well thank you John those comments are appreciated. Alas I'm not too sure you will find the others out there changing their ways though :) Back in 2009 I started this channel because I watched those others out there and became bored with watching purely sales videos. I always try and show stuff just as the reality of things as I can. And hey thanks for watching - it's always appreciated.
The VT is designed to be slightly smaller than a stock Fender vibrato rout so it can pull up, that’s why it’s doesn’t cover the routing completely.
It’s also designed to work with two springs, varying the tension between the springs strength and claw adjustment.
It’s a wonderful vibrato bridge!
I’ve installed a dozen of them so far, and highly recommended them for a floating Stratocaster type bridge!
Yes, that's true I agree and the float on the unit is excellent. Well, I have fitted many tremolos over the years but this one with my 9's strings seemed a bit more balanced and stable with the two light and the one extra light in the middle. As your comment attests too, they have a very good tremolo unit and of course it makes the everyday standard stuff look bad by far. The improvement to this guitar was a really useful thing and of course once you play one then you notice the feel - and that's unlike the cheap stuff certainly. There's no doubt that it changes the guitar for the better regarding playing too. This tremolo for more extreme effects easily beat the Floyd Rose unit I recently reviewed and it's much easier to set up than the Floyd. I actually tried hard to create a genuine review and did NOT watch anything or anyone before the video was completed purposely, and I think in general my view was the same as any user who has never seen of fitted a VegaTrem before - a real review if you will. Thanks for the post... good to hear your comments and of course for watching.
What's the string spacing please? I have a Squier CV 50s, with narrow 52.5mm string spacing (same as its 6 screws). I assume the Vega screws would fit my guitar because of the slots.
if you use 2-3 springs, spring tensions types means zero..
Only when you use 4-5 springs, tension strength becomes valid.
Since you installed dozens, if i have a choice to use 2 point or 4 screws version on a new guitar body, what option would you recommend for stability and sustain?
@@iromanovskyIt really doesn’t make any difference, as they both have the same mounting points essentially.
I don’t think that the two additional screws have much to do with anything other than cosmetics…
couldn't be better, thank you for your detailed explanations.......
many thanx from a german musician!
warm greetings
Any time... I have a couple of German frinds :) - I must go back to the Music Messe some time! Thanks for watching...
One advantage of the VegaTrem that is never mentioned: Even on a 22 fret guitar, you can remove the pickguard and access the electronics cavity without killing the strings.
Good point... I did not try that but hey.. I'm not perfect :) Thanks for watching
Loosen strings to take tension from neck then use a capo to keep strings in place before removing neck. Easy 🤠 I do it all the time, any trem - doesn't matter.
I put one on my Strat and i really think it was an upgrade. It works very well, very easy to setup and sounds great.
Well thanks for posting your opinion as a user - always good that others know what users' opinions are. And thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial i play it pretty much daily and it just works and sounds very good.
Thanks Tony. I love the way you always go really deep into the gubbins of what you're reviewing.
Hopefully it helps some guys - the little bits of info and warranties etc. I always think are very useful to potential buyers etc. - knowledge is king :) Thanks for watching.
This is a very informative video. The VegaTrem was a bit of a mystery to me, but you did an excellent job of explaining all the details of its design and construction.
Glad you enjoyed it! and I created it for exactly that! Thanks for watching.
Great video Tony, glad to see you back doing Videos,can’t wait to see more from you.
I have a number of them all coming up... yes great to be here too... and thanks for watching.
Tony you are absolutely BY FAR the most thorough UA-cam reviewer I have ever seen. Earned a subscribe from me! Great Job. I have installed 2 of the Vega Trem's on guitars and Love them!! I don't know how they can improve on the design. Again, Great Job!
Well thank you for your very kind words... and for the sub. I try very hard to show what's in front of me. Usually I'm not far off the same experience that someone might have if they bought one and that to me is a good feature. Thanks again for the sub and of course for watching.
I've watched every single video on this, being nearly $500aud, I wanted to research as much as possible, your video is by far the best, the most important thing (for me) you covered is the bar itself, no one else went into detail, and funnily enough, the bridge I'm replacing is exactly the one you replaced, mine wasn't stripped but it's awful to adjust and there's a tiny amount of annoying play, and most wilkinson have that, thank you very much good sir.
G'day :) just hopefully making you smile... and firstly thanks for the very kind comments about this VegaTrem review. Yes the Wilkinson actually was not for me either and it had to go. I have reviewed many different tremolo units over a number of years (as far back as 2009 or so) and I always try and show everything I can... These are pretty expensive I agree, but fit one and you can forget it really. Great to hear the review helped a little... and if you do buy a VegaTrem do come back and post YOUR opinion too, you're more than welcome. Thanks for watching.
Excellent demonstration. I’m placing an order now!
You should come back and tell yur opinion! Thanks for watching.
Great review, thank you! I'm ordering one right now for my Custom Shop Strat.
Do come back and tell me what you think... and thanks for watching.
Very nice build and choice of upgrades. Quite the head turner in my opinion. Sound-wise, it's a "take no prisoners" guitar. Nice work Tony.
Thanks for the info and kind comments... appreciated. And of course thanks for watching too.
Very good. Impressive how it stayed in tune. Viewers might also want to check out the Trem King. I have one fitted to my old strat. The advantage of it is if you break a string, your guitar stays in tune. Same if you change to a drop tuning, for example.
Great point... and thanks so much for watching the review.
Great review Tony!and playing aswell,Have to get one for the herd,Cheers,Mate!
Ha I know what you mean.. herd :) Thanks...
Hey Tony. Great video and you sold me to purchase a VT1 for one of my Strats. Another company that makes unique tremolo systems is a company called Stetsbar. I have one on a Tele and one on a Les Paul. I have a very subtle trem style and not really a "dive-bomber"... so the Stetsbar trems work well for my style. Staying in tune isn't a problem. I'm really looking forward to installing the VT1. Thanks for such an informative video! Cheers for SW Florida! Billz
I have used a StetsBar on a Telecaster and ultimately removed it because I was not a fan of the shimming of the neck. Some guys wont care, but for me it destroyed the feel of the guitar somehow. On the VT1 its hard to find a 'better' tremolo and amazing how it sticks in those slots :). Ah SW Florida... a great place I've been a few times and will be back in Florida in September :). Thanks for watching.
Love your reviews, Tone! Good to see you back
Well, this trem was ultimately very good. The one I had fitted (A Wilkinson) was problematic on the guitar featured, and I tried very hard to get this Vega tremolo out of its grooves but it stayed solid. Check it all closely and I really thought that I should have bought something like the Vega Trem when I built the guitar. It just shows that the low cost stuff (Wilkinson in this case) was not really the best choice for the longevity of the guitar. Anyway, I hope it helps a bit... and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial It did help - thanks a mil Tony. They're expensive and tests like yours (honest, warts and all) make a massive impact. How did you find the sustain? Reason I ask is the trem block seems quite small.
I have the same Wilkinson bridge on a Strat I built, but in my case using a Warmoth neck. Its complete garbage and £30 down the crapper.
One thing that I've found in my 30+ years of playing is that the bridge is one of the most important parts of a guitar. I'll never make the mistake of cheaping out again on that critical part of a guitar again.
Well done tony can’t wait to see the finished one allan
Hi Allan, I'll get around to seeing you some time in the week if I can Betty is OK now... and thanks for watching this one.
Definitely plan on ordering a VegaTrem. Thank you for the great video and insight into the installation..liked subscribed and commented. 🤘
Glad it was helpful! This is a very good tremolo for sure. And thanks for watching too.
That’s a lovely guitar and a kick ass shirt, brother. Great video, I’m thinking about ordering one when I got some pocket money, but I got to take my girl on vacation first, haha
Yes I get it! :) My guess is you're making a good choice...
The only concern I have and the reason I went with the Floyd Rose "Rail Tail" is that the Vega brand is only available in a 10.7mm string spacing, which is total width of 53.5mm. This causes the 1 st & 6 th strings to be out of parallel with the edge of the fret board. If you prefer a 1.625 or 1.65 you really need a 10.5mm string spacing or a total of 52.5mm , to avoid falloff when pulling down the 1st string. Most Trem manufacturers make a narrow 52.5mm & a wide 54mm ( for 1 1/16" nut, found on the Ultra & Elite Strats.)
Good video though, I would consider putting one on My Elite Strat.
Great point I did not consider... thanks for the post and for watching...
i thimnk youll find VT is constantly taking feedback seriously and if theres enough of a demand theyll produce the spaci-er model ...lol
Absolutely amazing team system I have two one on my Warmoth partscaster I built with the 6 point, and another in my 2006 Fender American deluxe Stratocaster with LSR nut. I would give this trem a 10 out of 10 it’s the best I’ve ever used stays in tune perfectly. I’m
Not sure if it’s been mentioned before but it feels amazing. Both of my guitars using the Vega trem have locking tuners.
Yes it IS a very good tremolo unit for sure. Thanks for watching.
Great video!!! I think you warped spacetime with that trem! And the owl's eye didn't even blink. Wow!!!
:) I tried everything to get the trem to 'jump' off the fulcrum but could not do it. But the question is, did you notice the 'Fat Owl' in the background? There's a story to it and I'll be making an off-topic video about my little trip to Florida which actually could be interesting to some people. That video talks about the Fat Owl :) Thanks...
@@tonymckenzieofficial I'll be interested to hear your story - Florida is a never ending source of strange events. Sadly the hurricanes are part of their fate.
Vegatrem is amazing! I also use 9-42 and the two light springs wasn’t enough, but instead of a third I used two medium springs. I guess the effect should be about the same.
Maybe it could have worked with two light if I had forced the screws all the way in. The guitar is a PRS SE 35 anniversary.
Thanks for the great info. Once you get it right on the springs its perfect though and I have not had a single problem with this one... better I think as you had it with adjustment on those screws.... thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial I changed to one low and one medium spring and that works fine. On my other PRS that is 22 fret scale I could use the two low springs. I guess it just to try what works best.
I just installed the VT2nd on my Tele, it works great! Thinking about getting a VT1 for my Strat now!
I like the VegaTrem and this one was really cool. I am considering a tele one, but I wanted a gold one (for specific guitar) that I don't think they do yet, but I'll buy one when they do... thanks for watching.
In a month ordering one for me strat. Thank You, for your information on this product. Much appreciated. 🎸 🎶 👍👍 🇺🇸.
Well thanks and thanks for watching too.
Awesome review tone tony!
The tone was from Dimarzio pickups (check the online build for the full guitar details) and the amp was a Marshall 2525 Studio (you know them) with a TS9 (I think it was) modified heavily. I had the usual Wah occasionally used but was focused on really trying to make the trem jump out... I failed! :) Tone went through a mic into the desk. Glad you liked it and thanks for watching.
Great review as usual, thanks!!
My pleasure! and thanks for watching.
I've been playing 41 years and honestly had more Stratocasters than i can recall, and can't remember one that stayed in tune, so this might be my answer? I don't want it for 80s screaming i have floyd ready axe's for that, but it would be nice to be able to use a trem sensible and not go out of tune ! Nice job Tony, and i do love that strat mate ❤
VegaTrem IS good! and thanks for watching.
Another fantastic in depth review Tony!!! 🤘🏻🎸
Only just go to this post... Thanks for watching appreciated.
Very enjoyable and informative video - thank you Tony! I have three Jeff Beck Strats, each with a Vega Trem - highly recommend.
Ah great to know... are there any plus and minus points? or are they just great? Spill the beans :) and thanks for watching.
I absolutely did NOT expect the awesomeness of the 28:25 jam
Well it was really a demo showing the trem off... but see what you think of this playing... ua-cam.com/users/shortsM8j0oa6nWhE Thanks for watching.
I love playing tremolo...... striking a harmonic and riding it like a Surf a massive wave..... AIN'T IT JUST AIN'T IT 😜 lols....And from your playing.... I can see you get it,..... Awesome... never quit....😎
Great stuff and glad you liked it....
I've put this in my strat 2 years ago. 6 months after I got the guitar I stripped everything out. Not a fan of fender components except for their locking tuners too Haha. Great video and incredible playing man. I fully agree with everything you said, its worth every penny. I'll definitely be coming back to learn from you my friend
Happy New Year ✌️❤️🤟
Well thank you. And thanks for posting exactly what you think about yours after two years worth of playing. I used this one just the other day and it really is a very good design and feels pretty awesome. While I know them to be expensive, the VegaTrem eats most tremolos for breakfast... and that is not some biased comment - when you use one you quickly realise just how good it really is. Thanks for watching and have a great new year.
Hello.
I need a little clarification:
To my understanding when you pull, you never reach the deck, meaning (in my case) you don't have a final pulling point.
I like to actually have the typical minor third interval as max excursion.
So the question is... Does it reach the deck?
Thank you
Tony ….my only concern would be how the height adjustment screws feel on your palm when you’re picking…I tend to do a lot of palm muting…I really like the graphtec saddles…the screws are flush with the saddles…excellent review as always my man!!!!
A few mentioned this. I did not really have any problems myself, but I get it. They are smooth and did not seem any bother. The saddle screws (for the height) on the other hand probably need shorter screws in there. Again, for me it all worked OK but could be problems to some guys. Thanks for watching.
I have been looking at the Vega trem as an upgrade for some time, but never took the plunge and bought one
mainly due to the high price.
Yes it quality is beyond reproach, and makes most factory fit ones look cheap and nasty.
But from other reviewers that i know who have fitted one, they both said the same in terms of it being a pain to get
the spring tensions just right, but the biggest issue was the pain in your hand/wrist from the grub screws if you have
a low action.
Plus if like me you are used to a Floyd style, this one although better than a standard trem, it is not a Floyd.
So until the price drops, i will give it a miss.
Thanks for your indepth and honest review Tony, hope you are keeping well.
Try a Babicz tremolo their saddles take some getting used to , but they are fantastic! Their design improvements are wonderful over the traditional design.
And Babicz worked for Steinberger and designed their bridge.
I purposely did not look at a single video about the VegaTrem because it would influence me about the unit maybe unfairly before completing my review. You are the second guy to mention the grub screws though. However, they were not a problem for me; go watch that video again in the demo section - I never even felt them. Often, I'm the first to shout about that and have changed out the grub screws on many tremolo units even in the reviews. I did not experience the problem (yet) on the VegaTrem but different players might/could get that problem I guess. For low action the grub screws come further out of course, but my guitar was set very low and they were fine for me. If I get that problem, I would get shorter screws. A good point you made there for sure. You know, for your comments on the springs, this is exactly WHY I took pains to show the strings and their 9's size and mentioned the springs I actually used. A similar setup would be most likely a similar answer for the springs. With two springs it was just not really right for me but the third lighter one in the middle made things easy. I can agree on the Floyd style of trem and you know my Ibanez RG550Ltd has a Floyd style on it - probably my most playable guitar. @Dennis Applegate mentioned a Babicz (and I agree they are pretty good) and likely you have seen my reviews on the Babicz tremolo. They certainly do have their place. In fact, the Babicz is going to come up again in the near future (ha I did not want to talk about it yet) and you can see the options and why I cite a particular reason for my choice for the unit when you see it (but that is NOT a tremolo on the particular guitar but rather a bridge). The VegaTrem is expensive, but no more so than a similar one (with spring steel fulcrum) I have used before. The quality will most likely always demand a higher price - as I have found often when reviewing gear and I guess tremolos are no different in that respect. Well either way, I sincerely hope you gained something from my closeup of the VT1 UltraTrem - it was interesting to me too :) and thanks for watching. Yes, my wife had co*** and that after the vacation put me back a week or so, so it's good to be making a few reviews - I really like the stuff... and I have a few unusual reviews coming up that are actually very interesting and show stuff that I don't really see many reviews of. I also have a couple of pedals too, but finding new amps is pretty hard currently... it seems to me that there is somewhat of a slowdown on new tube amps - well actually ANY new amps. I might take another look at some of mine and just do some playing. Alan Bruce is currently working on a 'play' around the second album we did some years back (Berner Street). He is great with all that sort of thing so likely it's going to turn in to a rock musical play. Interesting stuff.
@@tonymckenzieofficial I think they may have listened to feedback regarding the sharp grub screws, the reviewers that warned me
about them were Jonathan Koh and Tony from Addicted To Gear.
Johanthan has fitted a few of them, and in his most recent review he never mentioned them as an issue.
The Vega Trem has be around for a while now and interest in it seems to have waned a bit, they were criticised about it's price
when released, and replied saying they were not mass produced to maitain the quality, and as we know good quality is hard to
find these days.
My best Floyd style trems are on my Ibanez RG550 and Jem 7V both are early samples made in Japan and outshine the indonesian
models of today.
This seems to be the trend with guitars and amps these days, the quality of the cheaper stuff has improved, but not the expensive
ones, if anything they have just increased in price while the quality has gone down.
I only recently visited GuitarGuitar and was shocked at how many guitars well over £1000 had quality issues and very poor fretwork.
The problem is that we have samples from the best years, and won't pay for bad quality at todays inflated prices.
Looking forward to your next reviews, finding new gear to review is not easy, the supply vs demand issue is still there.
In the past I've solved that problem by filing grubscrews down (not the hex key end...) or shimming the heel to change the neck angle. Just looking at my Squier CV 50s Strat, the screws do stick out a little, but they don't seem to have particularly sharp edges, so there's no problem with them. Arguably, you _could_ gently rub down the hex end with fine abrasive paper, to smooth away any sharpness.
@@ParaBellum2024 This was an issue with the early samples, i can only assume that they are now fitting grub screws
with smoother tops.
You can always replace them with shorter ones which is what i do, they are far too long if you want a low action.
I've been looking at these with extreme envy for 2 or 3 years now. So far I just haven't been able to justify the crazy price. I do like the smaller size and locking saddles but, I have read some posts in forums that a few people have had trouble with intonation. I would guess the problem is likely at the other end and the Vegatrem just makes that more apparent. I could be wrong. I posted a comment myself in diverse forums that Vegatrem should consider trying to collaborate with the folks at SuperVee and incorporate the pivot design from their Bladerunner trem into the Vegatrem. That would, in my estimation, be a near perfect mechanism. I just bought a nice new strat during Fender's recent "HUGE Sale" and it has the bent saddles which I don't care for. I decided I would use it as a platform to build the nicest strat I possibly could, over time as $$ allows. This may be the inspiration I need to go ahead and make the investment in a Vegatrem. Thanks for the detailed intallation, setup, and review. I nearly always learn something from your videos.👍
They are expensive for sure. But when you hold one with alternatives it does show that the VegaTrem is made very well. I don't really get the intonation stuff because it's as adjustable as other tremolos out there for that. But some people have different opinions, and my guess is that it's mainly subjective - what's good for one guy is not for another. I have a blade runner tremolo and that 'feels' a bit weird because it sort of just floats there... it IS a funny feeling and takes getting used to, but it also is a good tremolo. Maybe I'll come back and review that on the guitar... Yes, the great thing about the Strat guitar is it's so customizable (as is the Tele in an upcoming video) and probably 50% why I like them. If you get one of these do come back and post your opinion because it does matter. What might be good for one guy the next might dislike, oh and thanks for those kind words and for watching. Appreciated.
Hi Tommy You did say that Vega Trem do not talk about stringing the guitar.Just to be clear would you suggest dismantling to accommodate stringing?
I did show in the video what I did... thanks for watching.
Nice review, man. Can you talk a bit about the nut installed in this guitar?
I can and I'll probably make a video of the 'Earvana' nut. It's one of those items we don't see often but it can get the compensation needed for each string on the guitar. This is a very good descriptor: felineguitars.com/pages/earvana-science#:~:text=What%20makes%20Earvana%20so%20special%3F%201%20This%20system,and%20the%20BLUE%20numbers%20are%20cents%20flat.%20 and worth checking out. Thanks for watching.
No clue what I'm doing but, had the idea to get an Affinity strat with the thinner body and upgrade every aspect of it, including the trem. I have found trem blocks available and in the right size. Question - does the Vega-Trem have a separate block under the saddles that can screwed off and replaced? Haven't seen info on this/pictures of the trem without saddles anywhere.
This is anticipating that the default Vega-Trem block would stick out of the guitar.
Ha me too :) But don't worry :) I think you might well have trouble there. The tremolo block I believe does come off, but its so specific I doubt another might even fit... just an opinion of course but I would not recommend it. Thanks for watching.
Love the channel.
Thanks...
In the interest of completeness, I wish you'd shown us HOW it strings up. Another reviewer mentioned that the holes in a standard Strat's backplate don't align with the string ferrules in the Vega-Trem. Not a dealbreaker in my case, as I remove the backplate on mine.
Interesting point. I have not had issues with the stringing up except that because of the pivot you have to be a little careful and mindful that it is just a pivot. Good point and thanks for posting it. And for watching...
My Deluxe Plus Strat came with a Fender Floyd Rose bridge system that kills. In 1996 I bought a used Strat that has this F FR on it and recommends a Hipshot Tremsetter (even has in the case when brand new) for stability. Bought 1 to install on mine. Adjusted bridge to move up and down( to whammy) and set intonation. ALMOST 30 YRS AGO. Haven't touch it since. Bar will touch the body ( strings so loose) let it go and be back in prefect tuning. Fender and Floyd Rose did this in the early 90's and no one paid attention. Damn thing has worked for 28 yrs without problems. Locking tuners, roller nut, and change the strings more than I do. When I not playing out often I don't change strings often and that's when I have to constantly tune. But I KNOW it's the owners fault and not the guitar. Actually this guitar needs fretwork now not bridge work.
A great answer really, and you know, tremolos work. Often to varying degrees, and generally (IMO) dependent on the player and how used. This one really is good - and I was surprised just how good it really is, with the trem slots I thought maybe a problem, but I was wrong, they work very well. Thanks for watching.
Tony, I liked your video and info that much I bought a Vega Trem to fit to my Strat. Its a great trem there is no doubt about it! I gotta ask what nut did you fit to your guitar neck as it looks like a chrome plated brass unit?
Thats a Fender roller ball nut. Also known as an LSR nut. They work well, but you have top buy the right width and there are shims and different adjustments etc. That's a Jeff Beck neck I bought from stratosphereparts - thanks.
Having been a Floyd Rose fan for years as its the best system I've seen to keep a trem guitar in tune. The nut for sure. If this trem can keep in tune and is smooth, no modifications to the body thats a win. The saddles bolting down is a huge plus. Besides the floyd nothing else has bolt down saddles.
Great points... but a recent Bbbicz tremolo had bolt down saddles too. On the one I saw that was for a telecaster and not a tremolo, but I do think that Babicz maybe do make a tremolo with bolt down saddles. Great point like I said and thanks for watching.
@@1brentedward You are correct. Bolt the strings down at the bridge and you've got something. TremDoctor uses clamping brass blocks.
I've always thought of a guitar trem as an amalgation of parts that work together to get the required result. For anything more than the slightest touch on a non locking system I would always go for locking tuners, a well lubricated or roller nut and ditch any string trees. You've done all that and you've got yourself a fine instrument. Anybody getting one of these trems for their Classic Vibe would be best advised to make similar alterations to achieve the kind of performance that you demonstrate here otherwise they'll feel underwhelmed by their quite significant outlay. Your neck came with a roller nut installed. I'd no doubt make a mess swapping a standard nut for a roller so I've limited my noodling along those lines to filing the slots and lubing them with pencil graphite which has worked ok for me. Love your clips Tony. Honest and detailed.
Have you tried an Evertune bridge? That's a piece of gear that has intrigued me for ages. The notion of being able to disable pitch variation due to sloppy or hard playing would seem to be of merit to rock players who like to be precise.
Keep up the good work.
Yes, I agree with the mods too. The roller nut was on this guitar as you said, but I have fitted the Fender roller nut historically. Its adjustable with small shims etc. and although a bit of a pain, it can be very accurately set up. On the Evertune bridge I looked but did not get one. I might get one and create a video because it's very unusual in how it works. We shall see in due course. Too many parts too little time :) Thanks for watching.
Why won’t use a transparent Pickguard? The body-wood locks awesome . For the shielding you can use the same color like for the hardware or led‘s.
Good point, but I prefer the guitar like that really. The shielding on this one is ds copper tape... thanks for the recommendations though - I always take them on board :) and thanks for watching.
Outstanding video presentation!
More parts to haha clean when doing maintenance.
The low tension springs are FaB.
Thanks Tommy... its taken me until now to reply to these posts! so sorry for the delay. Ha those springs are weird and I never saw that before. Thanks...
Thank you for this! New subscriber here… great looking guitar 🤙🏼
Thanks for the sub!
Well I think you demonstrated that works Tony! Looks a lovely guitar that now. I was a bit disappointed to find problems with Wilkinson parts, I always thought they were well regarded. I spoke to Trevor Wilkinson once with a query about a guitar fitted with his self tuning system. Seemed like a nice guy. Sadly no one wants self tuning guitars so that was a financial flop as was Gibson’s. Tuning up isn’t a problem…staying in tune is…and if that stays in tune it’s a winner…..
Yes, the Wilkinson I too was surprised about. The metal for the block was more loke horrible metal than the real stuff. I have met Trevor Wilkinson a couple of times (one on camera at Music Messe a number of years ago) and he's always friendly. But this tremolo was not the best and in retrospect I should not have fitted it to this guitar in the first place. Others have asked me about Evertune bridges... and I might review one if I can get one, but we shall see. The Floyd for me is probably the best for staying in tune but finicky for setting up. This VegaTrem seems fine on the tuning though. Thanks for watching.
Is that the Warmoth where they promised you that they could do the Fender style contoured neck heel but then just shipped it with a normal 4 bolt neck heel?
This is not that guitar - it was a blue guitar and I still have that. They don't offer that option :( well remembered :) and thanks for watching.
Hello from future and thanks for a great video! Do you still like and recommend this? Did you find any equally good or better alternatives?
Well there is the Halon trem, but that is more 'custom' than you might or might not want... check my review of the Halon trem... and compare the two, but little wrong IMO for this one... Thanks for watching.
Just installed one, it does everything I wanted and stays in tune way better than my previous trem (wilkinson wvs 50 ii k).
However, I'm quite surprised that nobody mentions the fact that the small screws used to set the height of each saddle are super sharp. They hurt my hand when I play, and if you want to keep the action low, those screws will keep staying out and you will feel them a lot.
Maybe it is just the way I play, but if someone experienced that, any tricks to "cover" the screws with something softer for instance?
Thanks!
Good point and you can get 'shorter' screws online for pence.... hope it helps and thanks...
@@tonymckenzieofficial Thanks a lot for your prompt answer! Interesting, I will try to find some, could be a great way indeed to fix the issue!
I like mine and the only thing you need to do once in a while is tug up on the bar to reset the tuning and pull out a little string slack. It's nice to rid yourself of nut locks etc. Sure a Floyd Rose may be more stable but it's more of a pain to deal with.
I like the VegaTrem and it has a really great 'feel' to it - literally 'floating' in a way that only I have seen once from others... but this one remains great... thanks for watching.
Mine is very sensitive to every touch. Too much really. Do you know how to make it a little less? I bit more stable I would like it. I use 10's so I use the recommended springs.
You could use one of those stabilisers for a whammy that fits in the back... Thanks for watching.
Is it possible to set up the VegaTrem to give you a precise minor 3rd upwards bend on the G-string?
I did not try that but I'm sure VegaTrem can advise accordingly. Thanks for watching.
Is is heavier that a vintage strat bridge? Do you lose sustain with that smaller block?
I would say that it is probably heavier because of the materials. I did not lose sustain at all... thank for watching
I love the Wilkinson trem. They are great bridges. Excellent design and materials, but the quality of the manufacturing is inconsistent. I have two; one works flawlessly. The second, the bar wiggles in the hole, and if you tighten the little set screw more than a moderate amount the bar teeters on it. FYI, the set screw should never be cranked in, that's not how it works or what it's for; it's an adjustment for the spinning tightness of the arm. But anyway, the problem doesn't go away on some of them. If they had them made by somebody else they would be unbeatable for the type of trem they are. Always love the videos; keep 'em coming.
I agree. I have had Wilkinson that strip the grub screw for the tremolo arm. Rubbish metal. Good ideas though. Ha brilliant how you have the exact same issue :) Great points... and completely agree. Thanks.
Question, how do go about changing the strings, do you take them all off at once or one at a time?
In my case I changed them one at a time, but I'm sure its possible to do it other ways... Thanks for watching.
Great Video of a great Trem system. I wish I could afford one. Maaybe prices will come down.
Fingers crossed! Maybe they will have a sale at some stage... but yes its a really good tremolo - recommended... and thanks for watching.
Hey man can you do a review on the VHT Dumble clone ? Glad to hear the wife's better. I liked the Babicz tremolo so well I'm using their fixed bridge on a black limba build I'm doing.
Cheers.
I don't have a VHT Dumble clone :( so can't... Yes wife is 'back to normal' (whatever that is!) Ah Babicz... should be interesting later... keep watching... and thanks...
I was always adjusting spring tensions on various guitars that I had Floyd's or licensed by Floyd Rose on. Ken Hoover who founded the guitar company Zion built me a custom Radicaster model in the late 80's. He built my guitar personally and it came with the Floyd set up near perfect. It had lots of pull up range as well has the typical dive bomb range as well, while the bar when held up in place over the pickups was just slightly less the horizontal parallel with the fretboard, angled up slightly.I really liked that positioning of the trem bar. Again, it had lots of pull up and dive range both. But that particular guitar would flutter much better,easier,more pronounced than any of my other guitars with Floyd type trems. It had two springs and back then I don't believe there was all the different tension rated trem springs like they have now? I think you adjusted the tension with the spring claw mostly or the amount of springs used. In doing that it would have an adverse effect on your trem bar height setting. One thing that was so frustrating about the Floyd's anything you did to that damn trem adjustment to make it more suitable to your playing or your preference had a direct adverse impact or change on other adjustments or 'settings' regarding something else on said guitar! Whether be it bar height, tension, tuning, intonation, pull up range, flutter capability,string height above frets ECT ECT ECT. Not to mention the locking nut brought its own share of 'joy' also. I think there's a dreaded Albert Einstein physics theory at play that you have to deal with being a Floyd Rose user.😂 Once you get a Floyd equiped guitar completely set up to your liking it's a beautiful inspiring instrument. When I was gigging a lot that also brought forth challenges as playing in different locations,different weather, temperatures,humidity, not to mention sweating profusely all over said instrument gig after gig caused the requirement of ongoing adjustments to keep it in playable range of your personal liking. So it's not like you're Eddie Van Halen with your traveling guitar tech making sure your instrument's are perfectly set up to your liking, cleaned and tuned before each gig. Ultimately you have to learn how to work on and adjust about every aspect of your guitar. You in fact, have to become at the very least an amateur guitar tech otherwise you're setting yourself up for mega frustration! So after quitting music for well over a decade, I have a new found inspiration to start playing again. The thought of the old Floyd maintenance requirements just doesn't vibe with my now older, hopefully wiser, better utilization of time, calmer, zen like stage of my life. So seeing the Vega trem has me mega excited and no string lock at either end of the guitar! That thought alone almost induces me into zen like state of tranquility and Harmony becoming one with the universe.💆 Sure, I think having locking tuners is a must but that's a given for me even on my standard nut, fixed bridge guitars. If just using it at home, once set up to your liking, Floyd's are pretty stable.You can relax, pretty much forget about it until you break a string. That string replacement alone is an hour or two of the 'joy' I mentioned before.God forbid if you decide to change string gauges or drop tuning a half step. It always brought me great joy having to adjust the intonation on my Floyd's. 🤔😤🤬 My 1988 Radicaster basically a fender style guitar with a hot humbucker in the bridge with a recessed Floyd Rose trem fluttered effortlessly. My fluttering technique is influenced by Steve Via's song Blue Powder. I think Blue Powder is his greatest guitar playing. I have two flimsy 45 records of that song that were attached inside of Carvin Magazine and an issue of Guitar Player back in 1984 or 85. Dating myself as I was 17 years old when I got my first guitar in 1984. Where does the time go? Anyhow, at the end of Blue Powder Steve starts phrasing with the fluttering. A technique I've actually progressed even farther fluttering my way through scales and licks, phrasing in general instead of just hitting a note to get a flutter. I flutter through a phrase of notes much like Via Does at the ending of the song Blue Powder for anyone curious as to the technique I'm talking about. I thought that Via had the pivoting edge of the trem filed to a fine edge to enhance the fluttering capabilities? Anyhow,damn I got to write a book to basically ask a single question regarding fluttering and which tension spring recommend for ease of fluttering with the Vega Trem and how many? Wouldn't the extra light springs give the most exaggerated flutter effect? Whew,apologies I'm a windy old bastard. Lol
I certainly 'get it' on the Floyd, but with practice I have it covered. As you say, the Floyd can be inspiring for sure. Ha I'm 'old' too :) but we're as old as we want to be :) On the flutter of the whammy I can't really say that the more springs (or less) have any real effect as you ask. I do know on the Floyd I have its completely standard and can create the flutter easy (Ibanez). I did not try and set up the VegaTrem in any particular way except as I assumed it would operate like. This one has a particular 'feel' and once you try one you'll understand what I mean. But that's not a bad thing and actually I do like the VegaTrem - it is very 'free' in operation and is as good as any tremolo I have used including the Super Trem from Super Vee, those operate on spring steel, but the feel is very similar. I did think that the VegaTrem would somehow 'pull out' of the groove, but I was completely wrong and that trem has never failed re the location and staying on the right place. Steve Vai is a very good player and have seen him a few times pretty close up and of course he's a master with that tremolo. My guess is he would be the same with most whammy bars too! Thanks for taking the time to watch the video, it is appreciated, and VegaTrem is at the top end of all the tremolo's I have used over the years since about 1970. Thanks for watching.
Don't really need three springs... it only increases the tension and makes it a bit more difficult to depress the tremolo arm.
But hey... to each his own! Only my .02 cents based on years of tremolo experience.
Nice vid!
Thanks... springs Ha I always think 5 was always too many... :)
The saddle Allen keys look very high? They look like they may dig in your hand when you play? I would like to try one on one of my Strats.
It's more a case of the grub screws that are potentially for digging in as some guys have commented, the saddle locks are not sharp, the grub screws are. I found no problem with either, but I would recommend short grub screws for the saddle height adjusters. Good point and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial it was the grub screws that I meant, they do look a bit high.
Tony you know you have to change the jack plate to chrome now hahah!
Amazing looking I think it’s improved mate
You got me! I never even thought about it but you're right :) Yes I agree the change to that guitar was stellar... thanks fore watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial my pleasure my treasure! Keep up the fantastic work mate. You’ve sold me on the vega trem.
,10 seconds. Better than 0. Thanks. Nice playing. Better than talking 😆
For a review some guys need to know about the product... sorry for that... and thanks for watching.
Really liked your review! It's been a few months...would you say you're overall happy with the tuning stability afforded by the Vega? Does it consistently hold tuning? Forgive me if you feel you went over this enough already.
It's OK you can ask me anything about the VegaTrem. The unit remains a substantial upgrade from what was fitted and has proved to be an excellent tremolo unit or whammy bar. It does stay in tune very well. The stability remains excellent. It does remind me of one other brand but that brand uses a spring steel fulcrum, whereas the VegaTrem is metal to metal - and thankfully its high quality steel. I use locking tuners too and that certainly is an option that I would use personally again. Hope it helps and thanks for watching.
Nice unbiased review as always Tony. The product looks well crafted, and looks nice on the guitar. Are you thinking of fitting it on your Telecaster build or are you going full puritan on that build.
Glad you liked this review - I liked doing this one and good to see something that was well made. No, the Telecaster does not have a tremolo on it, but it's not really 'standard' like a 'true' telecaster - that neck sort of gives some indication towards the ideas to it but I don't want to tell you about it :) - yet! Ha you KNOW I'm no puritan about guitars and they tend to all follow an idea thought up before I get the bits. Thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial Ha yes sorry Tony just trying to get a bit more info, but i'll wait for the rest of the vids, cheers mate.
Las•Vee•gas or Las•Vay•gas Thanks for review! Very cool!
Thanks for watching!
I haven't tried this, but I will say that the Super-Vee Blade Runner is the best strat replacement tremolo I've tried.
I too own a Super Vee Tremolo Unit on a Stratocaster. I do believe that they each have their own thing going on and they are a little different. The 'feel' of the Super Vee at first does take a bit of getting used to I thought, but it's still a good unit of course... but so is this one. Thanks for the post and for watching.
super cool !!!
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching.
Can someone explain why the saddles were different?
Thats a great question. If you look at how they are set up for the intonation, you will see basically the bottom three start further forward and by the time you get to the 6th string its further back... same with the first three strings - the first string is further forward. This is 'just a guess' but if you look at most tremolo saddles when the guitar has been intonated, the saddles tend to look like that. My 'guess' is that the maker knows that, and they made specific saddles to accommodate some sort of intonation by design. I commented in the video that the intonation was nearly spot on even though the tremolo had never been on a guitar before. I believe that VegaTrem set that all up (somewhere to where they expect it) and honestly it was very near to being correct... I made just one adjustment! Hope it helps and that's the only explanation I have for the reasoning of the saddles. Thanks for watching.
I wish they made locking vegatrem ?
But does it need to be locking? The one here is fine? Thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial yes it needs. It's just like other regular tremolo without locking. I got one and keeps going out of tune after dive bomb and wse . Locking tuners don't help that much lol
A plus is that you get a lot of "back pull" but a minus is there's a gap in the back? 🤔
Thats true of course...
🤔 hmmm,, i wonder a replacement for G&L ??
Sorry I don't know... but good point.
You made a very off comment about how the bridge itself would be better if it were little bigger, however there is reson for this, s it's supposed to float so you can also pull up on it as well as down..
Indeed and exactly as I use it. The comment related to the aesthetics when fitted to a Fender guitar really. Thanks for watching.
Good review Tony. It seems like a quality piece of equipment! I like the whammy bar locking system. Definitely took a leaf out of the Floyd Rose book! Sorry your Wilkinson trem was bad. Who knew that established names can have bad quality products. 😂
That guitar looks and sounds absolutely stunning too. Definitely worth the time and effort!
Glad you referenced Floyd Rose :) I did sort of... The Wilkinson Tremolo was relatively cheap, and the materials used for the 'block' were not good high-quality steel, but rather seemed less so and stripped the grub screw instantly. Ah the guitar was created some years back from Fender Jeff Beck neck (a fave) and Warmoth body, with sprinklings of me throughout :). Thanks for watching.
Very cool
Really works well :) Thanks for watching.
How is the tuning stability
Seems fine. Thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial so it never goes out of tune when using whammy bar?
I’ve been thinking about building my on version of the Guthrie govan guitar, I like the idea of using the V with the strat routing , there’s more contact to body than Guthries charvel has this way seems a better choice. 👍
Seems that bridge/tremolo is a Charvel piece? I have not tried that one (so many tremolos so little time :) - all I can say is that this one certainly works well. I tried hard to dislodge it but the tremolo beat me :) and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial it’s a non fine tuner Floyd rose that pulls into the body like the vtrem but there’s no body contact with a Floyd it’s just floating yours is definitely better 👍
Hey Tony you should try the Sophia trems. Worth every penny and best on market.
:) man, everybody is telling me to try their fave tremolo :) OMG... I'll wear out the screw holes :) Thanks for the tip and I will look at them... and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial t Sophia tremolos and they're fixed bridges are above and beyond anything else trust
me. The Gotoh 510 trem used with Wilkinson locking saddles is bullet proof too.
You know wilkinson stopped selling the locking saddles right? I wanted some and they are gone,lol.
Thats my problem with vega trem as well. Cant just go to guitar center and buy replacement saddle or whatever, got to get it through vega trem. Thats ONLY issue i have with the vega, is all the parts are proprietary.
@@illegallystalked3119 If out of stock you can email them for eta.
Will this fit in a starcaster? I tried upgrading the original bridge with a new one but not all the holes on the body lined up plus the block in the back was thicker than than the original
Gerardo honestly I have not tried... but hop over to the Vegatrem site and those guys will tell you instantly.... thanks.
Are we going to hear it see it in action?
You will :) Thanks for watching... but you DID want to learn about this trem... right?
They've got one that matches the finish of my current trem and tuners, but $300 is a bit steep for me.
They are not a low cost device I agree, but you'll only fit one of these... guaranteed. Thanks.
The gap behind the back of the trem doesn’t bother me. Quite honestly it makes me nervous how close it actually is, I’d prefer if it was a tad bigger.
:) Ha its all opinion... thanks for watching.
why didnt you get a gold one ??????
:) great question, because the tuners I had were silver :).
Nice one mate, but a bit expensive or our NZ $ at 60c Us,,, & 48p english pound
Ouch... well the VegaTrem is not the cheapest around, but you do get something that will likely last a lifetime. Thanks for watching.
Are you the original Equalizer?
Maybe or not :) but I just love great gear... thanks for watching...
You can see the quality in the metal finish
Thanks for the info... it certainly a good unit. Thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial thanks for replying no fucker else ever does
Why not use the gold colored one? And good tuners🤷♂️
Well for this guitar it was 'right'. I did look at the 'Telecaster' one but they did not have a gold at the time... maybe its changed these days.... thanks for watching.
You don't provide any information about the sound and sustain of the vegatrem. It is a very thin block which I think causes the sound to be thinner and less sustain? A steady tremolo is great, but if the sound becomes thin and sustain decreases, I think many strat players say no to the vegatrem!
Well listen to it? The Vegatrem is IMO not noticeably different sounding than other stuff, except maybe you won't hear those springs that Strat tremolos sometimes emit... hope it helps and thanks for watching.
Why 3 springs should only have 2 ?????
They supply a number of them... thanks for watching.
I opted for one of these on my Gordon Smith, it's amazing. The build quality as far as i can see is first class and their sleek. Vega hit it out of the park. I feel sorry for you not having an electrical device to show us the guts of, lol. Your reviews don't mess about, thanks mate.
Tony have you ever heard of a Virtual Jeff? Digital Trem goes on any Guitar?
I just posted a ZOOM G11 and show the insides.... a very useful and great sounding device... check it out. I'm still looking for new Marshall amps? where are they... No not heard of that one... come back and post a link if you have one... and thanks for watching.
I've no idea from this if the guitar actually stayed in tune after all that abuse. To be honest, the guitar sounded out of tune (28:36) to start with. Thought the Headstock tuner might have been there to demonstrate the tuning before and after...
Its not out of tune. I have a tendency on the very light strings to press on too hard sometimes...
Having a warranty and then honoring it are two different things hopefully this is a standup company
Oh I agree - and I always look at the warranties. Some companies (and insurance companies for that matter) are just snakes when it comes to warranty - or even 'accidental' damage. I could create a video of that stuff, but it might be boring to guitarists :) But well said and make no mistake warranty is hyper important no matter what some might suggest. Great point and thanks for watching.
I got my guitar fitted with VegaTrem couple of days ago. So far, it seem it needs a bit "breaking in", then I'll be able to give an honest opinion. So far, for the price, I am not really impressed. It should cost far less, half the price would be fair. Unless it's made from best german steel infused by kryptonite retrieved from an asteroid that had to be pulled from Mariana trench via a deep see submersible and hand made by spanish unicorns, only fed with caviar and 75 year old irish whisky, it's not worth the asking price.
Well, the trem is expensive I agree. However, generally I do think you get what you pay for with tremolo units. Look at the one I pulled off... while it looked good, in reality it was not that great mainly because of low-cost metals used. The Vega Trem was entirely different. I love the description :) great and very entertaining :). I assume you saw me trying to get it to jump off the slots. I failed and that trem was being used about 15 minutes after completion (it's one reason I mentioned tuning because the strings literally had just been put on there). I have tried out a number of really very good tremolos (opinions vary I will agree on tremolos) made with exceptionally good materials - they are all on my channel and I still have every one of them to this day without any major issue. Some guys are concerned about the grub screw height - and looking at the video again I can see their concern. I have had aggro with even Fender tremolos like that... but watch my video at the end of the review and somehow it was not a problem for me - and to be honest I never considered it because I had no problem. Maybe I'll fit shorter grub screws just to be sure, but it's only a maybe. Sincerely I hope you spend a bit of time with the unit and that you get great value out of yours. Great post and thanks for running through your opinion - always useful... and thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial Vanson guitars sold an improved brass block for the Wilkinson, which really improves it.
I've had one for about 2 years now and it never needed breaking in. But I also installed an LSR roller nut and locking tuners. Stays in tune beautifully no matter how hard I am on the trem.
@@warrenmooney9422 I have the same setup, m8. Vega trem+LSR+locking tuners.
It does hold a tune really well, and it would be even better on a better guitar.
Still overpriced.
@@69vrana Well they aren't cheap. My German made Floyd Rose '84 was even more I believe. If you want quality you gotta pay for it these days. I am okay with the price I paid for the Vega trem and even the German Floyd Rose only because of how well my guitars stay in tune and the fact the trems will likely outlive the life of the guitar.
This or the Halon????
They are different beasts really. I honestly like both. Thanks for watching.
@@tonymckenzieofficial but if you had to pick just 1????
Saw your video and bought one, in gold.
Amazing - almost no movement when bending strings; and it has the divebomb up 'n down range of my Floyd ROSE Ibanez, but with the advantage that the strings stay in tune without pesky nut locks. My only slight dislike is that the arm is a bit long and sticks out so is easily accidentally caught.
So thanks for the review.
Well done... It's a great tremolo unit for sure and works brilliantly. Glad you liked it... and thanks for watching.