Cool Tremolo Alert; The Wilkinson/Gotoh VSVG Vintage Tremolo

I have finally replaced the stock tremolo on my MIM (Made In Mexico) Fender Strat with the Wilkinson/Gotoh VSVG Vintage Tremolo.
I ended up purchasing it for $110.00 (shipping included) on Ebay from a seller in Virginia with a 100% positive feedback rating.

Right off the bat, the installation was a piece of cake. I just simply swapped out the stock tremolo unit.

Not only was it easy to replace, but the intonation was set perfectly right out of the box.  I did not have to adjust one saddle.  In no way can I  guarantee perfect intonation if you buy the VSVG tremolo unit.  This particular case was a flat out miracle.

Before taking off the stock tremolo unit, I plugged the Strat directly into ProTools and recorded some chords & licks.  After installing the new Wilkinson/Gotoh trem, I went straight back to ProTools and recorded the same chords & licks.

The results were quite revealing.  At fist glance, the waveforms of the stock tremolo appeared to be larger than the waveforms of the VSVG tremolo.  My first thought was “Oh great, I’m losing volume with the VSVG”.  But that was not the case at all.

I tend to be a pretty “percussive” guitar player which means that I regularly “hit” the the guitar as I strike the strings.  If I’m doing R&B (which is real common on a Strat), I hit the guitar harder with my right hand than if I do jazz.

Upon closer scrutiny of the audio, the stock tremolo was picking up my right hand movements and transferring that onto the strings.  When listening to the Wilkinson/Gotoh VSVG audio, I just heard more of the guitar  without the right hand “hits” against the body.  The  Wilkinson/Gotoh VSVG Tremolo filtered out the “percussive” hits and let more of the guitar tone ring through.  The stock trem was picking up the low end of the “thuds”.

The next day, I played the Strat  at the Saddleback Church services with guest country artist Billy Dean.  At the end of the service, we played a “Country 10 Step” blues jam  for the congregation to walk out to.  Somebody told my wife, “I didn’t know Dave could play Country”.  I normally do not…it was the Mexican Strat finally being able to speak correctly.