Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: Twinfan on May 11, 2009, 08:07:08 PM

Title: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 11, 2009, 08:07:08 PM
I've got a JV Squier Strat where the trem block is bust where the arm screws in - it got stripped at some point.  Can someone recommend me a US Vintage spec block I can buy to replace it?  I need an arm too.

So far, I've found:

Fat Boy parts block and arm = £55 posted
WD Music block and Gotoh arm = £45 posted
Callaham block and arm = £80 posted

Anything else I should consider?  I can't seem to find details of the BKP one anywhere, is it still available?
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 12, 2009, 12:11:55 PM
Well with that resounding silence ( :lol: ) I've ordered a Callaham.  Should have it tomorrow.....
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Philly Q on May 12, 2009, 01:17:33 PM
Sorry, I was on a course this morning.  But I was going to say Callaham.  :wink:
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 12, 2009, 01:25:40 PM
Of course you were  ;)

I did some more digging and I liked their logic and improved arm system.  A bit pricey, but this guitar was my first electric and it's never being sold so it was worth the cost to get it fixed properly  :)

(http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r267/junkacct/JVSquierMedium.jpg)
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Philly Q on May 12, 2009, 01:33:02 PM
Out of interest, where did you order from Dave?
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 12, 2009, 01:50:33 PM
Charlie Chandlers Guitar Experience.  Not worth importing from the US with the exchange rate etc.

They had a variety of options available and he checked that they had exactly what I wanted on the shelf, which they did.  Very helpful!
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: gwEm on May 12, 2009, 01:58:43 PM
BKP don't sell the parts of their tremolo separately for now, already asked Tim that.
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Elliot on May 12, 2009, 02:43:38 PM
That's just like my JV!    I think after all the guitars I have had it still plays the best, even if the basswood body can be a bit midrangey at times.
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 12, 2009, 03:10:09 PM
Yep, it's quite beefy sounding.  Especially at the moment with 12s in Eb and the trem blocked off  :o

It'll have 10s in E and a floating trem in a couple of days...
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Elliot on May 12, 2009, 03:19:00 PM
I have to say that Apaches work great in these guitars - the Alnico III works well with the beefy tone of the body.
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 12, 2009, 03:28:28 PM
I swapped the original pickups for a set of David White 'Old Glories' back in the early 90s, which I'm sure Tim won't mind me mentioning as they're no longer available.  As they're part of the guitar's history I won't be changing them.  They sound pretty good!
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: mikeluke on May 12, 2009, 04:35:01 PM
Didn't know that PRS made Strats....


 :lol:
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Philly Q on May 12, 2009, 04:37:54 PM
Charlie Chandlers Guitar Experience.  Not worth importing from the US with the exchange rate etc.

They had a variety of options available and he checked that they had exactly what I wanted on the shelf, which they did.  Very helpful!

That's where I got my Callaham trem.  Good point about the exchange rate, I bought a Tele bridge direct from Callaham before I realised CCGX stocked them.... it ended up costing me about £40 extra.  :oops:


I swapped the original pickups for a set of David White 'Old Glories' back in the early 90s, which I'm sure Tim won't mind me mentioning as they're no longer available. 

David White died, didn't he?  I remember his pickups always got rave reviews.
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 12, 2009, 05:00:10 PM
David White died, didn't he?  I remember his pickups always got rave reviews.

He did die yes, and there's not much known about him.  He was an early re-introuducer of scatterwinding if I remember rightly and he had a old Spectrum computer doing his winding patterns installed on a winder in his shed!

Didn't know that PRS made Strats....

I bought this guitar around 1989 if I remember rightly, saved up my paper round money  :)  I was a pup back then, as was the PRS Guitar Company  ;)
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Elliot on May 12, 2009, 05:48:56 PM
Just being playing mine: with lots of presence and reverb you can get a great watery 60s surf sound! - got mine in 1984 by the paper round route too - also my bridge bust in the same way after lots of gigs in the late 1980s (had Duncan Classic Strat Stacks in the JV then - way too hot to be 'classic' but as I was in a Dead Kennedy's esque band it didn't really matter).  I used the Wilkinson rip offs of the Callaham as I wanted a gold/fiesta red look and CCGX didn't have Callaham's in gold.  Not too bad a trem for a cheapy.
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Twinfan on May 12, 2009, 09:01:04 PM
I thought I'd splash out on this one, and I've just gone for the block and arm.  I want to keep the nicely relic'd bridge plate and saddles  :)
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: Prawnik on May 29, 2009, 04:44:15 PM
Callaham blocks are nice. Cats like.

I want someone to try a Killer Guitar Components brass block so they can review it for me.
Title: Re: Recommend me a Strat trem block please!
Post by: HTH AMPS on May 30, 2009, 12:04:25 AM
I swapped the original pickups for a set of David White 'Old Glories' back in the early 90s, which I'm sure Tim won't mind me mentioning as they're no longer available.  As they're part of the guitar's history I won't be changing them.  They sound pretty good!

I remember those pickups having a very good reputation - always meant to try them, but never got round to it.  That guy has passed away now afaik, so it's gonna be tough to source a set.  Plus, I don't get on with Strats anyway so its unlikely I'll be needing Strat pickups any time soon.  I have 'Roo-itis', except with Strats rather than Teles.