wlm50 Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 I have a Hamer Daytona and the tremolo arm has been misplaced (I lent the guitar to someone for a period of a couple of years, and now that I have it back, the tremolo arm is missing). I tried a new Gotoh arm designed for the Wilkinson VSVG tremolo, but it's too big (5mm diameter). Apparently, Gotoh made some changes to the trem design. Old forum listings say I need a 4.76mm bar (3/16"). Anyone know where I can get one? Preferably chrome with a white tip. I've tried two different bars from different vendors, and nothing as worked so far. Thanks!
HamerDave Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 I have a '94 Daytona. Original trem. I use a Fender MIM arm on it. Threads in perfectly. Check with your local shops. Try some, see what fits.
kizanski Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 1 hour ago, HamerDave said: I have a '94 Daytona. Original trem. I use a Fender MIM arm on it. Threads in perfectly. Check with your local shops. Try some, see what fits. Threads in? All the Wilky trem arms that I've seen push in. Yours has threads?
HamerDave Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 @kizanski yessir. I bought a VSVG to put on my strat and was surprised it was a push in. The one shown below threads in but still as that teeny tension screw to adjust how free the arm spins.
kizanski Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 1 minute ago, HamerDave said: The one shown below threads in but still as that teeny tension screw to adjust how free the arm spins. Maybe your trem block had been changed? I've never seen this on any of my 10-12 Daytonas and Mirages.
HamerDave Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 @kizanski possible I guess. This one was molested before I rescued it. It's the first Wilky I'd seen. I wasn't too sure about it but, after sorting the rattles and intonation problems I love them enough to have bought a Gotoh for my Strat.
kizanski Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 1 minute ago, HamerDave said: This one was molested before I rescued it. It's the first Wilky I'd seen. I'd bet money on it. I'd even bet it was changed because the prior owner lost the trem arm.
Dutchman Posted April 26, 2019 Posted April 26, 2019 My Mirage 1 screws in too. Bought it used but it looks original.
Gabe Posted April 27, 2019 Posted April 27, 2019 Had 2 Daytona's. Both tremolo-arms threaded in (both also had the tiny tension screw). Gabe 😀
cmatthes Posted April 27, 2019 Posted April 27, 2019 I've had 4 Daytonas, from '94-'96. All had/have push-in VSV-G arms with no threads. Weird!
HamerDave Posted April 27, 2019 Posted April 27, 2019 Well @wlm50, now you see how rabid we all are about our Hamers. Welcome to the tribe!
Travis Posted April 27, 2019 Posted April 27, 2019 Both of my current Mirages and the one Mirage maple top I had years ago all have/had push-in trem arms. I have no other experience with the Wilkinson bridges, tho...
jbrooke Posted April 27, 2019 Posted April 27, 2019 I pushed in my 1996 PRS arm and it fit ok, so I ordered one of those. Stainless one that's for the US guitars, but others may fit better.
wlm50 Posted April 28, 2019 Author Posted April 28, 2019 Thanks for all the comments. Let's see... It may be push in or it may be threaded. But at least we can agree it's 4.76mm? Stonge is going to try helping me with his 4.75mm rod stock. I really appreciate that! I haven't found the small tension screw. I took off the back, but saw nothing. And honestly it's hard to tell if this has threads or not.
Dutchman Posted April 28, 2019 Posted April 28, 2019 25 minutes ago, wlm50 said: took off the back, but saw nothing. And honestly it's hard to tell if this has threads or not. Take a bar straw and bend the end about a 1/4” , push it in the hole, as you insert it you’ll hear if it’s threaded or smooth!!
cmatthes Posted April 28, 2019 Posted April 28, 2019 If it has THIS (the bar tension screw) then it’s not threaded. If not, it could be an earlier, threaded version(?)...
HamerDave Posted April 28, 2019 Posted April 28, 2019 @cmatthes mine has that tension screw AND is threaded. SN 436340. Maybe there was a production lot of the bridges configured this way? @kizanski thought the bridge block might have been replaced at some point but the presence of the tension screw, an absence of tool marks on the heads of the screws that hold the block to the plate, and the block material appearing to match those shown here, makes me think otherwise. The only other possibility I can think of would be someone running a tap into the origjnal block. If thats the case they did a great job.
kizanski Posted April 28, 2019 Posted April 28, 2019 26 minutes ago, HamerDave said: @kizanski thought the bridge block might have been replaced at some point but the presence of the tension screw, an absence of tool marks on the heads of the screws that hold the block to the plate, and the block material appearing to match those shown here, makes me think otherwise. I have been known to talk out of my ass on occasion.
HamerDave Posted April 28, 2019 Posted April 28, 2019 1 hour ago, kizanski said: I have been known to talk out of my ass on occasion. Not so in this case man. It was a good working theory and very possible. I had to check it out. That guitar was overdue for strings anyway so I checked it out while I had it the bench. The evidence didn't support the supposition. No biggie.
cmatthes Posted April 28, 2019 Posted April 28, 2019 A tension screw on a threaded arm? Tension screws are designed to work with a smooth surface, so unless the inner plastic sleeve is threaded (??), that wouldn’t make sense. Not sure, but maybe that’s why they stopped doing it?
kizanski Posted April 28, 2019 Posted April 28, 2019 1 hour ago, cmatthes said: A tension screw on a threaded arm? Tension screws are designed to work with a smooth surface, so unless the inner plastic sleeve is threaded (??), that wouldn’t make sense. Perhaps the threads are threading into the set screw. Back the set screw out and then see if the threads meet up with anything. Whoops. There goes my ass again.
wlm50 Posted April 28, 2019 Author Posted April 28, 2019 cmathis, thanks for the photo. This Daytona does have the tension screw. I don't have a tool for it, but it's there!
Ting Ho Dung Posted April 29, 2019 Posted April 29, 2019 On 4/28/2019 at 8:56 AM, kizanski said: I have been known to talk out of my ass on occasion. Yeah man.
wlm50 Posted May 1, 2019 Author Posted May 1, 2019 I did try using a small straw to test whether or not there are threads in the tremolo bar hole. The answer is no there are not. It's a push-in bar. Thanks for the tip, Dutchman.
stonge Posted May 3, 2019 Posted May 3, 2019 just finished twisting up a couple of replacement trem arms for wlm50 (I'll ship them out at lunch today) and noticed something interesting; the trem arm off my PRS DGT fits the Wilkie so that is another potential source (especially if you want one with the little plastic doohickey on the end). I wouldn't think there's any diff between the trem on the DGT compared to other USA PRSi so something like this might work too: https://reverb.com/item/5139967-prs-tremolo-arm-short-gilmour-style-black-strat (standard disclaimer - don't know the seller, never slapped a micrometer on the product but based on the descrip it might actually be compatible with a Wilkie. You do need precision-ground 3/16 diameter since it's a pretty close fit into the Wilkie bushing though).
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