VegaTrem - first hand experiences?

[Essex Boi]

I'm putting together a partscaster superstrat from bits I've collected over the years. I was going with a Schaller Floyd Rose (mainly because I have a spare knocking about) but then came across this curiosity - VegaTrem. Anyone here have experience with one on an S style guitar, good or bad?

[Wonks]

I haven't. (Just so you know you're not being ignored).

I think it's come up as a topic once before on here, but a search isn't showing anything.

At around £220+ it isn't a cheap purchase, but no more so than a typical Floyd Rose, and you can pay almost as much for a standard Strat-style Gotoh trem.

It's not a Floyd Rose in that it has no locking nut or fine tuners, so you'll probably be best with using locking tuners with it if you plan to use the trem a lot.

At worst it will be a nice looking trem that performs no better than a standard trem. At best it may perform a lot better than a standard trem in keeping everything in tune.

If you can afford it, and don't need to do extreme bends all the time, why not give it a go?

If you go two-post then you can always swap to the Floyd if you don't get on with it, and they seem to hold their value used.

[Essex Boi]

Thanks for taking the time Wonks.

My spandex and perm are long behind me, but I'd like the trem on this mongrel to be capable of more than a bit of mild Shadows-like wobble.

I'm trying to find out - and drawn a blank so far - how much upward motion (raising pitch) I can expect with the VegaTrem. I realise it's partly down to set up, but there will be a limit to what can be achieved without bringing out the chisels. From experience I know I'll need a rear route (akin to Vai's bear claw) to get the desired range of upward motion on the Floyd Rose and I wondered if the VegaTrem might get me there without the extra routing.

As you say, at £200 or so the costs are comparable. However, I have the Floyd Rose and locking nut in my parts bin so the VegaTrem with some decent locking tuners is already looking more expensive. While cost isn't a deterrent I don't have the patience to experiment on the off chance only to revert to what I already have if the VegaTrem doesn't deliver the goods.

[Wonks]

It is annoying when people don't actually clearly demonstrate what they start off talking about. Here, Paul from the Studio Rats says it's now like a Floyd Rose and you get more upbend ability, but then he just wiggles the arm about like normal without demoing exactly how much upbend you get.

https://youtu.be/6XjS9tVA2zQ?si=1mD9VZR-xA0XlbMf

The design of it allows the rear of the block to move further downwards than a standard trem, and the angled block should again allow more travel before it hits the fornt of the trem rout.

I would have thought that if you were prepared to take a router (or file) to your guitar, you could enlarge (or angle) the forward bottom edge of the trem cavity by a few mm and that would allow greater upbend movement.

It's not done normally because the rear of the trem plate hits the top of the guitar before the block hits the edge of the cavity. But with the Vega design you don't get that happening, so the limiting factor then becomes the block hitting the edge of the cavity.

[Stratman57]

The guy from the Studio rats YouTube channel has a couple of videos about the VegaTrem, one putting it on a PRS Silver Sky.

Regards, Simon.

[Wonks]

You are getting a good full tone up-bend at the start of this demo.

https://youtu.be/kcoc6dVtYvY?si=Urr9E6puXUgv2U94

[Essex Boi]

The guy from the Studio rats YouTube channel has a couple of videos about the VegaTrem, one putting it on a PRS Silver Sky.

Thanks Simon. It was the Studio Rats videos that alerted me to Vega Trem. I share his frustration with the standard setup on the Silver Sky. Beats me why PRS set out to build something better than a standard Strat then handicapped it with a 7.25” radius fretboard, skinny frets and decked trem.

It is annoying when people don't actually clearly demonstrate what they start off talking about. Here, Paul from the Studio Rats says it's now like a Floyd Rose and you get more upbend ability, but then he just wiggles the arm about like normal without demoing exactly how much upbend you get.

It is frustrating when a product demonstration doesn’t show the product’s capabilities. The vids on the VegaTrem website aren’t any more insightful.

https://youtu.be/kcoc6dVtYvY?si=Urr9E6puXUgv2U94

That’s a great find, Wonks. At 3:57 he gets two whole tones up.

[Wonks]

So, tempted to give it a go?

[Wonks]

I think I’ll get one but the guitar I’d fit it to is in storage in anticipation of a house move, so it will be a while before it happens.

[Essex Boi]

So, tempted to give it a go?

The Guitar 21 vid answers my question about upward pitch potential, so I'm running out of excuses. I'm not sure about the aesthetics - it doesn't scream 80s SuperStrat to me - but I s'pose I won't know if I don't try it out.

[Wonks]

Mine had a Kahler trem.

[Music Wolf]

I share his frustration with the standard setup on the Silver Sky. Beats me why PRS set out to build something better than a standard Strat then handicapped it with a 7.25” radius fretboard, skinny frets and decked trem.

I think that the Silver Sky was / is very much a John Mayer signature model with neck profile, radius, fret size etc all being based on his favourite Strat.

I have one, and have gigged it many times (leading me to trade in my US Standard Strat), however. I much prefer the PRS Fiore (which is a Mark Lettieri signature design). Whilst PRS have made some tweaks to the Strat design the Silver Sky is essentially backwards looking, the Fiore on the other hand is forward looking with some really useful pickup combinations.