Review : Vega*Trem VT1
Vega-Trem VT-1 installed on an early 90’s Fender Mexico Stratocaster
I have an old Mexico made Stratocaster from the 1990’s. I’ve done some basic mods over the years to improve the functionality and the sound. Some years ago, the stock tuners were replaced with better quality Fender tuners. The stock bridge and block were replaced with a Fender American Vintage bridge and steel block. The factory pickups were replaced with a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless series one pickups, but last year I finally replaced those with a set of Lindy Fralin Pure 54s. These pickups made me want to play the guitar plugged in again. I kept the guitar and worked on it because in my hands, it feel just great, but those vintage noiseless were more like vintage toneless and I hated the sound plugged in. The Fralins made the guitar magical.
I use the vibrato more as I try to build skill in using a vibrato like the great Jeff Beck. Jeff used a shorter arm on his Strats and I looked into that and found one available from Callaham in the United States. They are a very reputable company, but buying when you are outside the States is a bit of a runaround. On the same day that I sent a note off to Callaham requesting a quote for one of their bridges and arm, I received a note from Electric Mojo Guitars in Quebec Canada. I have dealt with Charles at Electric Mojo Guitars for years. He carried pedals that no one else did, service was great, delivery was great and his pricing was competitive with any other dealer in Canada, if they even carried the product that I was looking for. The email that I received announced that the company was now a dealer for Vega Trem products. Vega Trem products are made in Spain and have a very solid reputation.
They have two lines, the VT-1 which is for Strats and the VT-2 which is for Teles. You can get a factory Tele with a trem but it will be a Bigsby, and while lovely to look at, staying in tune is not one of Bigsby’s hallmarks. I have enough Bigsby tailpieces on enough different guitars to be clear on this. Most Strat trems (and I use that word with annoyance because they are not tremolo arms, they are vibrato arms, tremolo varies volume, vibrato alters pitch - thanks a lot Leo) will drop pitch but not go up to any extent.
Setting up a Strat trem so it floats and holds tune can be a challenge in some cases. I wanted a smooth vibrato with no catches or lag as is found in all Fender vibratos and I wanted some pitch up as well as pitch down. I did not want to have to rout the guitar body, and I have enough Floyd Rose systems that I don’t want another as they are a pain to set up and do string changes on.
Sounds like a no win situation bit the Vega Term changes that. The Vega Trem VT-1 is a drop in bridge that requires NO modifications to the body at all. It comes in a version for six hole mounts and two hole mounts. The interesting thing is that the only difference is the number of holes in the hardened bar that screws to the guitar body. The bridge assembly is held in place by the vibrato springs and the string tension and it moves up and down on a knife edge that engages into the bar.
If you don’t watch the installation video, you will pull your hair out. If you do watch the installation video, it’s a very simple installation. Sort of the 2023 equivalent of RTFM, in this case relabelled to be WTFV. The strings enter through the base as on a regular Fender bridge. The saddles are independently adjustable for intonation and height, just like a Fender, but I prefer the VT-1 saddles to the Fender “vintage” stamped steel versions.
Where the VT-1 excels is in the smoothness of the vibrato action. There is no catching or lag and as the bridge is not actually bolted to the body anywhere, movement is awesome. Because it uses the balance of string tension and vibrato spring tension, return to zero is consistent and tuning is extremely stable. Do be sure to stretch your new strings well before you curse the bridge. The arm is the same length as the stock US Fender arm but is a push mount with a locking collar, so it does’t flop around or feature tiny springs that sag over time and vanish into another dimension whenever the arm is removed. Playing in the style of Jeff Beck using either the index finger or middle finger to operate the arm is very easy and the bend in the arm does not get in the way.
I changed the tuners to Fender locking tuners by Schaller and I wonder why I did not go with locking tuners when I changed them the first time. Vintage style is one thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean most functional. Had I been able to get a Fender / LSR roller nut at the same time, I would have changed the nut out as well, although the Tusq nut that is in place is in good stead. I’m also very picky about always using a nut slot lube on every string change and cleaning out the gunk from the nut slots before applying the lubricant.
In my playing after the bridge swap, I believe that sustain has increased and certainly the acoustic resonance is improved as I believe that there is a cleaner path for the sound of the strings to transit to the body. Once plugged in of course, you won’t necessarily hear it, but it does contribute to overall tone of the instrument. As this guitar is an old Mexican build, it is very lightweight and resonates really nicely.
The total time to do everything at a slow and methodical pace was about two hours for everything including intonation, action and balancing the bridge on the knife edge. Now that I have done it once, I could cut the install time a fair bit.
I was initially concerned that there might be issues with installing the VT-1 on a Mexican body. Charles at Electric Mojo Guitars sent me a link to an excellent video where the person doing the video went through the installation on a Mexico built Stratocaster. According to Vega Trem, the bridge will fit most any guitars with a Stratocaster bridge.
Are there downsides? There are a couple. Because the bridge is literally riding on the knife edge there is a gap between the bridge metal and the sides of the opening that the bridge goes through. On a Fender bridge, the opening is covered by the bridge plate. It’s no issue for me at all, and since the bridge isn’t trying to look like a 1954 bridge, who cares? The other issue is that the Strat in question has a cover for the vibrato springs with holes to pass the strings through when restringing. The holes in the Vega Trem while loading from the bottom are not in alignment with the cover openings. In a Fender bridge the block is quite deep. There is no block in the Vega Trem because it does not need one and so the string holes are best accessed with the cover off. So I will have to remove the cover when changing strings or just leave it off. No big deal either way.
My final thoughts are simple. This is the best vibrato bridge that I have ever played on a Stratocaster. It does pitch up and pitch down, doesn’t require any modifications to the guitar body and changing strings and doing a setup will not require substance abuse as a Floyd Rose can and often does. At just under $400 CAD it is expensive, about twice what a Callaham bridge assembly would cost and a lot more than Fender USA parts. However if the smoothness of the vibrato matters to you and you don’t want to alter the body to get incredible control, this bridge is definitely worth looking at.
