Advice on replacing a stop tail with a Vibrola knock off

[Layne Matz]

Soon I'll be buying a knock off Vibrola on EBay, made in China or Korea I assume. They average in price from $70-100. The seller feedback is fine, the part appears fine. The break angle may be an issue- OR so I've heard. Was it Frank Marino that said the Gibson reissue Vibrola's were way too low?

Im not worried about tuning stability. Sooner or later Ill put locking tuners on it... That's after replacing the bridge, then the stock pickups.

As for the knockoff actually working properly, I dont see how they could sell it if it didnt generally work?

Im not hung up over the name on the head stock. This is my guitar so I'm making the most of it. I have a squire Strat too (that's abnormally heavy) but thats a whole different woman. Cant put them in he same room together... Just kidding. The SG is what I'm most comfortable with.

 

[Layne Matz]

Oh, before its an argument YES, I am certain iewant to do away with the stop tail and replace it with a Vibrola.

Ive toyed with the idea of filling the old screw holes with Tungsten to counter act the neck dive too. Doesn't seem like a bad idea, any thoughts?

 

[Chubbles]

Very cool. It sounds like a fun project. I love a challange!

 

[DaveSG]

I have one of those vibrola units off ebay for a custom SG build I am doing, since I needed a left handed one and left handed Gibson units are like hen's teeth.

They are solidly constructed. The break angle is a little shallow, but actually better than the reissue gibsons. When you swing the whammy bar down out of the way parallel to the vibrola, it rests about an 1" to 1 1/2" off the body of the guitar. Again, not perfect, but not as bad as a newer Gibson. My bet is when the Chinese copied it, they didn't factor in the string tension somehow.

Having the vibrola on the back will more than make up for the neck dive. Overall, I'm happy with mine!

 

[Layne Matz]

Thank you very much for the post! Very informative