Are Wilkinson parts overrated?

[dmccombe7]

OK a dafty question here but what is BBOT ?

I know its probably obvious once someone tells me but its just not coming to me at all and its mid afternoon so no early morning brain fade excuses 

Dave

[kodiakblair]

8 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

OK a dafty question here but what is BBOT ?

Dave.

 

Bent Bit of Tin, it's shorthand for the Fender style bridges 👍

[dmccombe7]

16 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Dave.

 

Bent Bit of Tin, it's shorthand for the Fender style bridges 👍

OK i would never have got that. 

I'm thinking something more substantial like the fender hi-mass or i think Hipshot versions look good.

Dave

[Ed_S]

53 minutes ago, la bam said:

I think they're a good basic product. I think they're suffering a bit as lots of people are using the term 'upgrading with.....' and with 'superb Wilkinson etc etc'.

 

They're good. They do a job. But they're not a significant upgrade compared to other brands renowned for being an upgrade.

 

Agreed. Their BBOT bridges were a meaningful step up from the ones on my Fender Aerodyne Jazz and Harley Benton PJ-5 because both had my least favourite combination of small diameter saddles and very long grub screws with threads that defy finding appropriate length replacements. Subjectively I prefer the look of chunky brass saddles, but the fact that the threads in the Wilkinson bridges are just M3 (or whatever it was..) meant they could be easily loaded with readily available grub screws that don’t stick out at all, making them an objective upgrade for my purposes. Had there been no functional issue with the stock bridges, the Wilkinsons would have been cosmetic at very best, and probably no upgrade at all.

[Rich]

I've used their tuners in the past, open and closed types. Perfectly happy with them.

I've also got a Wilkinson pickup in my P bass, it's great. Pretty hot output.

[paul_5]

I’ve never had any issue with anything from Wilkinson - all of my basses have various models and configurations of their pickups, and I’m fairly sure their tuners are on all of my headstocks too - pleased to report no failures after probably the best part of a decade.

 

Perhaps more importantly, recording and FOH engineers haven’t either!

[tegs07]

As others have reported I’ve used their machine heads and bbot bridges. They do what they are supposed to do for not too much money. Haven’t really got anything to add. 

[Norris]

Wilkinson parts are budget, but generally better quality than unbranded parts.

 

The only Wilkinson thing I can think I've used is the bridge on my telecaster (3x saddles in compensated pairs), which is much better than the individual saddle bridge I used originally 

[lownote]

Edited - I decided I was being a trolly dolly.

Edited May 26, 2023 by lownote

[NikNik]

Absolutely not; I love them. Esp the baseplate/comp saddles I have on one of my Teles. Why pay more for the Gotoh?

[NikNik]

42 minutes ago, Norris said:

Wilkinson parts are budget, but generally better quality than unbranded parts.

 

The only Wilkinson thing I can think I've used is the bridge on my telecaster (3x saddles in compensated pairs), which is much better than the individual saddle bridge I used originally 

I have that unit. It's excellent.

[Rayman]

Yes, you’re probably right, I was probably expecting too much. Tbh I’ve never been much of a modded/upgrader…. and this Squier and the Thunderbird were meant to be fun projects. The TB turned out perfect at every stage, totally delighted…. the Squier though has put up a fight…. every part of the build has been a headache. 
 

I wanted black tuners, and had heard good things about Wilkinsons as decent parts, but I was disappointed on this occasion.

[King Tut]

We played a music festival oop North last year - can’t remember the name but it was around Burnley - took over the whole town. This was with the Verity Bromham band - i think it was our first gig. I didn’t realise that John uses Trevor Wilkinson to make bespoke stuff for his guitars. He’d arranged to pick up a guitar from Trevor at the gig and I met him and had a chat in the dressing room. I remember suggesting he’d do well to look into making Rickenbacker replacement bridges. He seemed like a really nice guy, and given that he was wearing a genuine Rolex Daytona, I’d suggest he’s pretty successful 😂🤔 Of course all of this has nothing really to do with what his product is like! I remember having some Vintage style tuners and I never really noticed them, which I suppose is a good sign. As for ‘overrated’, I’m not sure they are. I’ve always seen them as a budget bread and butter product without massive expectations.

Edited May 26, 2023 by King Tut

[pst62]

I've bought a few sets of their Fender alike WJBL200's over the years, all have been fine, also bought a set of their WJB750's, no problems there either.

I did notice not long back that their official web site is all about Bridges and Pickups, not a hint of Machine heads or any other hardware.

[Dan Dare]

On 25/05/2023 at 16:48, dmccombe7 said:

OK i would never have got that. 

I'm thinking something more substantial like the fender hi-mass or i think Hipshot versions look good.

Dave

 

If you fancy something more hi-mass, the Gotoh 201 is the one to get. Works well and again very reasonably priced.

[Tokalo]

I put some Wilkinson tuners on a CV Squier Jaguar, and they were a definite upgrade.

 

However, I read somewhere that Harley Benton had to stop using Wilkinson on their above-basic instruments because their factories in Asia kept receiving counterfeit/sub-standard parts. Hence the move to Roswell pickups.

 

 

[dmccombe7]

12 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

If you fancy something more hi-mass, the Gotoh 201 is the one to get. Works well and again very reasonably priced.

I'll check that model out. Is it a direct replacement for the standard P one. ?

Dave

[Rayman]

9 hours ago, Tokalo said:

I put some Wilkinson tuners on a CV Squier Jaguar, and they were a definite upgrade.

 

However, I read somewhere that Harley Benton had to stop using Wilkinson on their above-basic instruments because their factories in Asia kept receiving counterfeit/sub-standard parts. Hence the move to Roswell pickups.

 

 

My first thought was that these were Knock off, they’re that bad….. but the source is a very reputable store, admittedly via eBay, but not from some random shop.

 

That said, and as has been pointed out, maybe I’m being harsh, because they’re just budget parts at the end of the day, I was probably expecting too much.

[Chienmortbb]

On 26/05/2023 at 09:49, pst62 said:

I've bought a few sets of their Fender alike WJBL200's over the years, all have been fine, also bought a set of their WJB750's, no problems there either.

I did notice not long back that their official web site is all about Bridges and Pickups, not a hint of Machine heads or any other hardware.

I think they have been made under licence by both Sung Il and Gotoh. JHS in Leeds are the UK distributor, but they do not carry all the ranges.

 

I bought some WJB650BK https://www.jhs.co.uk/collections/wilkinson/products/wilkinson-bass-machineheads-2-2-black   from a retailer suggested by JHS. They were about £40 from memory in 2017/18.  They were in retail packaging too, not loose in a box or bag.

 

Today, as then, you can get them on eBay for under £30 https://tinyurl.com/2bvuajfc

 

Buying from an Authorised outlet, I knew I was getting genuine Wilkinson machine heads. Since then Gotoh's GB707 have come down in price and would be a better bet https://tinyurl.com/29z76d7b

 

Tpouchstone Tonewoods but directly from Gotoh and have done special orders for me in the past.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Chienmortbb

[Dan Dare]

6 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'll check that model out. Is it a direct replacement for the standard P one. ?

Dave

 

Yep. 5 screws, same hole spacing. I'd re-use the screws from your existing bridge. You can torque the head off the Gotoh supplied ones if you're a but too enthusiastic. Guess how I know...

Edited May 27, 2023 by Dan Dare

[dmccombe7]

25 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Yep. 5 screws, same hole spacing. I'd re-use the screws from your existing bridge. You can torque the head off the Gotoh supplied ones if you're a but too enthusiastic. Guess how I know...

I decided to just get a Fender hi-mass bridge. I have one on my PJ bass and its been ok. Only £25 so not a major loss if its rubbish.

Dave