Super-Vee BladeRunner Tremolo System review

  • £120
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Super-Vee's BladeRunner tremolo hinges around a small insert of industrial-grade stainless spring steel.

MusicRadar Verdict

An idiot proof, easily reversible retro-fit vibrato that won't damage your guitar. It sounds good and although feels slightly stiffer has exceptional return to pitch with zero tweaking.

Pros

  • +

    Easy installation; won't damage your guitar; sound; tuning stability.

Cons

  • -

    Very little; you just have to adjust slightly to the subtly stiffer feel.

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Easily the most popular vibrato ever, the Fender Strat's waggle bar is not perfect, and one of its 'problems' lies in the relatively crude fulcrum point.

But now Super-Vee has come up with a unique solution: its Blade technology, a 'pivot' created by a small insert of industrial grade stainless spring steel. There is no actual pivot point to wear or prevent return to pitch, the flexible insert just bends as you move the arm.

Very nicely made with a lightweight aluminium block and an arm that screws into a nylon insert so it stays where you put it, the BladeRunner is a direct replacement for most Strat-style vibratos.

Simply remove your old vibrato and its six pivot screws and fit the BladeRunner - you only use the outer four screws but screw them hard down. The front on the vibrato doesn't move, it's the insert between that and the main vibrato block that provides the flex.

In Use

Fitted to our reference Road Worn Fender Strat there's a really nice lively resonance to the guitar - subtly different to the original vibrato. Things do feel a little stiffer: the arm stays put and you seem to need a little more push; but again it's subtle and after half an hour of playing, unless you like a really light vibrato feel, we think you'll adapt.

But it's the tuning stability that is most impressive. Our Strat feels (and sounds) well and truly upgraded!

Dave Burrluck
Dave Burrluck

Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad.