Albert Lee with Wilkinson trem and Grover tuners??

[art027]

I just saw an Ebay auction on an Albert lee. This guitar has a Wilkinson tremolo bridge and Grover Locking tuners.
Are these factory original?

Thanks in advance,

Michell

 

[Jimi D]

Yes, that's an early AL... I had a Silhouette Special that was outfitted with the same hardware. Not quite up to the current production hardware imho, but Wilkinson made a decent trem in the day...

 

[art027]

Hi Jimi,
Thanks for your respond,

Ah, that explaines it. I have an Albert lee with MM90's and trem and it is outfitted with a Musicman bridge and Schaller locking tuners but it's a newer model, 2001 i think.

Michell

 

[Derek]

This Blue Albert Lee is from Sept 1996. When we first offered the Albert Lee with tremelo we used a Wilkenson bridge as on the Silhouette Special at the time. The Music Man vintage tremelo was also being developed around this period. Even though it was listed in the 1996 MM catalog, Albert Lee with Wilkenson Trem and Grovers was not offered very long. MM R&D only remembers a few prototypes built with wilk trems and grovers,although its possible a few production pieces made it out the door with this combination. We quickly switched from Grovers to Schallers and Wilkenson bridges to MM vintage tremelos.

Thanks

Derek

 

[art027]

Thanks Derek for the information.

I have two Al's. One standard model, and one with the MM90's.

I love them both, they're just fantastic sounding AND looking guitars.
I had to get used to the looks a little, but now that i have them i think they look fantastic.

Michell