Article by jekky
History Origin of name Traditionally electric guitarists have reversed the normal meanings of the terms vibrato and tremolo when referring to hardware devices and the effects they produce While the tremolo arm can produce variations of pitch including what is normally termed vibrato it can never produce the effect normally known as tremolo modulation of volume Tremolo on the other hand is exactly the effect produced by the vibrato units built in to many classic guitar amplifiers The other form of the name is Whammy Bar which is also commonly accepted and used by a wide range of guitar players and fans This reversal of terminology is generally attributed to Leo Fender and the naming of the Fender Vibroverb amplifier which actually used tremolo rapid volume changes in an attempt to create a vibrato like rapid changes in pitch sound See vibrato unit for details of the history of these terms in relation to electric guitar and related issues Ironically Fender had previously introduced the Tremolux amplifier in 1953 which used the correct terminology In this article the words are used interchangeably Designs Most tremolo arms are based on one of four basic designs The Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece used in close to original form on many guitars The Fender Synchronized Tremolo or strat trem from which many designs developed including The Floyd Rose locking tremolo The Fender two point synchronised tremolo The Fender Floating Bridge which has two main variants The Fender Floating Tremolo or jag trem The Fender Dynamic Vibrato or stang trem Cam driven designs based on pedal steel guitar concepts including The Stetsbar tremolo The Kahler Tremolo System Many other designs exist in smaller numbers notably several original designs marketed by Gibson under the Vibrola name which was also used for some licensed Bigsby units Vibrato tailpiece Rickenbacker Electro Spanish with Kaufmann Vib Rola Kaufmann Vib Rola rear note spring mechanism One of the first mechanical tremolo vibrato units although not hand operated was the Kauffman Vibrato as used on Rickenbacker Vibrola Spanish guitars They were not operated by hand but rather moved with an electrical mechanism It was developed by Doc Kauffman to simulate the pitch manipulation available with steel guitars A hand operated unit the Vib Rola was also patented by Kaufmann in 1935 and distributed as an option with Rickenbacker s Electro Spanish guitars A later unit was created and used on Rickenbacker s Capri line of guitars in the 50 s such as John Lennon s 58 325 It was a side to side action vibrato unit rather than the up down action of later units that was notorious for throwing the guitar out of tune hence John s replacing it with a Bigsby B5 It was later replaced by the Ac cent Vibrola which used no coiled springs to change tension giving it less chance to throw the guitar out of tune Bigsby Main article Bigsby vibrato tailpiece Epiphone Casino VT with Bigsby The first commercially successful tremolo arm was the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece most often just called a Bigsby and invented by Paul Bigsby The exact date of its first availability is uncertain as Bigsby kept few records but it was on Bigsby built guitars photographed in 1952 in what became its standard form In several interviews the late Merle Travis for whom Bigsby designed his first vibrato recalled the prototype as being built for him in the late 40 s The design uses a spring loaded arm that rotates a cylindrical bar in the tailpiece varying the string tension to create vibrato and other pitch variations The string tension is balanced against a single short helical compression spring positioned under the arm pivot Pioneering blues rock guitarist Lonnie Mack was known for using a Bigsby on his famous 1958 Gibson Flying V The term whammy bar is believed to derive from Mack s 1963 instrumental hit Wham in which Mack made liberal use of the Bigsby To this day the Bigsby enjoys some popularity especially on hollow body guitars and is available as a factory fitted option on top line models both hollow and solid bodied from many makers and as an aftermarket addition requiring some skill to fit however It remains the only widely used design whose mechanism is entirely above the belly of the guitar body making it the only design particularly suitable for acoustic and semi acoustic guitars Fender synchronized tremolo Sketch of Fender synchronized tremolo from 1954 patent application After the Bigsby the next major development was Leo Fender s synchronized tremolo the device which introduced the term tremolo arm First released in 1954 on Fender s first legendary Stratocaster the simple but effective design offers a greater range of pitch change than the Bigsby and particularly a better capability for upbends The basis of the synchronized tremolo is a rigid assembly incorporating both the bridge and tailpiece which is pivoted on the guitar belly In the original design this was based on the principle of the knife edge balance A bevel on the front underside of a steel top plate formed a very wide angle knife edge that rested on the top surface of the guitar body A small imbalance in tension between the pull of the strings and the counterbalancing pull of the tremolo springs held the pivot edge firmly in place against the body Six hardened steel woodscrews passing through slightly oversize holes just in front of the pivot point stopped the bridge from being pulled towards the neck end of the guitar The upper portion of the screws is smooth not threaded These six screws are often mistakenly assumed to be the pivot point rather than the hidden knife edge This design works in spite of the friction caused by the edges of the six holes sliding up and down the screw shafts when vibrato is applied Back of a Stratocaster copy showing the mechanism Note the six coloured string end ferrules visible at the bottom sides of the holes through which the strings are threaded from the back The bridge is formed by six bridge saddles held against this plate by string tension and individually adjustable both for height and intonation The tailpiece consists of a solid block of metal mounted behind the tremolo plate and secured to it by three machine screws and passing right through the guitar body In a chamber routed into the back of the guitar are up to five normally three long coil springs which connect to the back of the tailpiece block and whose tension balances that of the strings The tremolo arm also passes through the tremolo plate and tailpiece block providing direct and rigid connection Ignoring the bridge adjustments this mechanism has only two moving parts one of them the arm itself the same as the Bigsby But unlike the Bigsby the synchronized tremolo moves the bridge as well as the tailpiece varying both the length and tension of the strings Detail of the Strat style tremolo Note that there is provision for up to five springs Only three are fitted here to allow for use of light strings there being no other adjustment The strings pass through the body of the guitar in similar fashion to the Fender Telecaster When changing strings the new string is threaded through the body from the back However in the Telecaster the ferrule end is held by a collar firmly anchored to the guitar body In the Stratocaster it is held by the moving metal block through which the strings pass The Stratocaster tremolo often just called the Strat trem or also called the whammy bar is the most copied tremolo unit Similar pattern units appear on many solid body guitars by various makers Its design has been the basis of the premium Fender tremolo known as the two point synchronised tremolo and also of the Floyd Rose locking tremolo see below Both the original Stratocaster tremolo sometimes called the synchronous tremolo and sometimes the vintage synchronized tremolo and derived designs such as the two point and Floyd Rose appear on current models as of 2007 This preeminence of the synchronised tremolo was finally established by the use of Stratocaster guitars by Jimi Hendrix Pete Townshend and others towards the end of the 1960s Throughout the 1960s the premium Fender guitars were the Jaguar range equipped with the floating tremolo By the early 1970s it was obvious that most guitarists preferred the cheaper Stratocaster regardless of price and supposed quality and prestige and particularly liked its tremolo arm design The Jaguar and indeed all other Fender guitars using any tremolo design other than the synchronised tremolo were for a time withdrawn to return to the catalog as classic or retro models in the 1990s Fender floating bridge The floating bridge featured on two Fender tremolo arm designs both developed by Leo Fender subsequently to the original synchronised tremolo but overshadowed by it Despite its not being the most popular bridge there are side benefits unique to guitars with this type of bridge See 3rd bridge guitars Floating tremolo Fender floating tremolo tailpiece and floating bridge on a Jazzmaster The floating tremolo was designed by Fender for the Fender Jazzmaster and first appeared with the release of the Jazzmaster in 1958 A larger heavier and more complex mechanism than the synchronised tremolo and promoted over it by Fender as their premium tremolo arm mechanism it never achieved the same popularity though if properly set up according to Fender s recommendations it held tune as well as or better than the synchronized vibrato unit The main difference is that while much of the mechanism of the synchronised tremolo including the springs is accessed by removing a rectangular plate in the back of the guitar body and is mounted on the guitar body in a routed bay extending behind the pickups the entire mechanism of the floating tremolo is mounted on a roughly triangular chromed plate in the front of the guitar body on the opposite side of the bridge to the pickups The string tension is balanced against a single short helical spring in compression rather than tension mounted on the back of the tremolo mounting plate The spring is adjustable by turning a screw located towards the center of this plate The ferrule ends of the strings are held on the top of the guitar in a tailpiece plate called the knife plate which emerges from the mechanism rather than the strings vanishing into the mechanism as with the synchronized tremolo It is the knife plate that is moved when the tremolo arm is operated Unlike the synchronized tremolo the bridge is not moved directly by the mechanism but only by the movement of the strings and is allowed to tilt to accommodate this movement This is called a floating bridge The Fender floating tremolo also features a knob that enables the player to lock and thus disable the tremolo mechanism allowing quick recovery of tuning in the event of breaking one string and providing tuning stability with the mechanism locked that was intended to be similar to that of a fixed bridge guitar In practice this stability was not generally achieved leading some players to replace the mechanism with a fixed bridge and tailpiece to produce a high quality hard tail solid body guitar not otherwise available at the time The floating tremolo was greatly favored by some surf music bands particularly for its ability to produce a pronounced and distinctive vibrato on a sustained chord without disturbing the tuning of the guitar To fully achieve this benefit however correct setup as per Fender s recommendations was essential An issue with the unit was the bridge itself which Leo Fender over engineered The six individual bridge saddles were multi grooved barrels The individual barrels were not grooved deeply enough for secure holding of the strings in heavy pick attack and each barrel had a tiny adjustment screw at each end Adding the intonation adjustment screws and the screws at each end of the bridge saddle to raise or lower the bridge as a whole gave the bridge twenty separate adjustment possibilities The great majority of players found this much too fiddly and adding the tendency of the strings to jump out of their individual saddles in aggressive playing the overall reception was rather lukewarm for what was essentially an excellent but over engineered design Later many players of the Jazzmaster and Jaguar found that the bridge on these instruments could be replaced with no retrofitting by the standard bridge from the Fender Mustang below which eliminated several of the worst problems with the original bridge In addition to the Jazzmaster the floating tremolo was used on the then top of the line Fender Jaguar guitars released in 1962 and also on the Fender Bass VI released in 1961 Jaguar and Jazzmasters share the same bridge plate and string saddles though Jaguar bridges and the earliest Jazzmaster bridges have taller legs The two are functionally interchangeable and replacement parts for each are one and the same The Bass VI bridge has a wider plate and longer intonation screws to allow the bass strings to be correctly intonated and the saddles have threads cut for larger diameter strings There have also been a small number of not very notable imitations by other makers generally without the locking knob Fender discontinued all floating tremolo models by 1980 but reintroduced both the Jazzmaster and Jaguar first as Japanese models in the mid 1980 s then as American made reissues in the 1990s The tremolo equipped Bass VI was reintroduced as a US Custom Shop model in 2006 One of the big advantages as well as disadvantages depending on what you like to hear is the string resonance appearing at several fret positions if they have a simple length relation with the string length behind the bridge for instance 48 12 4 1 At those positions a high overtone rises in volume This becomes more clear when the guitar sound is driven However the overtone might sound odd it still has a perfect harmonic relation so is not out of tune related to the open string For staccato playing it can be an ann
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