The Invention of the Strat Tremolo

Leo Fender is the one of the greatest guitar builders ever. He designed the Telecaster, P-Bass, Jazz Bass, the Stratocaster and more, but he didn’t know how to play guitar. He knew how to construct a guitar like no one before him but didn’t understand the music. This led to a massive confusion among guitarists that still exists to this day.  

In 1954, the first Fender Stratocaster released. It is such an iconic design that it still has the same shape today. It has smooth contours in the wood that make it very comfortable to play. It came with a 3 pickup design which allowed many players to have more tone options than ever before. Finally, it revolutionized tremolo bridges. A tremolo bridge allows players to change the pitch of the not they play by lifting the bridge with a whammy bar. This design was widely praised. It uses the same basic structure as in 1954.

But, Tremolo doesn't describe what this bridge does. Tremolo is actually an effect that changes the volume of an instrument. You can get this effect on any guitar with a volume knob. Play a note then turn down the volume than back up. If you compare the that with the tremolo bar, you will find that they do not sound the same.

The actually name for a tremolo bar should be vibrato bar.  Vibrato is an effect that changes the pitch of a note played. Guitar players do this all the time by wiggling the string up and down to create different sounds. But, Leo Fender patented the bridge as the "Tremolo Device for Stringed Instruments."

There are three common tremolo bridges today: the Strat Bridge, the Bigsby, and the Floyd Rose.

The Strat Tremolo

The Strat Tremolo works by bolting the bridge to the guitar than attaching springs to the back. The springs hold the bridge in place. When a player pulls on the whammy bar, the springs stretch and the bridge comes up, loosening the strings. Then when they release the bar, the springs snap the bridge back into place.  

Here are some guitars with the iconic Strat tremolo:

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The Bigsby

The Bigsby actually came out before the Strat Tremolo in the 1940s. Paul Bigsby built the Bigsby for his friend Merle Travis. He was trying to fix a different tremolo but decided it had design flaws. (Source: Bigsby History)

The Bigsby is a tremolo system that is still used on modern guitars today. Gretsch guitars own the Bigsby name. This means that most guitars that use Bigsbys are Gretsch Guitars. The system works by attaching to a guitar then rolling the bridge to loosen the strings. This tremolo sounds beautiful. The effect is smooth like butter. But, it does have more tuning issues than the other two.

Here are some guitars with Bigsby’s 

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The Floyd Rose

The Floyd Rose was designed to have incredible tuning stability. Floyd Rose guitars replace the guitar nut with a locking nut. This allows the instrument to stay in tune while the user does crazy whammy bar tricks. When the Floyd Rose was being invented, Eddie Van Halen found out about it. He needed a tremolo bridge that could handle his crazy stunts. He asked Floyd D. Rose to add fine tuners to the bridge. He got the inspiration from violin tuners. He wanted this because the locking nut prevented the user from being able to tune the guitar. With Fine Tuners, the user can tune the guitar without removing the locking nut.

This addition created one of the coolest tremolo systems around. Players like Eddie, Herman Li, and Dimebag Darrell created incredible sounds.

Here are some guitars with Floyd Rose’s 

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Leo Fender created some of the greatest guitars ever. A man who couldn't play created the most impactful guitar ever. Even if he got the tremolo name wrong.