>>>> DECLASSIFIED <<<<
TREM WARS
The Fender tremolo was also easier to comprehend, because it was self-contained. The
strings are threaded through the sustain
block to the saddles. Because the strings are
coupled with the steel sustain block and pivot
from the six bolts screwed into the wood of
the body, there is a more substantial tone
compared to the Bigsby. The Fender tremolo
also has a further travel, and was designed
to have upward as well as downward movement. The tremolo arm has a stiffer feel and
is much more responsive to the touch. As
cool as that design is, though, there are some
inherent problems.
As mentioned earlier, all guitars have the
element of friction at the nut, causing tuning problems. This is difficult to avoid when
dealing with vibrato because of its string-slacking action. With the Fender tremolo
bridge assembly, the strings slip or become
disjointed from the sustain block when the
bar is depressed. This adds some tuning
discrepancies as well. During the slacking of
the strings, the strings will loosen within the
sustain block, and when the arm is returned
Vintage Fender tremolo cavity
to the resting position, the ball ends of the
strings have a tendency not to return to resting position. Years later, Fender came up with
strings that have bullet-shaped ends, to seat
them more properly inside the block.
Regardless of small shortcomings, this Fender
tremolo bridge was resilient to abuse, and
if its design was understood, players had no
problem maintaining it. To alleviate friction
at the nut, many players chose to tighten the
springs in the back to anchor the baseplate
firmly to the body, giving it only downward
motion, and limiting the amount of friction
hang up in the nut.
Photo courtesy Dave’s Guitar Shop
The Fender tremolo bridge (and licensed
versions of it) prevailed for most of electric
guitar history so far. Fender has since made
modern revisions to their tremolo. On some
later-produced Stratocaster guitars, the bent
steel saddles were replaced by solid block
saddle pieces. Along with Bigsby, there were
also others made by Mosrite and Gibson.
But none rivaled the playability and action
of the Fender tremolo. As the electric guitar
