Occasionally, one may find a used electric guitar equipped with an odd bar dangling from its bridge. This bar is called a tremolo or "whammy" bar. There are also other names for this device, such as vibrato arm or wang bar.

In fact, stop in at any local Guitar Center store and you'll find many electric guitars featuring the tremelo bar. Newer models are popular, but the most valuable are vintage used electric guitars with the original device intact and functional.

During the late 1940's and 1950's, this device was introduced and developed for guitar players. The tremelo arm or bar is still produced on certain electric guitar models today. The intent of the guitar tremelo bar is to create a vibrato effect.

Vibrato is the correct term for the pitch variation used by guitar players, but tremolo (actually a variance in volume), was introduced in amplification technology first and thus guitar players continue to use the misnomer tremolo for pitch variation.

Two styles of this device are the most popular and both devices work very simply. The strings are fastened to the guitar via the tailpiece. The strings are run across the top of the bridge. Within this bridge and tailpiece combination are springs that allow the bridge to move or "float". One style uses a rotating tube in conjunction with the springs. The other style operates the springs and bridge synchronously.

The pitch of any note played with the guitar can be changed by moving the articulated arm in either direction. The springs are used to move the bridge either up or down to tighten or loosen the string's tension. In this way, the vibrato sound can be effected if the action is replicated either in a slow or rapid fashion.

The first musicians to use the tremelo bar include Leo Fender and Lonnie Mack, whose song "Wham!" might be responsible for the term "whammy" bar. Later users of this device include Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. The tremelo bar has been used in new and innovative ways more recently by Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen.

I encourage you to go to a guitar center and try a used electric guitar with a tremelo bar. They are fun to play and you'll be quite surprised with the many variations of sounds that you can produce. Nothing beats tremelo bars on used electric guitars!