The Bigsby Vibrato can be found on Gretsch guitars straight from the factory. Paul Bigsby, inventor of this vibrato tailpiece, as pointed out in the video, was a motorcycle enthusiast. That big, visible spring on the Bigsby was actually a Harley-Davidson valve spring on Paul’s prototype vibrato!

I am now going to refer to trems as wiggle sticks

Leo Fender called it a 'tremolo' bridge because it was intended to emulate the actual tremolo of the Leslie Organ, which, ironically, was intended to emulate vibrato. There is an element of tremolo, as you will hear a marked drop in volume when the string tension is lowered.

Andre, i'm actually amazed by your approach to... well, everything. I watched the strandberg experiment series and a bunch of other vids and i loved em all. Huge thanks for your work!

My favorite is hearing non-guitarists say "whammy bar" 😅

G&L Dual-fulcrum Vibrato, designed by Leo Fender and George Fullerton (1981)

I once did a patent search on Tremolos and I found one that was split in the center, had two bars so you could work the high strings and low strings separately, pretty cool!

Leo Fender: "What the hell do I care about the name? I'm a saxophonist."

Kahler is still my favorite. Built in locking, stable palm mutes, constant string height, and minimal routing. Also a very easy design to adapt to multiscale tremolos. Makes me curious about the rick toone vibrato. That looks like it has all the advantages of a kahler without needing to solder the ends of youe strings. The holy grail would be a multiscale headless kahler style vibrato.

I should have taken some Dramamine before watching this. I think I’m seasick.

Great video! I’m a Floyd Rose and Kahler user! I put Kahlers on both my Stratocasters along with the original behind-the-nut string lock. No matter how much I use the trem, it comes back to perfect pitch! The Kahler system is absolutely incredible!

my sister's brother's cousin is related to both Jimmy Hendrix and Billy Corgan - it's not widely known, but both of them actually used Irin fuzz pedals from Aliexpress

Super in-depth, really appreciated this breakdown. Hadn’t heard of the Rick Toone or Tremel-No before, but they both sound great

17:46 very good video, just two little things. First, even though there are two consonants between the A and the E the pronunciation is a hard A in the name Kahler as if the vowels were separated by only one consonant. Second, the KDH video you recommend is almost entirely incorrect. It’s so incorrect actually that we contacted him and he knows it is almost entirely incorrect yet it remains up spreading misinformation. Those are minor things though and not Major ones (see what I did there). Congratulations on a great video and a fantastic KZfaq channel. Should you find yourself in Las Vegas you have an open invitation to the factory to get a look behind the scenes. You can also check out our huge guitar collection (because you have to pay attention to what everyone is doing). Perhaps you would like to also be a guest on our podcast and discuss guitar musings in general. Again, great video! Thanks for including our cam based vibrato system.

Thanks for taking the time to do this, very useful.

Great summary of the different major vibrato (trem) systems. I like all types for what they are as each has strengths and weakness as you mentioned. Those JCustom units were clones of Steinberger units. I never used the JCustom parts, but have heard mixed things about the quality and longevity. The old Washburn Wonderbar was a nice unit, but never gained many fans. Great video and good info.

I use a Super-Vee BladeRunner. I can dive bomb on it and it comes back into tune IF I do a quick pull up on the Whammy Bar as the last movement on the Floating Bridge. The low E and G string return flat otherwise. The "Virtual Jeff" Digital Whammy is an interesting alternative that takes the problems of string tension out of the equation. Thanks

You created the perfect reference for all things vibrato / tremolo(tm)! I've had good results with both Fender and Gotoh tremolos on Strats throughout the years.

Best explanation of different trem systems I've ever seen. Thank you, sir!

Great job going over them all! You really explained them all comprehensively.

There is another variant to the Fender-style “wiggle stick” that I like, which would also be good to mention. It’s the Super-vee Bladerunner. Unlike other S-type “wiggle stick” systems that utilize two-point or 6-point pivot points and knife edge, this system uses a single blade spring as a contact point for the bridge to the body. So, there is no friction involved to push or pull the arm. It’s a great system because it eliminates the mechanical influence of friction when balancing the spring tension and the string tension when you float the bridge.

My first vibrato guitar was an SG (never stayed in tune). My next was a Strat (with the same tuning instability). In the '80s I had a couple Floyd Rose locking trems (Kramers), which were boss until I needed to retune. I love that you don't flap your Ts when you say 'vibrato'.

Absolutely the best breakdown of wango-bango sticks I've ever seen! Have you ever encountered the Trem King? it's like a two-point system except the bridge doesn't move itself, it moves underneath. It's weird.

Wow, great job! Thank you very much for this very detailled comparison 🙂👌

Thank you for calling it a vibrato.

Fenders deluxe 2 point floating "pop in" tremolo system is personslly my favorite trem system. The ability to just pop in and and pop out the trem arm quick and easy rather than have to screw or unscrew it out... also i love the changes with the trem arm height and length in general that solves fender strats notorious trem srm con of not being able to stand high enough to float over the cable when plugged into the football cable jack. I feel they also slightly mijimized the hot points of the tension spots on the 6 point trem bridge that was srv's main reason for breaking springs amd could only solve by ceaser diaz adding insulation under the strings. So if i want to totally push the arm outta the eay completely facing opposite to usage position i can do that without the cable stopping me or having to awkwardly turn it backwards/counter clockwise in order to get it on the opposite side of the cable when playing. Those things to me are HUGE. That is exactly why that trem system is by far my favorite. And of course you habe the choice to either float or defloat the bridge if you inly want to go down in register. I play mostly blues, and play hard and aggresive so the bridge being defloated and only going down in register helps with tuning.

I really appreciate this video because for how many types of "wiggle sticks" there are, there isn't a whole lot of useful info on the differences. I had a bad experience with a cheap floyd rose a few years back and have since avoided all trem systems like the plague, but now i think i want a guitar with the fender offset tremolo system, or even a vibrola (although i've never seen one of those on a guitar in any store i've been to)

Great vid. Very thorough. Good job, man.👍🏻🤘🏻

This is an amazing comparison. Have you also seen the Perfecto De Castro Wiggle Stick Wankoff video posted a day or so before yours?! It’s a similar idea. Interesting to see the comparisons and how two of you approached this subject!

So rare to find a person who knows enough of the subject, knows how to explain it, humble enough to admit when he is not experienced enough with something and likeable enough to be entertaining full half hour, congratulations, great video!

Finally! The vibrato solution I was looking for in an over the counter package. Of course I enjoyed the presentation and subscribed +

This is super helpful, thank you

After watching this , I may start using tremolo again. I've always lock my trem system on my Strats. In the past my of my non guitar playing Band member would break my E-string playing around with my guitar -Sometimes right before a show-. So I use wooden blocks of plastic bottle caps to fit behind the tremolo block. But in doing this I had to learn to Vibrato with my hand and fingers.

My all-time fave trem is the Ibanez ZR Trem with the ZPST Stabilization system. Smooth, durable roller bearing pivots. The ZPST automatically smoothly returns the trem back to zero point quickly and immediately. It's like a shock absorber in function while still retaining that smooth delicate trem travel feel. This trem was ueed by Ibanez for a few years before it was discontinued (long story). I have this in two of my S-Series and absolutely love them!

Awesome video, I think a shoutout has to go to the Steinberger R-Trem too. While not as flashy as the TransTrem, it's super simple to work with, and has a very easy locking latch if you want to be sure you stay locked in tune.

Excellent and easily digestible discussion of trems while still providing a great deal of technical info, useability advice and personal experience. Perfect combination of all those elements. I've distilled my personal knowledge of trems over a lifetime starting to learn about them from a technical perspective in 1984 as a kid who landed the dream summer job in the local music shop. Starting as a bass player, I had ZERO knowledge on the subject except... well, it was the 80's, so MTV music videos was how I knew the difference between the types. Floyds were the new hotness... but once I learned a bit, the OG Kahler was my favorite. Okay, my one criticism: say it with me 'KAY-luhr. KAAAAYYY-luhr.' Glad your vid popped up. Didn't realize I wasn't subscribed so I'm remedy-ing that right now. Laayyy-tuhr.

Awesome video, Andre!!

7:27 that's why I keep the backplate off of all my guitars 😂

Ned Steinberger had several vibrato designs.... with the Trans-Trem being the most complex. I think you've covered the lion share of the options.

really good video ! i hope u will review the stetsbar pro III one day !

Fantastic video and thank you for your insights Andre. Personally I prefer Bigsbys and Wide Swing Tremolos because I love getting those subtle blue note bends and waivers. They do that the best. I would tell you that Callahan does do upgraded Bigsby parts and models that may be worth looking into. That said their Bigsbys really start to fall more into Boutique prices ($240+ dollars for a modified Bigsby). For Synchronized Tremolos I like to upgrade the block to brass and swap out the stock springs for softer ones. I also do the foam trick on the back. I'm mainly a Tele guy so I found a six screw trem that actually uses the three brass saddles like an old school Tele does (Haylon also makes a Jazzmaster style bridge that does this too, I'm going to try that on an Offset I own) and I look forward to that Strat/Tele hybrid I am searching for. I personally have a new found love and appreciation for Gotoh as they are relatively inexpensive (especially compared to Boutique/Toy brands and parts) but you get that Japanese designed part that is better than what you get from a Fender or Gibson stock part. Going into Offset guitars, most options really fall into the Boutique realm. The Fender AVRI is probably the best all around cost effective part (like if you upgraded your Squier Jazzmaster) otherwise you get into Boutique parts real fast. In the end, even Import parts (like GFS) are pretty quality these days. I would say 2/3 of replacement parts really just fall into personal preference. The biggest one part change with a vibrato was a brass block to replace the OEM block on an Import Synchronized Tremolo. That was the only night/day change, everything else tends to be more subtle changes.

Great informative video. Even though replacement saddles was mentioned, locking saddles for non-double locking bridge wasn't. Currently, there are 2 manufactures that I'm aware of, that are making these locking saddles. One is Wilkinson and the other is Gotoh. The Wilkinson WLS130 saddles has been around in the market for several years now, I think? And they'd also designed a new bridge, called the VS1300, which is quite similar to the other Wilkinson VS bridges, but they have locking saddles. Gotoh locking saddles on the other hand, was released just recently, and they fit their 510 bridges.

Another great video mate, huge effort into this. Another trem comes from Trem King. The zero point on my one has an unusual zone before it engages. I’ve got one in a guitar from 2015.

This is, by far, the best primer on this subject that I have found.

Excellent video. The only one I've had that wasn't covered is the Stetsbar tremolo. It's a surface mount that fits on Les Paul and other style guitars with no cutout, that doesn't hurt the finish at all. I never heard of them until I bought an Epiphone Les Paul with one. Pretty cool, except for having a little bit of a (kind of like) spring sound, that you mentioned on some trems. Thanks again. A new subscriber here. ✌

Very good video! Subscribed!

I am a retired guitarist ( 86 ) & I have used the Bigsby style of vibrato for years on solids & archtop guitars. I have found that the best bridges are the Roller type bridges with the roller saddles. With the roller saddles the guitar will stay in tune better.

Love to see comparisons on whammy arm connections - screw on versus snap in.

This is my favorite subject. My playing used to be floyd rose style driven. Imo the best open floyds on the market the ibanez Edge Lo pro, original edge, and the 1500 that schecter and a few other companies use are really good also.

Thanks for the review. I learned a lot.

Great video Dr. Fludd!

Good and informative video,. Thumbs &subbed😊

Thank you for collating all this bridge info at the same time as I've been fixated on them.

Glad you touched on the string gauge vs stiffness issue; but it would be good to also mention that that is at least partially controllable when setting up a 2 point floating vibrato - set the saddles lower and the two posts higher (and slacken the springs or remove one) to get more stability and a softer feel (but less range) - quite a bit of adjustment is possible.

This is a ridiculously in-depth and clear explanation. I love it. Subscribed.

I love the Wudtone trems on my Strats and the Descendant on my Jazzmasters. Put the LesTrem on a semi hollow I made and it is so superior to the Bigsby as far as range, smoothness and staying in tune. Im excited to see the one you recommend. I build all my electrics, pickups too, and can't live without a little wiggle. Always looking for something better. Thanks for the video. I think Floyd Rose had the first 2 post Vibrato in 1979 or 80 and around the same time Rockinger had a locking term with needle bearings and it had great junk noise potential that I used extensively. It was the only locking unit you could get without a guitar attached.

Thanks Mr. Fludd. Very clear and "no magic" explanation of all that jazz !

What an excellent explanation. Thanks, new sub.

Good video with some trems I haven't seen. One of my favourite trems that's not here is the Washburn Wonderbar.

I would love to see you try the Virtual Jeff Pro, which works like a digitech whammy but much smoother with a trem bar. You also get the advantage of bending all notes in tune like your favorite bridge and you also keep perfect tuning since it doesn't actually change the string tension.

Love your videos Andre, they have been a great source of info and impartial gear reviews. I just had some things you might want to add going foreword if you ever made a follow up or addendum video to this one. On Floyd Rose I would add… Pro: -can be adjusted with tuners, but then once locked, uses fine tuners in bridge. -Floyd rose can flutter if perfectly balanced Con: -unlike most fender trems, you can’t just saddle height. Under the two point trem section when you talk about which trem vs which other sounding similar, I would add the only very differnt one being the ZR trem. Because the mechanism now rotates around where the strings enter the saddle as opposed to before it, this makes the string height more stable when pulling far up or down on the whammy bar and also gives it a different feel. And lastly, when discussing the adjustable trems features in the back like the trem stop, I would add the Ibanez Zero point system because it’s adjustability when the backing plate is on and without tools.

Dr. Fludd, thanks another great and helpful video. i have an accidentally brilliant(maybe) vibrato bridge design. still assembling the poor little orphan. i will let you know when it is up and running. steve

The rant had me in hysterics. I just bought a boden nx 6t. I personally love the love design and as you guys demonstrated, no one can argue with the playability. The looks and neck stem from the ergonomics as its been designed yo be the ultimate comfort guitar. There are wall hangers that you can buy from Strandberg directly, otherwise you could make a custom floor stand like I have

The old parker fly had a compressed flat spring that could explode out of the front of the guitar. I locked mine down for that reason. Im interested in trying the digitech whammy attachment. It seems better than one might expect having seen a lot of gimmicks

A very informative Video😃 Beside of kahler, vibrola & bigsby, I tried many trem arms, but at least, I still enjoy it on my jaguar🙂 And floyd rose is wild for what you can tonewise achieve😆

By far the best, most complete video about tremolo systems, bar none.

I have a Squier Bass vi that I retrofitted with a Bigsby. Requires a heavier and taller spring and a Chet Atkins type arm. With all issues solved it’s a Fantastic mod. Recommended.

About the Floyd rose frx, apparently you can adjust it so that it snaps back into place firmly, becomes fully floating, dive bomb only etc

Note that you dont necessarily have to cut the ball end for the floyd rose, you can hust feed the strungs through your turbers first

One of the greatest guitar videos, thank you Dr Fludd! I know Rick Toone has been looking for manufacturing capabilities for his vibrato. Are we able to purchase the Toone Tremolo yet?? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated thanks again.

Nicely done. I want to mention a couple of others, the Trem-King which is OK, requires it's own routing, but my favorite is the Stetsbar. It is smooth, stable, double stop bends and drop D are no prob, and it fits without drilling.

My favourite is the Fender Dynamic Vibrato, yes Fender made one that was correctly named. They can be found on older Mustangs, and some of the later Mustangs ( many of which are hard tails of some sort. It doesn’t have the range of some others, but it is equally able to bend up or down. Like some others it will go out of tune if you break a string, but I never have. And as I normally use a subtle vibrato and like to bend up or down, it’s great for what I do.

Tremol-No cannot hold the bridge when the strings are completely loose if you need to clean your fretboard or adjust the truss rod, so for dive-only mode a simple L-shaped bracket will be more convenient, although it will require some drilling. I have also heard that the screws can become loose and fell off due to vibration or friction. I did not have such problem, since I used an easy access panel that did not need to be unscrewed, and therefore did not remove it. As for tremmory-like stabilizers, I have them installed on two guitars and their advantage is that they can stay in tune in a fully floating mode with EVH D-Tuna / ToneVise Pitch Shifter. A stiffer feel is still more preferable to not being able to use the bar at all, although this may even cause some problems with the Push-In arms slowly popping out.

I wish you would have covered the Leo Fender designed “Dual Fulcrum” tremolo found on G&L guitars. Perhaps in a future video?

1:59 I love that guitar of Mike’s. Thanks Andre for introducing me to the Toone Trem. I don’t know why Fender don’t offer them, they’re amazing. One day I’ll have something Toone-equipped.

The Steinberger "R" type trem (AKA "Overlord of Music") has a number of advantages: headless for better weight distribution and ergonomics, hardtail lock, high ratio tail tuners, and thumb screw spring adjustment. the hardtail lock and thumbscrew adjustment mean tuning and spring adjustment take only about 5 seconds longer than tuning a regular hardtail. It also has the lock screw to lock all the saddles once adjusted. You can even install the bar left or right-handed, although they only come with right-handed bars. The first headless trem you showed is very similar - if not identical. Weight is the big downside, as its quite heavy, like a Bigsby. Another trem you forgot to mention is the muti-scale barrel tuner strat type trems, such as those made by Alcinov.

Good job with the title using Tremolo, so average folks know what you're talking about. However, as you state in the video, it's actually Vibrato that is occurring when you use the bar. Vibrato = pitch modulation, tremolo = volume modulation. Synth nerds like me know this.

SFT-70a had one 20 yrs ago, even made a video or two way back on my channel. I went overboard abusing the trem & afterwards my B or G was a few cents off. Very underrated ,mostly forgotten trem

Andre, I love your playing. I am pretty picky on my Jazz and I love Cool Jazz and West Coast Jazz bands (and Spotify playlists). I also really love the Nat King Cole Trio. Are there any newer artists that channel that Cool Jazz vibe you might recommend? Usually I just end up listening to older 1945-1965 songs (not complaining as I love these). Again, I love your insights and playing. Cheers!😉👍✨

Very very nice video!

The Bigsby uses a "compression" spring. The Fender uses "tension" springs. Tension means to pull apart or attempt to pull apart. The tensile strength of a material is the point at which it breaks when you pull on it in opposite directions from each opposite end. Shear strength is more like how hard it is to cut it with scissors. Compressive strength is how hard is it to crush. Torsional strength is how hard is the material too twist to a failure point. Some vibratos do use torsion, like some cars and trucks use torsion bars instead of springs. Thankfully, those vibratos are quite rare items that never sold well.

I have a Kahler with Sperzel locking tuners. Love it

My favorites are the Gotoh 510 for delicate use and the Floyd (specifically the original Ibanez Edge and lo pro) for extreme tricks :)

I bought a JB Player in the 80's (Strat style HSS) and when the stock locking tremolo failed I got a Kahler. Years later I bought one of their first runs after recovering to replace that worn out Kahler. I'm adding locking tuner to that guitar soon. My actual Strat has them and it's made me a believer.

I had a khaler and the back of the cam where the strings rest developed gouges (as if the strings were acting like a saw, digging into the metal. Not unlike zero fret problems that are common). And then I started having very frequent E and B string breaks. I ended up putting strips of thin plastic between the cam and the strings and it helped a lot (my strings came in plastic packages so I just cut strips from it, and used a paper hole punch to keep the adjust screws accessible). I really liked the tuning stability, feel, and range (way more range than a strat - not quite as much as a Floyd) and I thought the design that kept the saddles as a constant height was brilliant. But that "string touching the cam" design was bad. Surely they could have come up with a better design.

Been keeping up with you and your kittens on IG lately lol. Great content as always.

Oh my I want that red Steinberger so bad, that thing is awesome looking

Thank you so much for referring to these as vibrato bridges.

For me the Offset Trem is my personal pick because of its ability to play the “Glide” style of guitar. Behind it would be “ E,A,D,G,B,e Benders” and there’s now contained units out there that don’t require carving into your guitar, they allow you to get that pedal steel sound out of your guitar. I really hope the new contained units catch on because Benders were really expensive before due to their routing requirements and only used by real high paid country studio musicians but things like the Duesenberg Multi Bender are affordable and easy to install. I plan on buying one because I feel like it will help separate me from the other local players. Maybe in the future I’d get a Floyd Rose but i’m not much of a shredder however I love the Issac Brock harmonic things he does.

Awesome video. Dont forget Gibson also used those weird looking Maestro sideways Vibrola tailpiece as well on their SG. Where the whammy bar folded up and the bar was sideways when you pushed on the whammy bar. Im probably in the minority who hates bigsbys and Floyds but loves kahler tremelos lol. Setting the action and intonation on a Kahler is kinda tedious and a hassle but once everything is dialed in, its a perfect system. You can hard tale them like you mentioned, and because of the cam system theres no limit to how high or low you can push or pull the whammy bar. I have a Kahler on my 81 les paul custom. During the early 80s Gibson was putting kahlers on the LP custom models straight from the factory.

The most comprehensive tremolo/vibrato comparison I've seen. Thanks.🔥 I now understand the differences. I'm really wondering for so long what's the difference between a Floyd Rose and an Ibanez Edge. It's almost the same after all. So thanks a lot of mate.👏 P.S -> The guitar you are holding at 16:18 is probably the most wicked shred guitar I've seen. The fret access, the multiscale and the 27 frets? It could trump any shred guitar including the Shawn Lane Vigier or the Parker Fly hands down. 🎸

And no Stetsbar, yeah. Well, as Stetsbar Pro II user I can say it has bad zinc alloy. Mine already became bent tuneomatic bridge and teared saddles just in a year. And you can not just replace with other tuneomatic, because it uses 6 mm stops with thread in bridge. Saddles I replaced with Graphtech. And one more thing - main plate is attached to body with only two screws onder bridge, so string tention bends this plate. I added two screws on the back of the plate. and now it feels solid. So now this trem is very stable, and even can do smth like divebombs. But it still have problems with sustain.

great explanation

I love 510s also. Great stuff!

I kinda wish the Transtrem actually went somewhere. Gibson doesn't even use them on the Steinberger Spirits, one of many reasons the Spirits are disappointing.

Youre my new favorite guitar youtuber. Boom. Just like that.

First you need to know about Tone Vise for locking Vibrato systems. Yes you likely will need to grind the back of the nut to get it to be correct height on your neck. Good news is any FR one will work so if you mess it up you can just get another nut or shim it up a little. Next you need to have your spring loaded stabilizer installed and set up correctly to have it work. I have several and it is only stiff when I want it to be at base. I still can back bend 3-5 frets and dive as smooth as ever. It makes tuning more stable but yeah I have to drop D then very minor adjust the other strings about 5 sec thanks to tone vise. Another thing you likely know is you block your FR blade type vibrato then tune. You remove the block guitar is out of tune again. You then use the screws on claw to tune it back. I go to the hardware store and get harder screws with socket and phillips slots. This balances the spring tension with the string tension. It also makes tuning WAY quicker. In case you did not know. If you needed any installs done correctly contact me I do many of them. I am not fast but I sure as shit am one of the best. My action is just under 1mm at the 24th fret with almost no rake to 1st fret. No buzzing or dead bends areas. Smooth as shit! I also grind my heels away on LP kits I make so playing is slick as shit! But that mod is not about Vibrato

Little correction on the Jazzmaster bridge, the lock feature doesn't make it a "hardtail" exactly - it does only stop you from being able to bend *up* in pitch, but it's meant as more of a switch so that a broken string won't throw the rest out of tune - you adjust the screw next to it until it doesn't change your pitch when engaged, and then if you break a string mid-performance you just flip the switch and you're back in tune, just you can't bend up 🙂

Just put a brass roller nut on my les paul, gonna get a roller TOM and the les trem for maximum tuning stability using vibrato

great video! have you ever tried Ibanez ZR2 vibrato system? i think its the most stable vibrato system ever made and very easy to adjust.