In some instances, a used electric guitar may be fitted with a strange bar hanging from the bridge. The name for this bar is a tremolo, but it may also be referred to as a 'whammy' bar, a vibrato arm, or a 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.

The device was developed and introduced in the late 1940's and 1950's and gave guitar players an interesting playing option. The bar or arm is still produced on certain models of electric guitars today. The original concept of the tremelo bar on a guitar was to create a vibrato effect.

Vibrato is the production of pitch variation. However, tremolo is a variance in volume. The tremolo effect was already an electronic feature in amplification technology and was very popular. Indeed, the two sounded similar. However, the misnomer took hold and the tremolo name caught on for guitar players.

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.

With the attached arm in motion and pressed either up or down, the device can alter the pitch of the notes being played on the guitar. As the springs guide the bridge up or down, this tightens or loosens the tension on the string. Thus, the vibrato effect is perfectly achieved when repeated slowly or rapidly.

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.

You should try a used electric guitar at a guitar center near you, because used guitars are fun to play and produce an amazing variety of sounds. Used electric guitars with tremelo bars produce a sound that is distinctive and impossible to match on any other instrument.