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Bass whammy – got the urge to bend a note or two?

A few things to point out up front for those that care about the technical naming details of this:

The proper name for this type of thing is a vibrato system. Fender for a very long time has incorrectly called it a tremolo system. The reason it’s incorrect is because a tremolo effect is produced by the quick in-and-out “stuttering” of the audio signal, somewhat similar to how a rotary speaker works (in sound, not in operation). Vibrato however directly refers to altering the pitch of the note, which is exactly what a vibrato system allows you to do.

To cite a guitar example (as it is the best way to give your ears a sample of the sound), Link Wray’s “Rumble” very clearly has the tremolo effect heard starting at 1:55.

(“Rumble” also has one of the coolest bass lines ever, by the way.)

That stuttering signal you hear at 1:55 is a true tremolo effect.

So why do we, and manufacturers, all refer to it by the incorrect name of tremolo system? Because Fender does. Yes, that is literally the only reason. Fender flip-flopped the definitions of vibrato and tremolo, it stuck, so we all call it tremolo even though it’s technically vibrato.

Moving on…

This is vibrato, a.k.a. whammy bar use, on a bass:

Tremolo system use on the bass is one of those weird, wacky things you can do to a bass when you want something different.

The #1 enemy from using a tremolo system on the electric bass is wobbling when using the bar, which can become very annoying very quickly. Fortunately, we carry several tremolo systems from Hipshot that do not wobble.

Installing a Hipshot bass tremolo is fairly simple and straightforward. The only thing you have to remember is that flatwound strings would get wrecked fairly quickly with tremolo system use, so you have to stay with roundwound. For most bassists that use tremolo, this isn’t an issue since tremolo sounds best with the brightest possible sounding strings. Roundwound fits the bill there.

Check out the 4 and 5-string offerings for tremolo systems here.

6 thoughts on “Bass whammy – got the urge to bend a note or two?”

  1. John Sauter (formally of the Ted Nugent Band) had one on an old Pbass when I saw him at a club in Illinois back in 85/86. It was really cool the way he worked the effect into his playing. Very inventive. I have a bass build coming up and I am planning to install one.

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  2. I have a one-of-a-kind Michael Spalt Bass with a whammy AND a Sustainiac! Used with discretion and restraint it is a very effective combination.

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  3. Isn’t a fretless bass so much easier? Then I could keep my flatwounds, and stay at the bottom end of the aural spectrum. Leave space for others to play in. Maybe I’m just not getting something here…

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  4. Somebody finally put into print that Leo Fender got the terms “vibrato” and “tremolo” backwards as to what they actually do to a sound. To Bigsby’s credit, they stubbornly bucked the usage that Fender was advocating and called their product a vibrato tailpiece, which is correct. I have to wonder how noticeable an effect a pitch shift in the low bass register would be unless taken to extremes. Cool idea though. As with all vibrato systems, tuning stability and returning to pitch reliably will be important.

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