{"id":5812,"date":"2014-06-17T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=5812"},"modified":"2014-06-17T12:26:36","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T17:26:36","slug":"want-a-tremolo-system-for-your-bass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/gear\/hardware\/want-a-tremolo-system-for-your-bass.html","title":{"rendered":"Want a tremolo system for your bass?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note up front: Technically, calling a pitch-bending bridge device a “tremolo” system is wrong; it is properly called a vibrato<\/em> system. However, most players know these things as tremolo systems or “trem” for short. Yes, we know it should be called vibrato instead of tremolo, but that’s a bit difficult to do since many companies call it tremolo, the most (in)famous being Fender themselves.<\/p>\n

There are two and only two reactions bass players will have to seeing a tremolo system.<\/p>\n

1. “What.. is.. that<\/em> piece of crap doing on an otherwise fine bass?”
2. “I’ve got to get me one of those…”<\/p>\n

You either hate the entire idea of such a system on a bass, or your eyes light up with excitement and you absolutely must get one.<\/p>\n

Is a tremolo system usable<\/em> on a bass?<\/h3>\n

Yes – if applied correctly.<\/p>\n

On lower notes, use a tremolo system simply won’t be heard and “mud” right out. However, on higher notes it can be heard and add in a different kind of sound you otherwise didn’t have before.<\/p>\n

A few examples of where tremolo systems can actually work on a bass<\/h3>\n

6-string bass, standard gauge string<\/strong><\/p>\n

When playing up on the higher frets using the 1 and 2 string, you can get very nice chord vibratos with a trem system.<\/p>\n

5 or 4-string bass, piccolo gauge string<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those not aware, piccolo strings for bass means strings tuned to +1 octave above standard bass tuning, and are decidedly thinner. A common long scale 4-string piccolo bass string set would have a gauge range of 20-52, as in .020P, .032, .042, .052.<\/p>\n

If you would like a piccolo bass string set, email sales@bestbassgear.com<\/a> and ask, and we’ll be happy to get a set for you. <\/p>\n

Piccolo strings take very well to a tremolo system because of the +1 octave pitch, where you’ll be able to hear note bends much easier when the tremolo is in use.<\/p>\n

“Reverse bend” on fretless<\/strong><\/p>\n

A common playing technique on a fretless bass is to use vibrato bends, which of course pitches the string up when you do that. A tremolo system when used will pitch the string down when the bar is pushed forward (if pulled back it would pitch up the string and sound like a vibrato bend with fingers). <\/p>\n

The availability of having both types of vibrato bends at-the-ready when you can pitch up with fingers or down with the tremolo bar is nice to have.<\/p>\n

Multi-scale bass instruments<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you get into 7-string-and-above territory, you end up with some very skinny strings, and those strings do take well to guitar-style playing with a tremolo system.<\/p>\n

Want a tremolo system for your bass from BBG?<\/h3>\n

There is one by Hipshot that you can get right now<\/a>. If you need something for a bass that uses more strings, email us direct at sales@bestbassgear.com<\/a> and let us know you want one.<\/p>\n

Or if you think the tremolo system for a bass is Worst Thing Ever, please feel free to leave a comment explaining why below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note up front: Technically, calling a pitch-bending bridge device a “tremolo” system is wrong; it is properly called a vibrato system. However, most players know these things as tremolo systems or “trem” for short. Yes, we know it should be called vibrato instead of tremolo, but that’s a bit difficult to do since many companies … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}