The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (or Bigsby for short) is a type of vibrato device for electric guitar designed by its namesake Paul A. Bigsby. The device allows musicians to bend the pitch of notes or entire chords with their pick hand for various effects. Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... Paul A. Bigsby was the designer of the Bigsby tremolo arm and proprietor of Bigsby Guitars. ...

The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term "vibrato" to refer to what is really a tremolo effect (see vibrato unit). A tremolo arm, tremolo bar, vibrato bar , twang bar or whammy bar is a lever attached to the bridge and/or the tailpiece of an electric guitar or archtop guitar to enable the player to quickly vary the tension and sometimes the length of the strings temporarily, changing the pitch... Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ... Tremolo is a musical term with two meanings: A rapid repetition of the same note, a rapid variation in the amplitude of a single note, or an alternation between two or more notes. ... Loudness is the quality of a sound which is high in volume (amplitude, or sound pressure). ... Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ... Leo Fender working on a guitar Clarence Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 - March 21, 1991) was an American luthier who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, now known as Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and later founded G&L Musical Products (G&L Guitars). ... A vibrato unit is an effects unit used to modify the sound of an electric guitar by producing a regular variation in the amplitude of the sound. ...

The Bigsby vibrato unit is installed on the top of the guitar and works in conjunction with a rocker bridge. The arm of the Bigsby is spring loaded and attached to a pivoting metal bar, around which the strings of the guitar are installed. In the neutral or unused position, the pressure of the spring counterbalances the pull of the strings, resulting in constant pitch when the strings are played. When the arm of the Bigsby is pushed down towards the top of the guitar, the strings loosen, the bridge rocks forward, and the pitch of the strings is lowered. When the arm is released, the strings return to normal pitch. The arm may also be lifted slightly to raise the pitch of the strings. Lifting the arm too much, however, will result in the spring falling out of the unit. This makes the Bigsby more suitable for downbends, rather than upbends. For this reason, competing units, like the Floyd Rose and the Fender synchronized tremolo (or strat-style) are preferred by some players. Floyd Rose Original Floyd Rose is the organization that licenses, distributes and manufactures the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo invented by Floyd D. Rose. ... It has been suggested that Fender Amplifier History be merged into this article or section. ... A recent Squier Stratocaster. ...

Bigsby vibratos are still factory installed on various models of electric guitar, such as those manufactured by Gretsch, and a version of the Fender Telecaster. Many electric guitars can also be retrofitted with a Bigsby, and there are different varieties of the unit designed to fit different styles of guitar, such as a hollow body or solid body guitar. Bigsby units ship with their own rocker bridges, though these are often discarded in favor of more adjustable alternatives such as the Tune-o-matic style bridge or Jazzmaster style bridge. The rocker bridges that come with the Bigsby do not offer individual string intonation adjustment, and have relative string length preset for string sets with a wound G string, rather than for the plain G string preferred by many electric guitarists today. Gretsch is a U.S. musical instrument manufacturer currently being distributed by guitar company Fender and drum craft company Kaman. ... The Fender Telecaster, also known as a Tele, is a typically dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender. ... Typical Tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar Tune-o-matic (also abbreviated to TOM) is a fixed bridge for electric guitars, designed by Gibson and introduced in 1954 in Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar. ... 1962 Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst The Fender Jazzmaster electric guitar was introduced in 1958 and was designed as a more upmarket instrument than the Fender Stratocaster, which itself was introduced in 1954 as a higher-priced product than the companys Telecaster series. ... Intonation is a term used to cover particular uses of tones in linguistics and music. ...

Notable guitarists recorded using the Bigsby unit include Andrew Stockdale, Brian Setzer, Billy Zoom, Horton Heat, Greg Sage, Cliff Gallup, and Les Paul. Andrew Stockdale (born July 20, 1976) is the lead singer and guitarist of Australian band Wolfmother. ... Brian Setzer (born April 10, 1959 in Massapequa, Long Island, New York) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. ... X on the cover of their 1997 collection Beyond and Back: The X Anthology, with Billy on the center left Billy Zoom (born Tyson Kindell on February 20, 1948), in Savanna, IL. The son of a Big Band woodwinds player, he inherited his fathers love of music. ... The Reverend Horton Heat is both three-piece psychobilly/rockabilly band from Dallas, Texas and the stage name of its singer/songwriter, Jim Heath (born in 1959 in Corpus Christi, Texas). ... Greg Sage was the principal songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist for the influential Portland, Oregon-based punk rock band The Wipers. ... ... For the guitar, see Gibson Les Paul. ...

External links

• Bigsby guitars, who still produce the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.
• History of Bigsby guitars.