To float or not to float - adjusting your tremolo arm is important
First, and you may have heard this before, the word tremolo, actually refers to a rhythmic change in volume, not pitch. So the tremolo arm has been miss named - it would be interesting to know how this happened! It should really be called a vibrato arm, pitch arm or something like that. Or of course you can just call it a whammy bar. But since the term tremolo arm is in constant use, I'll use that word too.Tremolo systems on most modern electric guitars fall into one of two types. First, there is the traditional old strat type, which is fixed to the guitar with five screws. Second, there is the Floyd Rose type of free-floating tremolo that pivots on two fulcrum points. Though often associated with the brand names I've mentioned, most electric guitar manufacturers will produce one or both of these types of tremolo systems.
The traditional type
The floating tremolo type
The advantages and disadvantages of floating.
As you can see from the picture of the floating type of tremolo above, the whole bridge does actually float on the two fulcrum points. So it can move either way: you can pull up on the whammy bar and raise the pitch of the stings, or you can press down and lower the pitch. With the strat type, you can (if adjusted correctly) only push down.
The advantages of floating:
With a floating tremolo, you normally have the strings locked down at the nut of the guitar.
This prevents the strings from getting bound up at the machine heads or nut when you push the tremolo arm down and lower the string tension. The fact that the strings are effectively locked at both ends, means that you can play around with the whammy bar as much as you like; even push it down to the point where the strings become slack, and all the strings should be in tune when you release the bar. This is why people who use the whammy bar a lot, often opt for the floating systems.
The disadvantages of floating.
With a floating system, the position at which the bridge floats, is set by the balance of tension between the strings, and the springs inside the guitar (under the plate at the back). This means that if you break a string, the tension of he strings as a whole is reduced. This, means that the balance between strings and springs is altered. And this, means that all your strings will suddenly go out of tune drastically.
So if you have a floating tremolo, and you break a string during a gig, you'd better be sure you have another guitar you can pick up right away, because you won't be able to finish the song on the guitar with the broken string!
Also, retuning a guitar with a floating tremolo is literally a balancing act - and its time consuming. Once its in tune, you're Ok, but be prepared to spend some time getting it there when you change the strings. Also, it helps if you takes the strings off one at a time when you change them, rather than taking them all off at the same time.
The advantages of not floating
If you have the traditional strat type of bridge that doesn't (or isn't supposed to anyway) float, then you can happily break a string or two during a particularly fierce solo, and the rest of the strings will stay in tune - so you can at least finish the song.
The disadvantages to not floating
The problem with the non floating type of tremolos is that, because the strings are not locked at the nut, and the tremolo pivots crudely on 5 screws, if you use it too much, your strings will go out of tune quite quickly.
Getting adjusted
Floating tremolos should be adjusted so that they are floating parallel with the body of the guitar.
This is achieved by adjusting the screws in the back of the guitar that the springs attach to, retuning, then adjusting the springs, and so on until the bridge floats parallel the the body.
You'll need to reset the guitar's intonation after you do this by the way (a subject for anther article). If you don't know how to set the intonation, you can get your local music store to do it for you.
Non floating tremolos should be adjusted (by the same method as above) so that the bridge is right back flush against the body of the guitar. There should be no space between the back of the bridge and the body of the guitar. If there is, you're getting all the disadvantages of the floating tremolo, with none of the advantages. As a test, hit the strings, let them ring, and push down hard on the very back of the tremolo unit. There should be no change in pitch of the strings.
Happy Whammying!
