It will vary depending on the type of tremelo and buitar you are doing this modification to however, this should give you a start. Basicly your going to need to measure your tremelo and lay it out onto the guitar. Then you will need to define the cavity where it will set. Nex you need to mask off the guitar body except for the shape you drew/refined. Next you need to take you router and adjust it to match the depth of the tremelo and cut/carve the shape or cavity out of the body. Next using a dremel, sand away till its nice and smoot.
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Aug 04, 2009 I've wanted a bigsby on it for the longest time, not juist because I love tremolo, but also because I need some weight on that side of the guitar to help balance it more. Two birds one stone. I've debated trying to install it myself but ultimately decided that I'm too scared to mess with it.
Now check you studs and see where they fit in the cavity and mark there position. Next use a matching drill bit and drill out a hole for the stuf to mount the tremello to the guitar. Assemble the tremello and the rest of the guitar.You may want to coat the inside of the tremelo cavity withs some sound dampering paint. This will make it sound better and also will prevent any outside radio waves from interfering with your electric guitar's.
Common Usage. A tremolo is a quick repetition of a note (or 2 notes/chords in alternation).
It produces a rumbling, thundering effect if used in the bass, and when used softly in the high registers, it can create an eerie atmosphere. Adjusting the volume of tremolos (suddenly loud/soft) can also emphasise and enhance its effect. Another use of a tremolo is the well-known drum roll used offen to signal or lead into an entrance. A tremolo is capable of adding to the tension of a piece, or leading the music towards the climax. As such, it is not uncommonly to find tremolos at the end of a grand piece. As long as their passive to passive meaning no say EMG's that are active this is what you do. Google the wiring diagrams as they have to be done a certain way,all you have to do is this, its step by step.
Flip the gutiar on its 'belly' and you're going to open up the control cavity with your screw driver unsolder all the wires that the pots and other electronics the guitar is wired to remove the old pickups, be careful you can still sell them on eBay loosen the faceplate or whatever holds up the guitars pickups than remember look at the wiring diagram! Put the new pickups in and slide the wires into the control cavity doing this one at a time to install solder the wires at the right potentiometers (pots or knobs inside the guitar) now you're done, to test them plug the guitar in and enjoy. Craigslist or kijiji can do this incredibly cheap if you live in a big city. Being an alpha release, Zbar doesnt have an installer script. The Ideal way to install Zbar would be to create a folder named Zbar in C: Program Files within that directory put the files zbar.exe and solhook11.dll Now create 2 shortcuts to zbar.exe (Right-ClickCreate shortcut) Place one in C: ProgramData Microsoft Windows Start Menu Place the other in C: ProgramData Microsoft Windows Start Menu Programs Startup If you do not wish for xbar to start automatically, then you may omit the second shortcut altogether. Google the wiring diagrams as they have to be done a certain way, heres step by step all you need is a soldering iron really flip the gutiar on its 'belly' and you're going to open up the control cavity with your screw driver unsolder all the wires that the pots and other electronics the guitar is wired to remove the old pickups, be careful you can still sell them on eBay loosen the faceplate or whatever holds up the guitars pickups than remember look at the wiring diagram! Put the new pickups in and slide the wires into the control cavity doing this one at a time to install solder the wires at the right potentiometers (pots or knobs inside the guitar) now you're done, to test them plug the guitar in and enjoy.
Craigslist or kijiji can do this incredibly cheap if you live in a big city.
A whammy bar is also known as a tremolo, and it consists of bridge on a spring-loaded saddle and a simple lever called a tremolo (aka whammy) bar. It'd be best to buy one (from a music shop), because while simple. It is a precision device and it has to be very strong. I'm looking at the one attached to my guitar at the moment and I'm quite confident I could machine all the parts in my shop.
But the materials would cost me much more than it would to just go buy the thing. Here's one: Fitting it on the guitar can be a bit tricky and is best done by a professional. I say this because you may need to cut a new hole, with some precision, in order to make room for the mechanism. If you're comfortable hacking up your axe and you find a tremolo that looks like it will be easy to fit do the following: De-tune and then de-string your guitar. Don't just cut the strings, they're under tension and will hurt you. I tell you that not because I think you're stupid but because my friend lost an eye. It's best to do it slowly anyway, to let the guitar accept the change in stresses and avoid warping and cracks.
Electric guitars usually have an adjustable bridge (with all those little 'fingers'). Yours is no exception. You need to make a mark showing where they are and then remove your old fixed (aka hardtail) bridge. You then need to examine your Tremolo and the existing hole, and determine whether or not you need to use a router and make the hole bigger (probably).
You'll also need to determine if you have enough wood in the right place for the new screw holes. Your new bridge must be centred on the neck, with the fingers the same distance away from the neck as the old ones. Also observe the location of any other internal parts that might get in your way. If your tremolo comes with a template, transfer it to your guitar.
If not, make a new one keeping in mind that the tremolo needs room to move and that you don't want an open hole. Remove any parts that will get in the way of your router, and cover any electronics that dont.
Now make a new hole, following the template carefully. Use a chisel if there are any sharp corners to be made, but most guitar parts are designed for holes with rounded corners. Drill new screw holes unless the old ones are in exactly the right place and happen to be exactly the right size. Mount the new tremolo using the screws and hardware provided. For most models the screws will not be tightened but left sticking out a little bit. This gives the bridge room to rock back and forth.
Check the action now and make adjustments. It should be fairly firm and it should not knock loudly. Keep in mind that the strings will provide some additional pulling force so make it just a bit firmer than you'd like.
Re-string, slowly. Do not tighten the strings rapidly. Tighten them about halfway, leave it for an hour.
Come back, tighten a little bit more and leave for a half hour. Come back, tighten the rest of the way. Check the tremolo.
Did the strings pull it forward too much? Note that a Strat-style tremolo should lay flat agaisnt the body until used. Were there any cracking or popping noises?
Does the tremolo move properly? Be prepared to adjust the fingers on your bridge for action (height of the strings above the neck and body). You may also have to adjust intonation, which is a function of distance between both points that the string rests on (the 'nut' on the neck and at the bridge on the body). The first one you can do yourself, the second one should be handed over to an experienced pro. I know this isn't a hold-your-hand guide to doing what you want. In fact, I'm sure I left a lot of stuff out, and I actually tried to avoid explaining guitar theory in great detail.
I just want to point out a couple of issues with the change: 1. Your guitar is now weaker due to the modification.
If it was done right, it shouldn't be a problem. Electric guitars are usually built much stronger than they need to be (at least in my opinion). A guitar that is fitted with a tremolo will not hold tuning as well as a guitar that has a Hardtail (fixed) bridge.
Look under 'Bridge' while reading the link below to hear more about the pros and cons. For an explaination of guitar anatomy. Yup, but the extra abuse of your strings will still cause them to stretch and weaken faster than a fixed bridge, and the spring in the tremolo will become progressivly weaker over time. A good tremolo is designed to reduce this effect as much as possible, but it's still a tradeoff to consider. Of course, I've never met anyone who was unhappy enough to make the switch in the other direction (from a tremolo to a fixed bridge).
On the bright side, it makes breaking in a new set of strings a little faster.:D I really, really hope this project goes well for you. Best of luck in finding the right tremolo (you might consider removing your existing bridge and bringing the guitar to the music store when you shop) and have fun rocking out with it. GuardianFox, excellent reply. You said toward the end that a tremolo equipped guitar doesn't hold its tuning as well. It's true, but there's a 'fix'. I have perfect pitch and can tune my guitar by ear to within a cent or two when installing new strings, with no reference pitch. I'm extremely fussy about tuning.
My old Fender Coronado has a tremelo tailpiece. The bridge has round cylinders rather than knife-edged saddles, and the tremelo mounts on top of the tailpiece. The strings go through a metal bar that looks a lot like a pedal steel chrome slide. The trem bar is mounted to this, and 'rocks' it to vary string tension. It's similar in principle to a Bigsby. (BTW, the Bigsby requires no routing, and this design might be easier for homebrewing.) I wouldn't call it a 'whammy'. It bends down only about 1-1/2 tones.
No Eddy Van Halen dive bombs with this tremelo. Fortunately, there's not much call for these in jazz and blues. There's a trick to tuning a trem equipped guitar.
Tune a string, hit the trem bar, retune, hit the trem bar, retune, hit the trem bar again. By now, that string should be pretty stable. Tune all strings thusly, then recheck your tuning. While playing, your guitar may go out of tune. If it does, hit the trem bar. This will usually bring it right back in tune. I use a guitar tuner (Boss TU121) with a D'arsonval/Weston meter movement (moving needle).
It's very accurate, and more flexible than a strobe. I set it to A439, and use the marker just before center for more flatness.
We tune guitars with the strings 'at rest'. When the guitar is played normally, it plays sharp because the average string excursion is greater, and increases effective string tension. This is the right compromise for my guitar and style of play. I also play a racked diatonic harmonica. I tune my harmonicas several cents sharp (and yes harmonicas can be tuned by removing metal from the reed). I naturally 'pull' them into tune with my resonant embouchure.
I set them up so I can bend all 20 reeds and play chromatically. It seems that most (all??) trem equipped Strats come with a floating trem, a musical abomination that should carry a mandatory life sentence at a facility far away from me. The first time I tried a Strat with a floating trem, I finally understood why Strat players like to smash and burn their instruments. It makes them sound better.
Fortunately, there's a simple (and CHEAP) fix. Block the tremelo, so it bends only downward in pitch, but not upward (if you need bidirectional whammy, do it right, with a slide). I sank a couple of wood screws in back of mine, so the trem firmly rests against the screws.
What a HUGE difference this made. Once you do these (tuning and blocking the trem), you won't need locking nuts, locking tuners, Floyd Roses, or any of that other junk that doesn't work. If your tuners are junk (a lot of 'stock' tuners are junk), you may need to replace them with good precision tuners, like Schallers.
But if you're contemplating building your own tremelo, you're probably either totally broke or terminally cheap (or like me, both), and the chances that those tuners will be replaced is about the same as Rush Limburger saying something (gasp!) nice about Obama.