Fig 1.
Cross-section of an electric guitar showing the operation of a tremolo system (not to scale).
The vibrating length (l0 + Δl) of the tuned up string is shown as a thick grey line. When the tremolo arm is raised (away from the body), the bridge plate, saddle and tremolo block are all rotated by an angle of θ around the pivot. The resulting sounding length, shown as a thick black line, is increased by a distance δ.
Table 1.
String parameters for american fender stratocaster.
Table 2.
Theoretically predicted versus experimentally measured pitch deviation for a tremolo arm pull up by θ = 0.085 radians assuming dimensions and variables taken from Table 1 with D’Addario EXL120 “Nickel Wound” Super Light 9-42 strings (round wound with nickel plated steel).
Fig 2.
Theoretical pitch deviations (in cents with respect to the pitch G3) as a function of θ (in degrees) for Fender Stratocaster with D’Addario EXL120 Super Light 9-42 strings.
Dimensions and variables are taken from Table 1. Equations used were Eqs (20), (24), (30), (31), (28) and (32). Dashed grey lines on the figure show the interval predicted for the 3rd string transposed by a constant number of cents corresponding to the relative tuning of each string when θ = 0.
Table 3.
Theoretically predicted pitch deviation tabulated for a tremolo arm pull up by θ = 0.085 radians assuming dimensions and variables taken from Table 1.
Table 4.
Theoretically predicted versus experimentally measured pitch deviation for a tremolo arm pull up by θ = 0.085 radians assuming dimensions and variables taken from Table 1 with D’Addario EPN120 “Pure Nickel” Super Light 9-41 strings (round wound with pure nickel).
Table 5.
Custom string set design parameters.
Fig 3.
Theoretical pitch deviations (in cents with respect to the pitch G3) as a function of θ (in degrees) for Fender Stratocaster with custom strings made by Newtone Strings to the author’s specification.
Dimensions and variables are taken from Table 1. Equations used were Eqs (20), (24), (30), (31), (28) and (32). Dashed grey lines on the figure show the interval predicted for the 3rd string transposed by a constant number of cents corresponding to the relative tuning of each string when θ = 0.
Table 6.
Theoretically predicted versus experimentally measured pitch deviation for a tremolo arm pull up by θ = 0.085 radians for Fender Stratocaster with custom strings made by Newtone Strings to the author’s specification.
Fig 4.
Theoretical and experimental pitch deviations in cents (with respect to the open string pitches) for a full tremolo arm pull up on Fender Stratocaster with D’Addario EXL120 Super Light 9-42 strings and with custom strings made by Newtone Strings to the author’s specification.
Fig 5.
Theoretical and experimental pitch deviations in cents after an ambient temperature increase of 8.3°C for D’Addario EXL120 Super Light 9-42 strings and after an ambient temperature increase of 6.3°C for custom strings made by Newtone Strings to the author’s specification.
The theoretical prediction is based on Eq (37) with values taken from Tables 2 and 6.