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In use by e arly 1940s, the De Armond Tre molo Control was the first comme rcially produce d e le ctric guitar e ffe ct.
Photo by Chris Gray
I set out to investigate the earliest recorded examples of guitarists using tremolo and the equipment they used to
do it. You might think, as I did, that the story starts somewhere in the 1930s or 40s. But the search took me
much further back: specifically, to the 9th -century Byzantine Empire and 16th -century Europe. Obviously, there
were no electric guitars then, but tremolo was being used as a musical device more than a millennium ago.
After exploring those origins, well leap ahead to the mechanical tremolo contraptions of the 1800s, and finally,
the electronic tremolo circuits of the 20th century. Well encounter the first electronic tremolo (created for
organs, not guitars) and the first electronic guitar tremolo, which also happened to be the first electric guitar effect
box. Well look at the first tremolo amps that appeared in the late 1940s, and well conclude in 1963, when
Fender introduced their then-radical photocell tremolo circuit.
By Tremolo, We Mean.
Our focus is the history of musicians ability to oscillate the volume of a note, not its pitch. Oscillating pitch
change is properly referred to as vibrato, not tremolo. But as youll see, the words have a long history of being
confused. (Theres also another musical definition of tremolo: striking the same note many times in rapid
succession, mandolin-style, a technique also known as tremolando.)
For centuries musicians have sought ways to impart a wavering, voice-like quality
to notes and chords.
We dont know exactly when and where the first bowed instruments originated, but theres a Byzantine carving
from around 900 A.D. depicting a scantily clad cherub holding an extremely long bow against the strings of an
instrument known as a lyra. We dont know whether lyra players used tremolo effects, but the technique was
available.
Fast Forward
In 1891, George Van Dusen patented a device similar in many ways to the vibrato-producing whammy bars we
know today in 1891. His mechanism, designed for any stringed instrument, anchors the string at the short end of
a spring-loaded lever. A push on the lever pulls the string tighter, raising its pitch, after which a spring attached to
the lever returns the string to its original pitch. The result is vibrato, though Van Dusen called it tremolo in the
U.S. patent application.
But Van Dusen (or should I say Munn & Company, his patent attorneys?) werent acting in isolation. The words
tremolo and vibrato both found their way into patent vocabulary, where they were used interchangeably.
Orville Lewis devised a somewhat similar device for violin in 1921. It worked by oscillating the bridge. Again, his
device varied pitch, and again, the effect was called tremolo. Clayton Kauffmann created a sort of whammy bar
for banjo in 1929. As with all whammy bars, the result was vibrato, not tremolo. And again, the product
description used the word tremolo.
There were devices that produced true tremolo, such as rotating fins on a piano cabinet that opened and closed
a sound port, or a spinning mechanism for a wind instrument mouthpiece that modulated airflow. But unlike
bowed and blown instruments, non-electric guitars have no innate tremolo techniques. It takes an amplified guitar
and electronic circuitry to produce a wavering-volume effect.
This Storytone piano by is one of only 150 made and was the world's first e le ctric piano mode l. It de bute d at the 1939 World's Fair
and the e arly mode ls had De Armond tre molo units mounte d unde r the ke yboard. Photo by Dave Fey
The 1941 date is not based on the effect being used with guitars, but on the first electric pianos. Storytone pianos
were manufactured by Story & Clark and developed in conjunction with RCA. They were first exhibited at the
1939 New York Worlds Fair. By 1941 early models boasted DeArmond tremolo units mounted directly under
the keyboard for easy access. In August of that year, pianists J. Russel Robinson and Teddy Hale performed at
the Chicagoland Music Festival, their state-of-the-art Storytones outfitted with both DeArmond units and
Hammond Solovoxes (miniature, secondary keyboards, and some of the first synthesizers.)
The patent was granted in 1949, but were not sure exactly when the circuit was first used in a Danelectro amp.
According to Nathan Daniels son Howard, I have no knowledge of this, and I suspect there's no living person
who does. I can speculate, however, based on my knowledge of my dad, that he introduced tremolo sooner than
1950, as soon as he could following his application for a patent. Tremolo definitely appears on Danelectros
1950s Special model amps.
But Multivox and Gibson may have beaten
Danelectro to the market with trem-equipped amps.
A 1947 Multivox ad trumpets the companys new
model: Guitarists! You owe it to yourself to try the
new Premier 66 Tremolo Amplifier. Yes, you too
will be sold on this new amplifier from the very first
trial. The built-in Electronic Tremolo lends a new
organlike quality to your tone. Meanwhile, Gibsons
first tremolo amp, the GA-50T, appeared in 1948.
(The brownface amps Fender introduced in 1959the Vibrasonic, Concert, and eventually other models
utilize a circuit called harmonic vibrato. Its not exactly tremolo or vibrato, although it can certainly create that
impression. Think of tremolo volume as a sine wave, with high and low peaks. Now think of a second tremolo
wave, this time offset by 180 degrees. It would cancel the first tremolothe summed volume would be flat.
However, the harmonic vibrato circuits send higher frequencies to one wave and lower frequencies to the other.
There is no actual change in volume or pitch, but rather a sort of phase shift.)
Fenders next type of tremolo featured a very different system. The blackface amps that appeared in 1963 use a
12AX7 tube and a photocell to oscillate the voltage. That system employs a neon light to open and close the
photocell. It acts on the grid of the phase inverter. Photocell tremolo tends to sound choppier than earlier bias
variation circuits. (For an example of bias variation tremolo, listen to Otis Reddings version of A Change is
Gonna Come, featuring Steve Cropper on guitar. For photocell tremolo, try the Doors Riders on the Storm.)
Les Paul, electric guitar pioneer and mad scientist of the recording
studio, may have used a subtle tremolo effect on his 1946 recording of
Sweet Hawaiian Moonlight.
You can hear Muddy Waters playing through a tremolo effect on his
1953 song Flood. Two years later Bo Diddley made tremolo a
centerpiece of his sound, using a DeArmond unit on his 1955 hits Bo
Blue sman Big Bill Broonz y is probably the Diddley, Diddley Daddy, and Pretty Thing.
guitarist on se ve ral 1942 songs by singe r/pianist
Roose ve lt Syke s. The tre molo e ffe ct is
unmistakable .
By the late 1950s electric tremolo was in full swing. Duane Eddy
famously incorporated it in many of his recordings. He obtained a
DeArmond unit in 1957 and used it on Rebel Rouser the following year. According to Eddy, the tremolo effect
was cool because it was such a simple melody. His other tremolo-based songs include Stalkin,
Cannonball, The Lonely One, and Forty Miles of Bad Road. Also in 1958, Link Wray recorded
Rumble, where you can hear the effect being turned on in the final portion of the song.
The 1960s brought an entirely new wave of tremolo-infused amps, effect pedals, and guitar recordingsfar
more than we can cover here. But even a short list of great trem-fueled 60s classics reveals how much the effect
contributed to the decades sound.