Members WRGKMC Posted September 12, 2014 Members Share Posted September 12, 2014 Wiki attempts to explain the confusion here about how fender attempted to swap the terms for sales purposes. It doesn't include the circuit or dictionary definitions, but why throw gas on the fire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrato_unit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knotty Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Look it up in the dictionary or call it whatever you want. It really doesn't matter to me. I simply posted what's written in the dictionary and how its taught when you get a formal degree in electronics. If you want to call it something else, be my guest. Many names in electronics come from the original inventors. Its the ones who infringe on those circuits and make them popular that often get credit for something they didn't invent. Any good electronic tech will tell you Fender "admits" they improperly named their circuit "Tremolo" and since then a miss-used term has been adopted to mean something it isnt. There is nothing new about words changing meaning over time. Abuse a word long enough to where the population "gets it" and they add a line to the dictionary to explain it. Magnatone had a patent for the circuit which was a true pitch bending tremolo circuit. They called it Vibrato, a term used to explain the resultant sound, not the circuit that causes it. They could have just as easily called it tremolo, Wah, pitch bender or anything else if they wanted to. It didn't matter if they used the actual word improperly. They owned the patent and could call it whatever they want. People do this all the time selling products. They call Cyanoacrylate, Crazy glue, or super glue because most people cant pronounce the scientific term. They do the same thing with different circuits all the time. In the case of Fender, They used a multivibrator circuit to vary the volume. It was a budget version of the Magnatone circuit except it didn't bend the pitch and therefore didn't infringe on their patent. They named it Tremolo knowing it didn't bend the pitch and everyone has adopted the word to mean volume pulsing. But, that's not the scientific term for the circuit or what it does. Really, unless you've studied electronics and know your different circuits you wouldn't know the difference, It only matters to people who appreciate the inventors and think they are the ones who deserve the real credit. Tesla in the guy who invented the oscillator circuit used in everything from Guitar gear, to Moogs, to Radios and computer clocks. Armstrong was the first to figure out how to amplify with tubes and created the first tube oscillator. Leo Fender didn't know jack about electronics. He was a marketer. He hired techs to pull the circuits directly from a radio manuals and mass marketed them as guitar amps. What someone calls a knob really isn't that big a deal to me if you know what it does. You get people calling the knobs on stomp boxes all kinds of weird things just to be different. That doesn't make those circuits theirs. They just cash in on other peoples ideas. If you know what the box actually does, you don't even need a name for it. It does what it does. So much Bollox, so little time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Floyd Rosenbomb Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Whammy bar just throws a wrench in the works. I hate those things. Tuning and intonation shouldn't be so hard to maintain. Damn you to hell, Floyd Rose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlamoJoe Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Yu forgot Billy Gibbons...Also a Magnatone devotee...And thanks for the eye and ear candy.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RGfretter Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Wiki attempts to explain the confusion here about how fender attempted to swap the terms for sales purposes. It doesn't include the circuit or dictionary definitions, but why throw gas on the fire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrato_unit Fender schmender. We have been trying to say nicely that... Vibrato is a fluctuation of pitch Tremolo is a fluctuation of volume. This is some valuable knowledge! For free! Whoohoo! You are WELCOME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Radar-Love Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Even though I often call them a Vibrola, I'm now thinking that I'll begin calling them a Mechanical String Pitch Control Unit, or simply a MSPCU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RGfretter Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Radar-Love Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Well, I still occasionally refer to guitars as pickup holders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted September 14, 2014 Members Share Posted September 14, 2014 I have no idea whether kwakatak is serious or not but I am. Give me a hardtail any day as long as it's not a Telecaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.