Stetsbar
The Stetsbar Tremolo system is a vibrato bridge system for the electric guitar developed by Eric Stets during the late ‘80s and patented in 1995. The system was originally designed to offer an extremely stable vibrato system that could be retrofitted to “stop-tail” (fixed tailpiece) guitars such as the Gibson Les Paul without the need to make any permanent modifications to the recipient guitar.
Since its introduction, other mounts for the system have been introduced to enable a wide variety of guitars to be accommodated.
Principle of operation
The Stetsbar is a floating tremolo system where the pull of the guitar strings are held in equilibrium at the scale length of the guitar by two heavy duty springs anchored to a spring retainer block on the base plate of the unit.
When actuated by moving the tremolo arm up or down, the bridge operates with a linear motion in the same plane as the strings of the guitar. A Tune-O-Matic style bridge is mounted on the bridge plate which also holds the string anchor block. The bridge plate moves over a pair of roller bearings installed in the base plate of the unit. Thus, the bridge and string anchors move as one, eliminating any friction over the bridge saddles.
Another advantage of the surface mounting of all components is that no additional holes or routs are needed to the guitar to fit the unit. This is especially nice if you upgrade to a similar guitar (e.g. from an Epiphone Les Paul to a Gibson Les Paul), as you can move the tremolo from the old guitar to the new without losing any functionality/value of either guitar, since its original bridge/tailpiece can be put back on.
The Pro II Stetsbar is further equipped with a 'floating lock' system. When engaged this has the added benefit of keeping the unit in tune in the case of a string break or double stop bend. It also allows drop tuning on the fly. Use of this does mean that up pitch movement is disabled.
Available models
The Stetsbar comes in a number of variants all of which are due to differences in the base plate design only. All other parts are common across the entire range. Various finishes are available for the base plates and other parts to allow for a close match to a guitars existing bright work, scratch plate and pickup surrounds.
Available models are:
- Stop Tail – designed to fit to guitars that have a fixed tailpiece/bridge assembly such as the Gibson Guitar's Les Paul, Gibson SG, Gibson ES-335 and other similar models. Mounting to the guitar is achieved by using the existing threaded stop tail bushings. The latest Pro II base plate design replaced the rounded base plate with a rectangular design.
- T-Style – with a base plate designed to replace a Fender Telecaster or similar guitar’s “ashtray” bridge. This base plate allows for the remounting of the guitars diagonal bridge pickups and offers both three and four screw hole fitting points that are found on the various T-Style makes and models.
- S-Style – designed to replace a Fender Stratocaster or similar guitar’s tremolo. The Stetsbar's base plate clamps into the existing tremolo cavity.
Stetsbar tremolo/vibrato system mounted on a Fender Stratocaster guitar - Hard Tail – a base plate mount for those guitars that have a 5 hole hard tail mount point such as certain models of Fender Stratocasters and Squier Telecasters.
- OEM – a mount designed specifically for guitar builders who will build around the unit. This features a minimal base plate almost completely hidden under the main bridge plate and normally counter-sunk into the top of the guitar by a few millimetres.
Other Variations – some units are fitted with various makes of piezo pickup saddle or graphite bridges dependent upon requirement.
Accessory items now include a Stetsbar 'Vintage' Arm and a Stetsbar Fine-Tuner device suitable for use with Stetsbars and other guitars with similar stop-tail configurations.
Notable users
Among the professional users of the Stetsbar are artists such as Jan Akkerman, formally of Focus, Snowy White (who tours extensively with Roger Waters and other members of Pink Floyd), Randy Bachman, Elliott Randall, Mike Chain, Reeves Gabrels, Hershel Yatovitz, John Bohlinger and Dave Gutter of Rustic Overtones and Paranoid Social Club, as well as many other US, UK and European guitarists.