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| That really would be a first! |
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Leo Fender was a radio repairman. He started building amplifiers and
then guitars, but he didn't play. This was evident in the patent for the
Stratocaster Vibrato as he called it
tremolo. Of course, it follows that the dial on a Fender amp for tremolo is mislabeled as
vibrato.
He had several top artists around him at any given time. Why they
didn't correct him is unknown. Maybe they did. Did he think it was a
minor difference not worth correcting? Did he do it to stand out from
the competition that had tremolo equipped amps? Years later, the
vibrato unit was correctly labeled on one Fender: The Mustang student
guitar. What is certain is they are in fact
not interchangeable terms, but Fender has stuck with them to this day.
Vibrato means changes in
pitch.
Tremolo means changes in
volume.
