From surf to shred, these vibrato units will help you get your bends on.
Vega-Trem
VT1 Ultra Trem standard
A sleek drop-in replacement for S-style guitars, this two-point vibrato is designed for both descending and ascending motion without having to route your beloved instrument.
$259 street
vegatrem.com
BIGSBY
B5
The ultimate old-school whammy mounts to any flat-top solidbody with just four screws and is available in polished aluminum and gold.
$149 street
bigsby.com
DUESENBERG
Les Trem II
This easy-to-install unit mounts onto the bushings of a Tune-o-matic or stop-tailpiece-style bridge and uninstalls just as easily.
$125 street
duesenberg.de
MASTERY
MV
This offset vibrato features a full-contact fulcrum plate, a high carbon steel spring, and a stainless steel arm housing.
$210 street
masterybridge.com
FLOYD ROSE
Original Tremolo System
Hey dive-bombers! The o.g. double-locking trem pairs hardened steel with a nickel-plated-brass sustain block for maximum shreddage.
$231 street
floydrose.com
STETSBAR
S-Style
This unique-looking option comes in a variety of fits, for S-style, T-style, stop-tailpiece guitars, and more.
$329 street
stetsbar.com
SWOPE GUITARS
Descendant
This drop-in offset-style replacement offers a steeper break angle than vintage units and includes a removable arm.
$195 street
swopeguitars.com
FENDER
American Vintage Series Stratocaster Tremolo
Hard to argue with a classic, which includes “Fender”-stamped saddles and vintage-style string spacing.
$179 street
fender.com
KAHLER
2300
This top-routed unit features six fine tuners, top spring-tension adjuster, and can be locked into fixed position.
$419 street
kahlerusa.com
Our Last Call columnist considers his dream Rig Rundown subject.
“Django was music made into a man.” —Emmanuel Soudieux, Django’s bassist
My friend and colleague Chris Kies recently filmed a Pantera Rig Rundown. One could argue that Pantera is the reason that Rig Rundowns exist. Pantera, more specifically Pantera’s guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell, got Kies into guitar, and he eventually—along with former PG editorial director Joe Coffey—came up with the idea of filming guitarists with their rigs. So you have Hell’s own cowboy, Dimebag, via Kies to thank for the Rundown brand of infotainment.
When the Rundown team got together to yak about Kies’ white-whale interview during a Gig Rundown, I began to wonder what my dream Rig Rundown would be. The choice is easy, though filming it would require a DeLorean, a flux capacitor, and 1.21 gigawatts of power to take us back to 1946 when Django Reinhardt toured the U.S. with Duke Ellington.
Django Reinhardt remains my personal guitar hero. You’ll never hear a player who is more in command of the instrument. Django’s playing was creative and fearless, lighting fast, but never rushed, fiery but relaxed, showy but subtle and sweet. And as brilliant as Django’s playing was, the man was as remarkable as his music. Django seemed to embody everything beautiful and terrible about musicians, incarnating the bad luck, immense talent, shifty business practices, hubris, and laziness. He’d show up for scheduled concerts without a guitar or skip sold-out concerts to take a walk on the beach or whatever he felt inspired to do. Some days he’d refuse to get out of bed at all.
”Django seemed to embody everything beautiful and terrible about musicians, incarnating the bad luck, immense talent, shifty business practices, hubris, and laziness.“
Django Reinhardt was born in a Roma encampment near Belgium in 1910. As a child, the nomadic camp moved outside of Paris, where Django excelled at playing violin, banjo, and guitar, as well as stealing chickens. When he was 18, a fire engulfed his trailer one night, which paralyzed the third and fourth fingers on his left hand. During his 18-month convalescence, Django reinvented his guitar playing. In doing so, he created a new style of music dubbed "gypsy jazz," making him the first great European jazz musician.
During World War II, Nazis exterminated over a million people of Roma heritage and Hitler decreed that listening to jazz could get you sent to a concentration camp. Paradoxically, Django enjoyed the most lucrative period of his career, living and playing openly among Nazi soldiers, who used Paris as a party town during the war.
After the war, while on tour in Zürich, Django lost most of his money gambling in a casino. But in a quick reversal of fortune, he was contacted by a William Morris agent who told him that Duke Ellington would like Django and his musical partner Stéphane Grappelli to join him on tour in the U.S. Django selfishly chose not to tell Grappelli about the tour and went alone.
According to Reinhardt biographer Charles Delaunay, Django was accustomed to his brother Joseph carrying and tuning his guitar, so he arrived in the U.S. without luggage or a guitar. Django believed American companies would be throwing guitars and money at him when he arrived. He was wrong. An agent rounded up a high-action Gibson ES-300 that felt nothing like his sleek, low-action Selmer strung with light ”silk-&-steel” strings (.010–.046). He plugged into an amp he didn’t know how to operate, and oscillated between too loud and inaudible. Accounts say it took him five minutes to tune his guitar. At their Carnegie Hall concert, according to Delaunay, Django ran into boxer Marcel Cerdan on the street, and the two headed to a cafe. Consequently, the guitarist was two hours late. Django went back to Paris not long after the ill-fated show because, as Duke put it, “Somebody at the William Morris Agency had beat him playing billiards, and he got mad and left.”Childish, selfish, brilliant, joyous, jealous, and vain, with little common sense, Django was a Zen-gangsta with an indomitable human spirit, laughing his way through life with no real goals, carefree, spending money as fast as he made it. He embodies everything I’d hope to be as well as everything I fear I might be
Stray Cats, featuring original members Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker, and Slim Jim Phantom, will embark on a three-week tour across America starting July 27.
The multi-million selling band’s trek will include stops in Bend, Los Angeles (two shows in Costa Mesa), San Diego, Denver, New York City and more before wrapping up August 17 in Bridgeport, CT. They’ll be joined for these dates by The Midnight Cowgirls as the support act. The tour dates are below, with more to be announced soon.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, March 29 at 10:00 AM (local time). An artist fan club presale kicks off Wednesday, March 27 10:00 AM (local time); sign up for the band newsletter at Straycats.com to get access.
These shows will mark the STRAY CATS’ first performances since the release of their critically acclaimed 2019 album 40 and subsequent reunion tour, which they followed with a live album ROCKED THIS TOWN: FROM LA TO LONDON in 2020. Concertgoers can expect to hear the band’s signature unparalleled virtuosity and red-hot rock & roll spirit via their classic tunes alongside their most recent material. Their setlists will include massive hits such as "Stray Cat Strut,” "Rock This Town," “Runaway Boys," "(She's) Sexy + 17," "I Won't Stand in Your Way” and more.
BRIAN SETZER: “I’ve always said that we all grew up in the same neighborhood, so there’s an instant feeling between us when we play. It allows us to be confident and spontaneous. Man, that’s priceless.”
LEE ROCKER: “With just a string bass, a guitar and a drum, we have always had less instruments and gear, but more rumble, more twang, more shake, and more bang than anyone else. Now’s the right time to bring it back!”
SLIM JIM PHANTOM: “I’m thrilled to be doing shows in 2024 with Stray Cats in the U.S.A.! Playing drums with Brian and Lee in our rockabilly band is the best possible way to spend a summer!”
For more information, please visit straycats.com.
The STRAY CATS 2024 dates are as follows:
DAY | DATE | LOCATION | VENUE |
Saturday | 7/27 | Woodinville, WA | Chateau Ste. Michele Winery^ |
Sunday | 7/28 | Bend, OR | Hayden Homes Amphitheater |
Tuesday | 7/30 | Saratoga, CA | The Mountain Winery* |
Thursday | 8/1 | Costa Mesa, CA | The Pacific Amphitheatre |
Friday | 8/2 | Costa Mesa, CA | The Pacific Amphitheatre |
Saturday | 8/3 | San Diego, CA | The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park |
Monday | 8/5 | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | 8/6 | Denver, CO | The Mission Ballroom |
Thursday | 8/8 | Moorhead, MN | Bluestem Center for the Arts |
Friday | 8/9 | Waite Park, MN | The Ledge Amphitheater |
Saturday | 8/10 | Gary, IN | Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana |
Monday | 8/12 | Huber Heights, OH | Rose Music Center at The Heights |
Tuesday | 8/13 | Lewiston, NY | Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater |
Thursday | 8/15 | New York, NY | The Rooftop at Pier 17 |
Friday | 8/16 | Atlantic City, NJ | Ocean Casino Resort – Ovation Hall |
Saturday | 8/17 | Bridgeport, CT | Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater |