1940's DeArmond Tremolo Unit

sailingshoes72

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I came across this while doing a search for Guild guitars on Reverb. It appears to be the original, stand-alone effects unit for electric guitars. It has already sold, but is cool to check out.

https://reverb.com/item/104023-dearmond-601-tremolo-1940s

Here are a couple more links, one of which details the mechanism that gives the unit it's watery, liquid tone.

http://danformosa.com/premier-guitar-article-dearmond-tremolo/

(If you are interested in the history of mechanical design or enjoy reading schematics check out the Dan Formosa article.)

sailingshoes
 
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sailingshoes72

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I didn't realize that this FX unit had been mentioned in a previous post. I was just surprised to see a stand-alone Tremolo unit from the 1940's. Also, I found the mechanism (a glass vial filled with hydrolytic fluid that sends the signal to ground) very inventive! Looking at the schematics on Dan Formosa's site, the speed control isn't even a potentiometer. It is a spring-loaded arm that moves the fly wheel along a tapered drive shaft. Thanks for the link to the previous thread.

Bill
 
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59Panhead

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My vial was empty, so I turned the unit upside down, and hand-drilled the plug out. Holding it upside down meant that the shavings would fall out. I then added Windex window cleaner to it with a syringe. A little bit and ran it for a test. I added a bit too much, and pulled it back out with the same syringe. Got it to the optimum 'warble' and put a rubber cap over the filler spout. You can get these caps from McMaster-Carr to cover the ends of bolts and screws. I've been saving them for years, collecting from work, as they throw them in the trash.

It doesn't have the range that an electronic Tremolo would have. But, the nostalgia of it blows all other Tremolos out of the water. Only one effect that I've found would be more nostalgic. That's the Dorf Universal Vibrato. The man was a genius. I've got one of those on the drawing board, for a project someday. It was a pure point-to-point build, but I've drawn a layout for a tagboard.

Jack
 
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