Innovator Mike Parillo Talks About his P-Whammy

By: Rick Landers

Sometimes the best notions are those that come in the night and are based on the mind’s process of incubation, although they appear to arrive spontaneously, in a rush of problem-solving insight. But, sometimes,they also hit us on the noggin’ when we’re dealing with a real-time issue, like when we’re wrestling with an errant whammy bar. And, it seems that innovator, Mike Parillo, struggled and won with his P-Whammy idea.

The P-Whammy is something that corrects some annoying problems many of us have had with tremolo or whammy bars. As much as we like to use them, they can get in the way, or be a bit too far out of our way, when we’re trying to play. Whammy bars are useful guitarist’s tools that we can avoid, when they’re not needed, most typically by unscrewing them, but then re-attaching them when a song calls for some vibrato.

Mike Parillo put his mind and his machinist skills together to come up with a workable solution that he calls the P-Whammy bar. We at Guitar International have yet to try one, but having checked out Mike’s P-Whammy video demo at his firm’s website, we think he’s onto something useful. So, we caught up with Parillo at home and asked him how he came up with his tremolo design, as well as a few other questions that we thought our readers would like to know.

P-Whammy

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Rick Landers:Coming up with something new for guitarists, something that’s really worth buying, takes a bit of inventiveness, but also some understanding of the real needs of guitarists. How did the idea behind the P-Whammy come about and at what point did you realize that it was something that guitarists would actually buy?

Mike Parillo: I had the standard tremolo bar on my guitar and it kept getting caught up on things, so I pulled it out. Not having the tremolo bar, I started pushing the bridge with my thumb. One hot day, my band and I were performing outside and my thumb slipped off the bridge. Right there, on stage, I thought I need to make myself a small handle that would be out of the way. Within the next couple of days the first P-Whammy prototype was made. I put one on my guitar and starting using it. Right from the first time I played out with it on my guitar, people starting asking me where I got it and if they could buy one.

Rick:What’s so different about the P-Whammy compared to other whammy bars?

Mike: The P-Whammy is a fixed position bar. It’s in the same place every time, and is out of the way.

Rick:Are you naturally inclined to be inventive or was the P-Whammy a once in a lifetime inspired moment for you?

Mike: Yes, I love to invent stuff. I have several patents on a variety of products.

Rick:How many prototypes did you develop before you locked on to the final P-Whammy?

Mike: I went through about a dozen different shapes and sizes before I settled on the final design.

Rick:Given the reverse direction of the P-Whammy compared to other whammy bars, I wonder if a guitarist’s coat sleeve can get caught on it while playing or is it far enough away to inhibit that kind of problem?

Mike: No, I haven’t heard of any problems with that. I haven’t experienced any myself. The P-Whammy is out of the way, behind the bridge, away from where you strum.

P-Whammy

Rick:With respect to how guitarists use their whammy bars, are there any limits to the P-Whammy, like an ability to “deep dive” or pull it up like more traditional bars?

Mike: You can deep dive, you can go up in pitch, and you can even trill tap the bar. The one limitation is that you can’t strum and dive because the bar is in a fixed position.

Rick:Is it a do-it-yourself process to replace the bar or does a player have to get it done by a guitar technician or shop?

Mike: That’s the best part. It attaches like your stock bar, Fender guitars screw on and the PRS guitars have a press-in type attachment. The Floyd Rose uses a cap to hold the bar on. Some players may want to lighten up the spring pressure, but no permanent modifications are necessary.

Rick:Okay, everyone’s going to want to know how much these cost. What’s the retail and where can they get one?

Mike: The price is $19.95 + shipping and handling. They are available through my homepage.

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