Electric guitar with tremolo unit

An electric guitar having a plurality of strings, wherein each string has a first contact point defined on a neck and a second contact point defined on a base plate attached to a body, wherein the guitar includes a hinge mechanism for supporting the base plate such that the base plate pivots relative to the body, wherein the hinge mechanism includes:

• a pair of bores, wherein each bore is formed at a side of the base plate;
• a pair of bearing devices, wherein each bearing device comprises a pair of bearings, and wherein each bearing device is located in one of the bores;
• a pair of spacers, wherein each spacer is located in one of the bearing devices, between the two bearings of the bearing device;
• a pair of support pins protruding from the body, wherein each support pin corresponds to one of the bearing devices and is located closer to the neck than the corresponding bearing device;
• a pair of brackets, wherein each bracket is coupled to one of the support pins;
• and
• a pair of bracket pins, wherein each bracket pin is coupled to one of the brackets and fits into the corresponding bearing devices and the corresponding spacer;
• wherein the axial midpoint of each bearing device and the center of the corresponding support pin are located on a line that is substantially parallel to the strings.

A tremolo unit for an electric guitar, wherein the electric guitar has a plurality of strings, wherein each string has a first contact point defined on a neck and a second contact point defined on a base plate attached to a body, wherein the tremolo unit includes a hinge mechanism for supporting the base plate such that the base plate pivots relative to the body, wherein the hinge mechanism includes:

• a pair of bores, wherein each bore is formed at a side of the base plate;
• a pair of bearing devices, wherein each bearing device is located in one of the bores;
• a pair of support pins protruding from the body, wherein each support pin corresponds to one of the bearing devices and is located closer to the neck than the corresponding bearing device;
• a pair of brackets, each of which is coupled to one of the support pins;
• and
• a pair of bracket pins, wherein each bracket pin is coupled to one of the brackets and fits into the corresponding bearing device;
• wherein the axial midpoint of each bearing device and the center of the corresponding support pin are located on a line that is substantially parallel to the strings, the tremolo unit further comprising;
• a fine-tuning device located on the base plate, wherein the fine-tuning device fine-tunes the strings without substantially changing the positions of the contact points;
• and
• a tremolo bar, which is attached to one of the brackets.