Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Bigsby


harmonicchaos

Recommended Posts

Posted

How does a bigsby affect a les paul as far as staying in tune goes. I've been thinking about adding one to my lp. I was just wondering because tremelo's for strats and such can make the guitar go out of tune easily. I've heard that the bigsby is better in this department.

 

o, and also what does it do to the sustain?

 

thanks

  • Replies 56
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Posted

I've wanted to put a bigsby on my LP for a while now...

If you are smart, you can make it so that it doesn't affect tuning at all.

If you aren't, locking tuners should do the trick

Someone with more information than I will chime in real soon

Posted

If you lube up the nut, get a roller bridge or a graphite bridge and locking tuners a bigsby doesn't kill your tuning by any means

any problems that you have after that are just due to set up issues

Eddie VH used a standard Fender trem every night like crazy and he did fine

I know what I'm talking about

Posted

People always say about rolling bridges and keeping the nut slick when playing more dramatically. I think that most guys forget that bigbys and maestros are meant to be used as vibrato, not like Floyd Rose.

 

Then again, I never MODDED a guitar to fit a bigsby but I have played some of them and I actually own a SG that has a maestro vibrola. And what I've seen is that if you don't like to play Van Halen it should do the trick without losing tuning. Oh, I own a strat with tremolo bridge as well!

 

I don't know what it does to sustain, beecause I've read lots of different things on that matter. There are those who believe it increases sustain, there are does who have notice no changes, and those who thinks it restrains the sustain.

 

But almost everyone says that it will change your tone a little.

 

And the greatest thing I think about bigbys is that they are precise. You can feel the pressure and the response and you can really become one with the guitar.

Posted
harmonicchaos' date=' you can always play some guitars equipped with bigsby. Take a good walk around the guitar shops and you should find some. Only you can decide what's good for you =)

[/quote']

 

 

Yeah, i tried it out on a gretsch and i loved it. perfect for accenting parts of my playing.

Posted

 

And you know this how? And your info on Eddie is only half right' date=' he did use a traditional trem; might want to check your material again because you have no clue as to what your talking about.[/quote']

 

I know he used a floyd when they came out, but for the first 2 albums (and first tour I THINK) he used a regular run of the mill fender one.

I've played bigsby equipped guitars before, my guitar teacher let me borrow his 335 for the ladder part of the summer, and he gave me some tips on how to keep it in tune, which work wonderfully. idk if you are just bad at setting up guitars or you have had bad luck but there is something going wrong in your bigsby life.

Posted

 

 

Yeah' date=' i tried it out on a gretsch and i loved it. perfect for accenting parts of my playing.[/quote']

 

That's exactely how I fell in love with bigsby. Playing Lenny and sleepwalk on a gretsch hollowbody. I can't get any sweeter...

Posted

From my experience with the bigsby system on my guitar, it stays in tune well if you use it lightly sparingly and only to bend the pitch down. When I pull up on my system the pitch of the whole guitar goes sharp. I just lubricate the nut and bridge and stretch the strings out a lot. The guitar have very good sustain in general. If you want to do anything more than light vibrato you might want to consider a stetsbar or something. You can try looking up reviews on sites like harmony central. Good luck Harmonicchaos.

Posted
Just be careful thats all I am saying; sometimes its OK to let a thread go by and not add your years of expirence to them when you really don't have the answer.

 

You make a good point

I'm done here

Posted

 

You have no idea what your talking about' date=' the only way it will not affect tuning is if its never used. If your not going to use it why put it on. The only tremolo worth using that will stay in tune 99.9 % of the time is a floyd type double locking trem. The locking keys behind the nut are not a fix due to the friction in the nut, while they are better than the average tuners they do not prevent the guitar from going out. [/quote']

 

 

...ok, I'll have to go with Guitarest on this one Oilpit... sorry. I will ad that the best trem for a les paul (without routing the body) is the one made by kahler.

 

A second option (but not so acurate, better than a strat trem, better than a bigsby, not as half as good as a kahler, but not so invasive looking) is the stetsbar, it wont do divebombing but the whole bridge-bar thing moves toghether so it stays in tune very well, I am considering one for the brian may red special as the trem it has kind of sucks and doesnt look like it belongs to the guitar.

Posted

I just added a Bigsby to my 339. At first I made adapter plates that bolt directly to the tailpiece bushings ,didn't want to add holes or deface a new axe. Lost a bit of sustain. Then I finally came to the realization that this guitar will not be a collectors item.so I went in permenently. Straight to the body! BIG difference! Sustain is back. Johnny A is a top notch Bigsbyist. look for his Gibson Open Forum on YouTube...Chapter 2 towards last 3/4 of episode. He discusses the good and bad. There are slight mods you can do to the Bigsby to make it more user friendly as well, at least I did some. Good luck Bro

Posted
What's wrong sith the strat trem? You guys never heard jeff beck???

 

All trems that aren't Floyds make you go immidiatley and irreversibly out of tune, didn't you know that?

lol

Posted
One needn't neccesarily go out of tune if one knows what ones' doin with ones' equipment. Floyds are not better

 

Thank you!

that's what I've been trying to say, but hell I'm just a kid

Posted

Seriously.

Anyone who has never heard Jeff Beck, try and listen ANYTHING that came from his "You had it Coming" album. He sometimes mixes blues with electronic stuff, rock, techno... And the guy knows he's doing.

 

Here is some cool stuff:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXQ18I402w&feature=related

 

and this one is for the beatles fans:

 

 

 

Let's see what you trem-haters have to say about this.

 

AND PLEASE, don't fight (without blood spilling)

Posted

 

Nope not what you said' date=' my entire discussion in this thread was your giving out all this expert information and you have very limited expirence with some of these topics. You compared a bisby to a traditional trem, you also made comments about tuning stability, lock nuts etc.... Back to the original thread, there is no way to compare the two, let alone the floyd; the only common point is they all vary pitch of strings by a mechanical means. Yes Mr Beck kicks butt as does David Gilmour who both use what started to be traditional trems; but in no way are their guitars a normal set up.

 

Its not that your a kid, and I know there are things that you have knowledge of but as I mentioned before be careful of your comments. There are people out there that will believe anything they are told. So person asked about the bridge, etc. and your all over the post as if you have worked with this style trems all your life.

 

All I am saying is be careful, and prior to Becks name being mentioned did you even know who he was O-pit? Here is a hint, he has nothing to do with screamo-music...........[/quote']

 

 

holy cow, that's harsh... Relax

 

Do you have to haul out the guitar police?

 

(and i don't believe everything i read... except on wikipedia... that place is always right. :)

Posted

All I am saying is be careful' date=' and prior to Becks name being mentioned did you even know who he was O-pit? Here is a hint, he has nothing to do with screamo-music...........[/quote']

 

I agree and I'm sorry if I misled anyone.

 

As for Beck, Blow by Blow is one of my favorite albums.

And what does he have to do with screamo?

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...