Epiphone vibrato help!

[Matt4356]

I'm going to fit a bigsby to my dot studio. I was going of the b70 but came across a epiphone branded one, suspected off a es295, on ebay for roughly £65. Has anyone had any experience of them either on a 295 or fitted to another model? I'm wondering how the quality will be compared to a b70 or whether it would just be worth the extra £30 for a brand new bigsby over a second hand epi one?

[LPS1976]

I'm going to fit a bigsby to my dot studio. I was going of the b70 but came across a epiphone branded one, suspected off a es295, on ebay for roughly £65. Has anyone had any experience of them either on a 295 or fitted to another model? I'm wondering how the quality will be compared to a b70 or whether it would just be worth the extra £30 for a brand new bigsby over a second hand epi one?

 

I say it's definitely worth the extra to get a Bigsby instead of a tremolo based on a Bigsby.

[Parabar]

The Epiphone "Vibratone" with the roller bar is identical to a Bigsby B-70 except for the "E" logo in place of the Bigsby logo. I have them on my Wildkat (stock) and Casino (installed by me after purchase) --- both of them have worked perfectly with no issues for over a decade. If you can get one in good condition for cheaper than a Bigsby branded one, I see no reason to spend more.

 

Bigsby has long made custom-branded tailpieces for both Gretsch and Guild --- I believe they made the Epiphone ones too.

[Jayyj]

I don’t think those Epi branded Bigsbys are any different in quality to the far east made licenced Bigsbys (B70, B50 etc) - I've personally always gone for the US versions but honestly those Epi units work as well as anything else.