jcwillow777 Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 I got my Bigsby B70 tonight and installed it, along with a roller bridge. The strings have settled in pretty good already and I just finished playing, so I took some pics.
lpdeluxe Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 Damn, I want another Bigsby! I had a Chet Atkins Country Gent and really got used to it. Too bad I've got too many guitars....
Whitmore Willy Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 Jc, I'm impressed.....You got the same fireplace as I do. (yes, I'm kidding) Beautiful, All the way around. Congrats.....Now...How well can you play it? Just asking 'cause we're from the same state.....I still get around from time to time. Always looking to meet fellow guitplayers.
jcwillow777 Posted October 9, 2008 Author Posted October 9, 2008 Thanks guys. How well can I play it? Fairly well. I mainly use it to get that shimmer effect, mostly with chords. I held off putting one on my Sheraton for quite a while because I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep the hardware gold. I know it will tarnish, but I decided to keep it gold anyway. I have a B70 on my Dot as also, and it gets used a lot.
dbirchett Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 JC, That is gorgeous. I love the Bigsby on mine. It suits my style perfectly.
ButchCassidy Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Looks really good! Did you put that on yourself? If so, are they a pain to put on? Just wondering incase I wanna do one.
twiggy Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 is it just me eyes, or tail is a bit off centre? How well it stays in tune?
jcwillow777 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Posted October 10, 2008 I put it on myself. They are pretty easy to put on. Here is a Youtube to show you how. The tail might be a little off center. My eyes play tricks on me depending on how I look at it. Sometimes it looks okay and sometimes it looks off. Using a string through the top and bottom E strings is a must to line it up. I didn't redrill the end pin hole when I mounted it. If I had used a B7 there is more play with it. All in all, I am happy with it. It stays in tune pretty good. The roller bridge helps. I only had the strings on for a couple hours before I started playing in, and they really didn't go out of tune that bad. Not any more than you could expect for normal playing.
layboomo Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 I put it on myself. They are pretty easy to put on. Here is a Youtube to show you how. The tail might be a little off center. My eyes play tricks on me depending on how I look at it. Sometimes it looks okay and sometimes it looks off. Using a string through the top and bottom E strings is a must to line it up. I didn't redrill the end pin hole when I mounted it. If I had used a B7 there is more play with it. All in all' date=' I am happy with it. It stays in tune pretty good. The roller bridge helps. I only had the strings on for a couple hours before I started playing in, and they really didn't go out of tune that bad. Not any more than you could expect for normal playing.[/quote'] I made the same mistake when I put a new tail piece on my Epi Joe Pass.....I said well the factory button has to be right? Wrong! You are to the right of center on the guitar and I'll bet your strap button factory location is too! No biggie but it's annoying when you go by a factory location that should be right on the money and it's not!
shartom Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 I have a blonde Sheraton and really like it. I'm having an intermittant switch problem but that is it. I find the Sheraton to be quite heavy, and was wondering if the Bigsby's added weight affects the overall weight of the guitar. Looks real nice.
jcwillow777 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Posted October 10, 2008 I have a blonde Sheraton and really like it. I'm having an intermittant switch problem but that is it. I find the Sheraton to be quite heavy' date=' and was wondering if the Bigsby's added weight affects the overall weight of the guitar.Looks real nice. [/quote'] Thanks. The Bigsby only adds a little less than a pound to it, so not a big deal. It does help to balance the guitar more since the guitar is a little neck heavy.
jcwillow777 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Posted October 10, 2008 Okay, I couldn't take it any longer, so I straightened it out, at least as good as I can get it. The end pin was fine, the top was a little crooked and needed to go to the right. I'm sure it's not perfect, but it does look better. Not a huge change, but enough that I can notice the difference. Before: After:
Hooligan Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Didn't Jimmy Page play a Black beauty LP with a Bigsby?
dbirchett Posted October 11, 2008 Posted October 11, 2008 I made a similar post a couple of months ago: http://forums.epiphone.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=3790. One of the big problems was that my end pin was off center. I took a long string and ran it through the center of the peghead and down the center of the fingerboard (measured) and through the center of the bridge. Keeping the string straight, I measured the center of the bottom of the guitar, just like with a plumb line. Once the end pin was relocated, mounting the Bigsby was a piece of cake!
shartom Posted October 13, 2008 Posted October 13, 2008 I got a copy of American Guitars by Tom Wheeler from the library the other day. From the many guitar photos, it is pretty clear that centering the tailpiece including the Bigsby was not an issue. Many of them appear to be off center, not by much. I watched the install video and I would not rely on it for doing a good installation. It is important to find the center line of the body and not assume that the strap button is centered. Considering that you have to drill a hole in the face of the guitar, you want to get it right. Of course, if you don't consider it to be an issue, don't worry about it.
mal13112 Posted October 13, 2008 Posted October 13, 2008 now this may be a dumb question, but is it absolutely necessary to put a roller bridge on if youve got a bigsby? did the 06 bigsby edition casino come with a roller bridge (does sir paul's have one)? -mal
jcwillow777 Posted October 13, 2008 Author Posted October 13, 2008 now this may be a dumb question' date=' but is it absolutely necessary to put a roller bridge on if youve got a bigsby? did the 06 bigsby edition casino come with a roller bridge (does sir paul's have one)? -mal[/quote'] It's not necessary. I don't know about Paul's or the 06 Bigsby Casino. My guess is no roller bridge. I took my G-400 with Maestro into the shop for a set up and my tech filed the saddles so the strings don't catch and move smoothly. It helps the guitar to stay in tune when using the Maestro. I don't have the tools for that, so I put on a roller bridge so the strings move smoothly thru the saddles. It helps to keep the guitar in tune, or I should say not to go out of tune. I really haven't had any problems with my Bigsby equipped guitars going out of tune any more than normal. If you file the saddles you should be fine.
dbirchett Posted October 13, 2008 Posted October 13, 2008 What you are trying to do is eliminate or reduce friction throughout the system. From the Bigsby to the tuning pegs. There are a lot of little tricks that you can do, any of which will help, none of which are essential. Start with flat wound or ground round wound strings. Then a more slippery bridge -- that can be rounding the saddles, replacing with graphite or nylon saddles, using a roller bridge or a Gretsch Bar Bridge. Then reworking the nut -- slightly enlarging the slots or even replacing the nut with bone, fossil ivory, graphite, corian or some other uber-hard or uber-slippery substance. Finally, some sort of locking pegs so you don't have slippage there. As I said, you don't have to do any of these but each one will help to stabiliize the tuning.
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