TWANG Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 you can see how the holes don't don't exactly work out. new bridge needs dowels as bushings are smaller.. I've decided to fill all the holes.. but not to the top. I'll leave enough for some chrome guard.. set flat with the top.. then drill holes for the bigsby. plastic wont hurt anything there. the bridge bushings will fit IN the holes.. bu they dont' sink in.. so they'll set flush when I'm done.. with just a tick of bare wood showing around the edge. If I dont like that, I'll put the bushing through a chrome washer.. but I think I can stain the tiny tiny edge that shows and hide that really well so.. less is more I think. the roller bridge is way cool.. let's you get pup pole spacing and neck edge spacing really on the spot. looks good too. more pics in this thread as I go along. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layboomo Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 Looks really good so far Twang! That's a B-5 correct? I've had to remove some stubborn studs too in the past and it can be a patience tester to get em' to "pop" out. A few years ago I had a machine shop buddy make me some studs for a Jap LP copy(long since sold) so I could use the original bushings and it worked out great........it's pretty straight ahead stuff for a good machinist....and you could always have em plated to match but he made mine out of SS and they worked great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonedeaf1281734100 Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 Since I may be installing a roller bridge and a B7 on a Casino, I have been following your progress with some interest. In the other thread, you mentioned that the roller bridge came from Allparts, but do you know who the manufacturer is? Since you mention that it has adjustable string spacing, I am guessing it is a Schaller, but maybe other roller bridges have adjustable string spacing. I take it you have not yet drilled the screw holes for the Bigsby? Apart from the issue with the bridge stud bushings, have you encountered any other problems thus far? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 Lay not a bad idea. I may do that! Boy those things came out hard! And thanks! Yah it's looking good now that I'm done freaking out. It's a B70. I figured.. import Bigs will do for me. Gotta say, they did a great job.. it looks real sharp. I wouldn't mind if they offered a shorter whammy bar though.. maybe an inch less.. but just cosmetically picky on my part. Tonedeaf, I ordered from allparts.. and they said they had only one to fit an epi, so I took it.. says made in germany on the bottom, but I never bothered to ask what manufacturer. Thinner than the stock, so lighter. I'll have pics up soon, and I'll take a look at the parts order to see if I can determine what it is. But it's very nice.. posts don't come through the top on this one..so it looks a little less busy and cleaner than stock. all the screws and rollers move with ease and precision. Seems nothing cheap about it at all. The next problem is going to be covering the holes at the tail which the bigsby only goes over partially. Of course, I'll have to measure carefully to get the new bridge bushings in just right. Fortunately, if I screw up I can just pull the dowels and redo. Right now I think that I will try to use chrome guard material. It's rather thick, that stuff being one ply with a coating for the finish on top. I know I can get it thin, and what I want to try is to fit it around the bigsby.. then a dab of glue to keep it in place.. like elmers, something that will allow it to break off freely. This, to me, is all going to be dependent on the way it fits.. it will need to be smooth around the edges so I will probably try to cup it a bit, and go slow until I get it looking real tight. Think circle with a notch. I'll show you in here, probably in this thread as I go along. Notched the treble side dowel on the tail bushing. The ground wire fits there. Worked fine! I had it taped up, so I could dink with the lining up job and not scratch. I don't expect any problem getting that right. I held it on with kite string, then just wrapped a couple of strings around it.. looping through the ball end--that after swearing for five minutes about the loose bigs and the strings wanting to pop off the posts before I could hook them up. Very glad to have the locking tuners on.. that made getting a couple of strings on quick very much easier. Please, nobody remind me how much money I've got in the modest instrument. *G* TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonedeaf1281734100 Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 Schaller is a German company and the Schaller bridge (judging from the pictures at stewmac) is closed on top so the posts don't show through or come through the top, so that's probably what it is. My Casino appears to have the same bridge post spacing as the Schaller which is the same as the Gibson ABR1. I know that the threaded portion of the Schaller bridge studs that screw down into the bushings is a larger diameter (M5, which is just over 7 mm in diameter). It looks like the unthreaded part of the stud which the bridge body seats on, however, is just under 4 mm in diameter which seems to be very close to the diameter of the M4 threaded post that the ABR1 and my Casino uses. I am trying to determine whether I could use the Schaller bridge with my existing posts and not have to face the ordeal of changing the bushings, as you did. I'll be interested to see how it works out for you and whether it affects the tone positively or negatively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 geez this batch of pics stunk.. I'll see if I can get better.. bushings in.. started holes by hand. used a smaller bit, just big enough for the adjustment screws, not big enough for the bushings.. that way I could keep checking the spacing.. worked out ok.. went to dremel with slightly larger bit.. got depth set. switched to correct size bit and drilled it in by hand.. a little hard on the hands but nice and safe. got the bushings in.. they are nearly the same size as the holes just a tick smaller.. set flat they look ok.. dowel tops were not quite right. level, that is.. due to the arched top and some jerk didn't cut them perfectly. but you can see it looks pretty good with the bridge on.. covers well enough.. you have to peer at them from an angle to see the tiny circle of bare wood around them.. I may leave them, they really look ok. sorry about the fuzzy pics.. hands were tired and a bit infirm. photopuket messing up.. first pic is test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 when the thing is all the way down, or close, as it would be, it looks pretty good. those pics didn't come out.. even these were stinkeroo. saved the drill shavings.. will make a paste of them and elmers glue to smear around the edges then I'll mask around the holes and sand smooth, very carefully!, so there is a nicer edge around the dowels.. though it wont really show. I'll get a pic of that schaller.. it sure is sweet looking on there. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 by the way... it looks worse in these pics than it really is.. it's just the light. The dowels fit very tight and have far less of that edge difference showing even when everything's off... that's just me and my stupid camera. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookelputz Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 The spacing from the bridge dowels to the stoptail dowels make me think you could have made this a 25 1/2" scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted November 9, 2008 Author Share Posted November 9, 2008 Well. only if I wanted to take the neck off and put on another one. It's all done. haven't taken pics yet. 1/2 of the stop tail bushing dowel shows.. I'll make a 1/2 dime sized chrome piece for it and that's all she wrote! Tunes nice.. better string spacing than ever.. pops back in tune, too! haven't even intonated it yet. tone wise there is a difference.. acoustically you can hear it, as well.. it's slightly brighter, but also seems louder.. sounds more like the sheri now unplugged. adjusted pickups a bit to compensate.. brought it right back to heaven. Plugged in, you can hear the brightness a bit, but nothing I mind at all. It's a fairly wide effect, seems to cover a fair range of upper upper mids and highs.. Reminds me of an acoustic electric with a thin body... acoustically.. that kind of mid range push, but smaller, and then some more highs. Looks fabuloso! added black dunlop straplocks. that looks better, too. Has one small problem.. the tail piece that hinges over isn't quite flat.. slightly tilted.. I'll pull the screws and fix that after I get done admiring us in the mirror. It's just the way I put it on, I'm sure. Street/MF price on this thing.... *L*. well. A little over the top, I'm sure, but hey, I was happy with it every step of the way so.. I'll post pics tomorrow after I get the cosmetics out of the way. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 The spacing from the bridge dowels to the stoptail dowels make me think you could have made this a 25 1/2" scale. Not unless he can fit a 25.5"-scale neck on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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