Bigsby on a Gibson

[RicT]

Greetings fellow forum viewers - a quick question for the collective Epiphone/Gibson brains trust. I have just installed a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece on my Gibson ES 135 semi Hollow. Went to a great deal of trouble to align it correctly and went ahead with the install. Now it has been strung, I notice that the angle cut by the low E string between bridge and bigsby is a little more than that on the High E string. The bridge on my guitar is slightly offset creating less distance between the low E string and the Bigsby. I guess this sort of explains away the greater angle. The guitar plays fine. Is this slight difference in angle normal/OK or do I need to redo the job?

Cheers

Ric T

[generation zero]

I guess it would depend on HOW slight of an angle difference you're talking. If it's minimal, and you don't have any tuning stability issues, I would leave it alone. If it's drastic enough to cause problems, then yes, obviously you would need to redo it. The bridge being offset is normal, for intonation reasons. As for the rest, it's hard to really say anything for sure without pics, but as I said, I would think that if you don't have any tuning issues, you should be fine.

[RicT]

Thanks for your reply re my Bigsby question. Can I post an image?

[AyushPresley]

Thanks for your reply re my Bigsby question. Can I post an image?

 

Sure you can post your image..and BTW we are waiting for that buddy....if incase you don't know how to then click on that link...

 

http://forums.epiphone.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=7499

[TWANG]

The only hassle you can have is if the string hits the bridge edge.

the actual angle if that isn't happening shouldn't cause any problem at all.

 

The stock TOM tail is adjustable. You can have it high or low. You aren't saying the angle is greater than that adjustment range, are you?

 

Maybe I'm missing something and a pic will clear it up.

 

On my lp with bigsby, there is also a small difference in the bar to bridge angle of the strings from one side to the other.

It has no effect whatsoever. Not in tuning, not it tone.

 

TWANG

[RicT]

Thanks for the tip about uploading photos. Have a look at the two images and see how it looks. It seems to play fine but if it looks too bad please tell me.

Thanks for your help.

[TWANG]

ah I see you mean that it comes off the roller toward the bridge with not quite the same spacing as the bridge.

 

On mine, I just run the string to the correct spot to space it, and it stays there!

So move that string over on the bigs second roller.. it'll be fine, and it will probably work a tad smoother, too.

 

TWANG