Lucille and Bigsby

[collin]

Things to know...Planning to mount a Bigsby on an Epiphone Lucille that I do not have yet.. I saw this site where someone added a Bigsby to a Gibson Lucille, the link is below. But he mentioned about grounding the strings, if i add the bigsby then do I have to do what he did? or can i just add it and not fret about grounding?

 

Link: http://www.eledar.net/Music/Lucille/lucille_bigsby.htm

[RotcanX]

Grounding the tailpiece, and through it, the strings helps reduce hum and noise which go away to a large extent as soon as you touch the strings. I'd recommend you do it.

[collin]

Grounding the tailpiece' date=' and through it, the strings helps reduce hum and noise which go away to a large extent as soon as you touch the strings. I'd recommend you do it.[/quote']

how?? wouldnt it be already grounded if i leave the old screws for the tailpiece in??

[brianh]

how?? wouldnt it be already grounded if i leave the old screws for the tailpiece in??

If the strings are already grounded through the bridge, then a Bigsby will be grounded through the strings, (unless you're using strings with non-conductive coatings). If the previous ground wire was through the tailpiece, then you will need to ground either the Bigsby or the bridge. It's not necessary to ground both, although some folks do it in case one ground goes bad.

 

On a solidbody or semi-hollow, there's usually a ground wire hole from the PUP cavity into one of the bridge post holes. On a full hollow, the ground wire travels under the top to either the bridge or tailpiece. But the Lucile poses a special problem since it doesn't have f-holes. You'll have to remove the bridge pickup and do all the fishing around through that. Might be a bit of a challenge if you haven't done this kind of thing before.