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B5 vs B50 bigsby on epiphone dot?


willmak

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Hey guys I was wondering if the B50 overseas "licensed" bigsby model compared alright to its more expensive B5 brother. Is this the same sort of debate as epiphone vs gibson?

 

I've used many licensed ones and never had a problem. The USA models are a little smoother, but a lot more money. I also discovered that you can make the imports even better by replacing the spring with a USA spring.

 

BTW, the B5 / B50 is for solid bodies. You'd want the B-7 / B-70.

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I could still use a B5/B50 on a semi hollow tho right? The dot I ordered has one on it already. Will it not function correctly?

 

 

the b5 isn't with a vibramate either on the dot. Did I just make a huge mistake?

 

 

The problem is that the Dot is an arch top, so when you put it on a Dot, it can't sit flat like it does on an SG or Tele. You don't want to mount it on a angle, which means that the back of the B-5 will probably sit above the body. I'm not saying it won't work, I guess you could even put spacers under the rear screws, it just seems to me that installing the one designed for semi-hollows would be easier and a better fit.

 

Show us some pictures when you get it, and let us know how it works. I don't recall ever seeing a 335 with a B-5.

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Does this look ok so far? I don't have any high res pics since these are from the original ad:

 

Does this look like it will be okay? I'm getting even more nervous now...monday can't come soon enough

 

It looks good. The angle of the arm looks good, string spacing looks good, the nut looks like it's well cut, it appears that the tech knew what he was doing. That's the important thing.

 

And Duncans too!!!

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It looks good. The angle of the arm looks good' date=' string spacing looks good, the nut looks like it's well cut, it appears that the tech knew what he was doing. That's the important thing.

 

And Duncans too!!!

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Are you seeing something I'm not? I see no nut pics. (that sounds bad)

 

Did you buy this guitar sight unseen?

 

As far as a B-5 where a B-7 should be, umm, I dunno. I never did it. I would be concerned with a few issues, aesthetics aside.

 

1. Is it securely fastened to the center block beneath the top? Hate that thing to tear out and wreck the top, finish, or both worse than it is already. QC is all over the place on these guitars. I would want to be certain the center block is taking all the mounting screws and will hold them.

 

2. I don't get how you can mate a flat bridge to an arched top. Unless you countersink the bridge or some crazy **** like that. But I can see a gap between the baseplate and top, even in these pictures. Seems like there's gonna be a lot of coupling issues. Which will lead to tuning instability, loss of tone, and rattles and buzzes.

 

3. Looks like the stock bridge. Part of the bigsby design is the bridge as well. It needs to either rock or roll to do it's thing and then return to pitch. Even the expensive ones require a fair amount of work from the factory to get them to operate correctly.

 

Judging off these three pics and my previous experience with Bigsbys, I'm thinking headache. But it IS only three very un detailed pictures, and again, where the hell do ya see a nut an Jerry?:-k

 

Do you have better pics for us? That would help.

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Just read what you said about the pics.

Another troubling thing is in the close up pic of the Bigs, the strings are off. The way the strings fall can tell you a lot about how correctly it was installed. A crooked Bigsby is easy to spot with the strings on, much harder with them off. It looks slightly crooked to me, but it could be the light and the fact that since the trem isn't sitting right on the top, it casts a shadow, making it look crooked.

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Oh gawd. It sounds like you guys are confirming all my fears here. I bought it on ebay towards the last day. I didn't know too much about bigsbys when i got it. I had no idea I was buying something so dangerous. The guy allows me seven days to return it tho when i get it. Should I just return it right away?

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...where the hell do ya see a nut an Jerry?

 

The only nut I see is the guy who put a B-5 on an archtop!!! Sorry' date=' couldn't resist. Actually, I searched eBay and found the auction.

 

 

Oh gawd. It sounds like you guys are confirming all my fears here. I bought it on ebay towards the last day. I didn't know too much about bigsbys when i got it. I had no idea I was buying something so dangerous. The guy allows me seven days to return it tho when i get it. Should I just return it right away?

 

First of all' date=' it's not dangerous. It's going to screwed into the same center block that the B-7 would be screwed into. When you first posted, I thought you were going to buy a Bigsby and put it on a Dot, and was pointing out the correct one for the Dot. My concern was the arch of the guitar and how the B-5 would sit. Take a look at this side view of a B-3:

 

[img']http://home.earthlink.net/~jkmcleer/Guitars/epi%20chet%20side.jpg[/img]

 

You can see how high the back of the Bigsby is sitting above the body. Now he has the B-5 up close to the bridge, and I'm thinking that that the arch isn't that severe in that area, but I can't tell for sure without seeing the guitar. When you get it, here's what to look for:

 

a) the spacing of the strings, the high & low E strings should center over the pickups and neck

:( that the Bigsby sits parallel to the plane of the body (if it were flat). It shouldn't be mounted on the slope.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that you should be OK if it's mounted securely. Give it a good test drive, kick the tires, open up the throttle, and drive straight into the storm. If the alignment doesn't seem quite right, if it doesn't feel rock solid, if there's tuning problems, then you can exercise your return option. But for now, enjoy the weekend. And shoot us some detailed pics when you get it.

 

PS - Why are you asking those guys on the Gretsch forum??? What the hell do they know about Bigsbys anyway!!!

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Sigh...I can't believe how much of a headache my first semi-hollow is...and I haven't even gotten the guitar yet! All I wanted was to get a guitar that had it's electronics replaced, pups replaced with good ones, bone nut installed, case included and a bigsbuy. When I saw the ebay posting I thought I got a really good deal too. This is like hooking up with your dream girl only to findout she has an std after...and waiting for the results. GAWD!!!

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THANKS JM, looks almost like a snakewood nut???

 

I see lots of things wrong after looking at the ebay listing and some better pics. The Bigs if defiantly not making good contact to the top.Its laying on top of the tailpiece bushings at an angle. Yuk! Get out while you still can!

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In the middle pic you have posted on this page, look at the gap under the baseplate of the Bigs. That is not good. The B5 has a flat base for mounting on flat top guitars. A B7 has a different design to fit the arched top on your guitar. Everyone over at gretsch only seems concerned with it ripping out. I voiced that as well, but the deal breaker for me is the fact that that gap I mentioned is area for vibrations to occur, and since there is virtually no coupling to the top, you are gonna experience a loss of tone. Not to mention the only close up of the Bigs he has removed the strings. That is a red flag, as if he's trying to hide a major flaw.

As I said, get out while you can.

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Well I know I'm just some guy on an internet forum, but I DO make my living repairing guitars. I own a small repair shop in Atlanta, and not a day goes by where I am not doing something to a guitar. Be it installing a Bigsby, swapping pups, or replacing a fretboard, I get lots of practice at spotting issues quickly. Its my job, 9/10s of the people who come to me have no idea WHAT is wrong with their guitar, they only know SOMETHING isn't right. My job demands I look at a guitar (sometime just pics if its a far away client who is shipping the instrument) and diagnose the problem, propose a solution, and quote a price, pretty much on the spot.

 

If someone brought me that guitar complaining of just about ANYTHING, I would give them the option or replacing that B5, and then going from there, or I would turn down the job. I could waste years of my life trying to get that bridge to work properly on that guitar, and STILL never get it right. It is designed for a flat top, end of story. Just because you can get it to attach to a guitar doesn't mean you should, and that everything is okay. Here's an analogy. I can install a P bass pickup in my stratocaster, it will fit in there. It will "work" too, i.e., it will pick up on the strings magnetic field, but do you think it's gonna sound good? Nope, it was designed to work with a bass guitar which produces different notes, with different impedance, and different strings. The B7 is produced for arch top guitars so it mounts and couples properly. The B5 is made to mount on flat top solid bodies, it won't fit properly on an arch top guitar. There is no gray area here.

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