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Adding Bigsby = Adding string tension?


brrobert

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Posted

I love the way my SG plays with 10's on it-- slinky, bendy, but not like spaghetti.

 

I also love Bigsby's and am giving serious thought to putting one on.

 

Right now, it has a stop tailpiece. Adding the Bigsby would increase the overall "length" of the strings-- they would "stop" further back on the body. What does this do to the string tension? My guess is that it would become stiffer to play?

Posted
I love the way my SG plays with 10's on it-- slinky' date=' bendy, but not like spaghetti.

 

I also love Bigsby's and am giving serious thought to putting one on.

 

Right now, it has a stop tailpiece. Adding the Bigsby would increase the overall "length" of the strings-- they would "stop" further back on the body. What does this do to the string tension? My guess is that it would become stiffer to play?[/quote']I put a Bigsby B-7 on my es-339 and found that with the extra string length and spring on the Bigsby, it has a bit more slack. A slight bit loss of tone as well. There are adapters available for retrofitting if you don't want to drill to the body. Good Luck

Posted

DON'T DO IT! Tuning problems will abound. If you really need a vibrato unit, they make one that replaces the stopbar; a few seconds to install without tools,and you can always go back to the stopbar when you get tired of tuning problems. I forget what it's called, but I think it might be the "Les-Trem" or something like that!

Posted

Here it is : http://www.stewmac.com/FreeInfo/Hardware_installation/Guitar_hardware/i-4616.html

 

Unfortunately, it's just another variation on the Bigsby type action where the bridge saddles have to cope with something they were never designed for. The bridge also moves with changes in string tension - all these systems are 'mechanically challenged' ! If you really want to use this type of trem, it might be an idea to look into a replacement bridge with roller saddles.

Posted

Wow... thanks for the suggestion but that Les-Trem is painful on the eyes.

 

es335straight1.jpg

 

I love the way Bigsbys look.

 

C207310.JPG

 

I'm not a dive bomber-- Bigsbys usually don't throw my guitar out of tune. Does anybody have any experience with the Stetsbar?

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