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Bigsby B5 on Vibramate V5 install on Midtown P90


chipwich

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I updated my #2 Midtown P90 last night with a Bigsby B5, and wanted to share how easy it is using the Vibramate V5 adapter. For those of you who don't know, the Vibramate allows an easy mounting of a Bigsby bridge without drilling holes in your guitar. The mod was easy to do and took me about an hour, including replacing some aesthetic pieces like pickup covers, knobs, switch ring, switch cover, and doing a setup.

 

StewMac parts.

 

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Gibson parts.

 

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Tools

 

tools1.JPG

 

A few more optional tools used.

 

tools2.JPG

 

Upgrades complete.

 

detail2.JPG

 

All natural.

 

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looks great! how's it play?

 

Thanks guys. It seems pretty stable, once the strings had been stretched. I had never owned a Bigsby, and what I have learned is that it takes a bit more effort than a Strat. That design probably lends it to be very stable tuning wise. Otherwise, it plays just like it did before.

 

Since I replaced the pickup covers, requiring me to remove the pickups, and the Nashville Bridge with a Golden Age roller bridge, I took measurements on the number 1 and 6 strings at the bridge, and the string height at the pickups. It was really easy to bring it back to spec using those measurements. I also visually compared the roller bridge saddle locations to the Nashville bridge. They looked pretty close, and in fact the intonation was perfect without making further adjustments. So other than pickup and bridge height, it was plug-and-play. You wouldn't need to do those if you didn't replace the bridge and pickup covers.

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