NGD: Yamaha SA503TVL

djspecialist

A few days ago, this lovely thing came into my possession:

















Once I've had chance to give it a proper run out, I'll post a full review. But so far, my impression is very positive:

• Lovely neck and fretwork (*). No buzz or dead spots anywhere on the board. Very inviting to play.
• Nice weight (4.1kg == 9lbs). Well balanced on the strap.
• The "all access" switching system is great. It takes a bit of getting used to (at first I was convinced mine was wrongly wired!), but itt turns out to be both flexible and intuitive. For one switch, pretend the middle pickup doesn't exist - so it's the usual bridge / bridge+neck / neck. The second switch controls the middle pickup: off / out-of-phase with the selection from the other switch / middle only.
• The licensed Bigsby is nice and smooth, and seems to stay in tune well. (But let's see once I've properly wanged it at a rehearsal / gig!) I love the shimmer it lets you add to simple chord fragments
• Knobs feel slightly cheap, but that's an easy fix.
• Guitar feels really lively in the hand - overall a guitar that rewards you for playing it.

(*) Once I'd polished them up, that is. Apparently the previous owner had kept this guitar in its case most of the last decade - so the frets were pretty grotty when I bought it. It's wonderful what some steel wool and lemon oil can do though!

DiscoStu

What kept you??
Welcome to the club dear boy. It's fairly exclusive 

Sassafras

Very nice but as soon as the strings wear out you'll have to sell it because I've heard Bigsbys are impossible to restring without a workshop and some expensive industrial machinery.

stonevibe

Nice guitar, I have one myself.

djspecialist

@Sassafras it's all under control - I recently patented a method of creating my own miniature black holes which I position at strategic points around the bridge, thereby generating a gravitational field which holds the string end in place.  Without such technology, I agree - stringing a Bigsby would be an utterly lost cause.

SimpleSimon

Nice score always wanted one of these for myself, never really had much luck looking!

jellybelly

Awesome score! Hope you got a good deal, and even if you didn't, it's probably worth it!!

redrighthand

Beautiful. If you decide you don't like it - there'll be some interest on the forum for sure! (Me included)

57Deluxe

nicey, nicey, nice nice. But how is it at cutting the grass?

Voxman

Very very nice! 

DiscoStu

Re: restringing the Bigsby. The way I do it is one string at a time, keeping tension on the ball end as i feed it through the Bigsby and over the bridge, then pull it tight and use a capo to hold it against the fretboard. Once clamped I do the threading through the machine head, tune up and release the capo.
It's slower than restringing a standard bridge but simple enough when you get the knack.

marktheharp

Very nice guitar. Well done there

djspecialist

@57Deluxe you could play bowls on it now.  Little known fact: the SA503TVL is also the best known repellent of Japanese knotweed.

@DiscoStu comments from myself and @Sassafras ; about restringing were tongue-in-cheek responses to another thread in which the OP (despite never having owned a Bigsby) declared them really difficult to string.  Like many others on here (who actually have owned Bigsbys), I don't find that to be the case.  Go and look up the thread, it's good value  The capo tip sounds like a good one though - I'll try that out next time.

xDottore

I'm always happy to see Yamahas on here (I have five, inc a 1979ish SA2000, which is for sale but I'm very divided about selling). Is this one in their current lineup? Love Bigsbys too but I only have a pretend one in my cheapo Gretsch. 

djspecialist

Dottore said:

I'm always happy to see Yamahas on here (I have five, inc a 1979ish SA2000).

I like Yamahas too  My other one (in my sig) is a 1977 SG2000.

Dottore said:

Is this one in their current lineup?

No, it was a fairly short production run, discontinued some time around 2008 IIRC.

djspecialist

Took this to its first rehearsal last night.  What a great guitar to play. The neck is just lovely - really comfortable - and overall the guitar is a huge amount of fun

At band volume it really hits that sweet spot in terms of resonance: easy to coax into feedback if you want it, but always controllable.

I'm still getting to grips with how to most effectively use the controls in a live setting, but the switching system certainly offers a huge range of tones.  Anyway I still have a couple of weeks to figure that out before its first gig ...

djspecialist

The nut which came with the guitar (probably the original) was a bit high, and the tuning stability wasn't quite what it could be - so I had a replacement (Graphtec Tusq) fitted.

What a massive improvement - not only in terms of tuning stability and playing feel low down the neck, but also in tone.  A cheap and simple mod, but well worth it.