NGD

shady

Literally just unboxed and fucking freezing so I'll have me lunch whilst it acclimatises itself. G5230T in Cadillac Green.

Phwoar... 

blueskunk

Phwoar indeed. Great score that. Enjoy. HNGD

TheMarlin

Great guitar.  

I strongly recommend that you get one of these 

https://bricksbiggsfix.com/products/bts-v3

It’s a simple mod that transforms the feel of the Bigsby, from stiff and horrible to smooth and silky. Improves tuning stability too. Get a squishy spring too while you’re at it.  https://bricksbiggsfix.com/products/sss

And, get the pickups as close to the strings as you can (without strings touching the pickups while playing). Gretsch pickups need to be insanely close to the strings for best results. 

shady

Nice one @TheMarlin, cheers! 

richardhomer

Great colour!

shady

Findings:

General set up, action and intonation very good.
Yes, the bridge rattles (I had read that here somewhere) but you don't notice that when you're plugged in making noise.
Great range of tones. 
Pickups very good. 
The colour up close is just phenomenal, even the missus loves it. 

I will get a roller bridge in time and mod the Bigsby as per Mr The Marlin.

I've never owned a guitar that didn't need stuff doing to it, but just how much more do you need to spend on a guitar for it to be pukka out of the box?

Very happy with it though. 

grungebob

I’ve been looking at the exact same guitar the past few days but the bigsby whilst cool looking puts me off. Can you drop D tune on the fly or would it effect all the other strings?

shady

Was playing Black Hole Sun last night with no problem. 

UnclePsychosis

Nice. Like that a lot. 

thefez

Gorgeous. Will have to put one on the list

usedtobe

Crikey! That’s great!

shady

I've ordered a Reverend soft touch spring and a set of roller saddles. The rattle is caused by the adjustment screws not being held securely enough by the retaining wire, but at least that means the saddles can be popped out easily and I can sort the rattle with some simple engineering.

I'm hoping the new saddles will sit slightly higher and prevent the strings hitting the back side of the bridge so I don't have to fork out any more cash. Just over 20 quid is fair enough though, will report back when it all arrives on Monday. 

digitalkettle

That looks great!

I've been through the mill with a Bigsby-equipped guitar over the last few years...fundamental problem: massive break angle over the saddles. At a glance, yours looks to have a reasonable distance between roller and bridge.

I tried BricksBiggsFix but it was too effective and reduced the break angle to almost nothing which gives you just as many problems. I also tried the Reverend spring but went back to stock in the end. It's worth spending some time with it as-is unless it really is playing up...apparently the stock springs give a little over time.

Roller saddles might be a good idea but don't neglect the other end: the nut needs to be perfectly cut.

Best mod I made to the Bigsby (apart from fixing the break angle) was fitting a Callaham 360 Arm Bracket (followed that up with the rest of the Callaham mods, natch).

Got it pretty much sorted now

shady

The new spring is great, the saddles can go suck a dick though. Only 3 of them actually rolled, 1 felt gritty and 2 didn't move at all so they're getting returned (Black Dog Music via Ebay).  I've ordered an entire bridge with rollers from the same place I got the spring (Merchant City Music in Glasgow who ship real quick btw), but the upshot in the short term until it arrives is the saddle adjustment screws have stopped rattling.  Just resetting the intonation tightened them against the bridge and took all the play out of them, killing the buzz.  You'd have thought final QC would find that...ah well...will report back on the new bridge. 

The only thing niggling me now is whether the radius will be correct as it doesn't actually say. The board radius is 12", so a 14" bridge radius is what I've read to be correct, although the difference is so minimal I probably won't notice. Meh.

fretfinder

shady said:

Literally just unboxed and fucking freezing so I'll have me lunch whilst it acclimatises itself. G5230T in Cadillac Green.

Phwoar... 

Very nice, enjoy! It’s a bit late for this now but if I get a guitar shipped to me and the weather is cold I’ll leave the carton unpacked for a few hours to acclimatise, rather than bring an ice cold guitar straight into a warm room. It can cause lacquer cracking and/or other ills. Looks like yours survived the process fine though!

grungebob

shady said:

Was playing Black Hole Sun last night with no problem. 

Good to know, so the rest of the strings remained at pitch then?

merciful-evans

Nice score. I love the look of those Gretch fingerboards.
Congrats & enjoy!

digitalkettle

grungebob said:

shady said:

Was playing Black Hole Sun last night with no problem. 

Good to know, so the rest of the strings remained at pitch then?

Good song to choose even if they weren't holding tune!

wibble factor: high

shady

grungebob said:

shady said:

Was playing Black Hole Sun last night with no problem. 

Good to know, so the rest of the strings remained at pitch then?

They did, I haven't tried since changing the spring though, not sure if that would change anything. 

shady

digitalkettle said:

Good song to choose even if they weren't holding tune!

wibble factor: high

That'd be some Jedi level Bigsby skills without a modulation pedal. 

shady

Roller bridge installed and this is a massive improvement, the low E no longer hits the bridge as the saddles are slightly taller. Unbelievably the low E was the only adjustment needed as all the others intonated perfectly.
Smooth wobbles now stay in tune, however the nut does need seeing to as D and G are binding even after a good lube if the wang bar is wanged.