Fitting a Bigsby to a Les Paul

not_the_dj

My friday afternoon boredom has lead my brain to think about fitting a Bigsby to one of my guitars.

But...I don't want any drilling, so what's the shopping list for that sort of thing then?

Not sure which guitar I want it on (and it's just a friday afternoon idea) possibly my Les Paul Smartwood Exotic (carved top) or my old The Paul (flat top)

 

JookyChap

Just go for the Vibramate and either the B7 for the carved top or a B5 for the flat 'un...easy peasie

Phil_aka_Pip

Don't spoil a perfectly good Gibbo

not_the_dj

JookyChap said:

Just go for the Vibramate and either the B7 for the carved top or a B5 for the flat 'un...easy peasie

This thing: http://www.rock-gear.de/en/Guitar/Spareparts/Tremolos-bridges-tailpieces/Vibramate-V7-LP-Mount-Kit.html

Ouch, that's a bit pricey for two plates...

not_the_dj

I really should have googled prices before images...on for the back burner I think

JookyChap

Yeah, they cost a bit..

ICBM

not_the_dj said:

Ouch, that's a bit pricey for two plates…

Not compared to the loss of value by drilling the guitar, or paying someone to fit the Bigsby if you don't fancy doing it yourself. (It's not quite as easy as it looks, to do it really right.)

But it's always puzzled me why Bigsby have never made a dedicated Les Paul model with the correct fittings just to slot onto the existing tailpiece studs and under the strap button screw. The position of the tailpiece relative to the end of the guitar is absolutely standard on LPs.

OilCityPickups

This has jumped the gun on my article ... but voila

To my mind the best Gibson 'Trem unit' ... as fitted to my V. No routing ... no extra screw holes ... complete reversibility. A light delicate action combined with a third up and an octave down.
Stetsbar ... by the way.

GuitarMonkey

@TheGuitarWeasel is that mounted over the pickguard? If so were you able to get the action low enough? I fitted one to an Epi LP and the bridge ended up on the stops with the action just about acceptable. 

OilCityPickups

That's mounted over the pickguard and it's bottomed out on the down adjustment ... however that's a very low action. It's the Stetsbar's/Epiphone combination Achilles heel ... but a fairly minor one. I'm going to be replacing the plate with a custom one made for me shortly ... in red perspex (out of respect or Wilko ), so I will incorporate a cut out for the Stetsbar ... and keep the old Epi plate to return stuff to normal if I sell. I think the same problem would exist on some SGs.

I honestly feel that the action and feel of the Stetsbar is worth making a few changes/compromises for. I'm now using the trem so much I have gone to a graphite nut ... and will have to look at Trem reinforced strings ... as my D'Addarios loose their balls (oooooer) with over use.

frankus

don't mind me, I'm just here to collect the tears of traditionalists...

are you going to relic it?

Lixarto

Considering that Bigsby > No Bigsby, I say do it

ThePrettyDamned

@theguitarweasel, that looks cracking, congrats on taking the plunge!

not_the_dj

Lixarto said:

Considering that Bigsby > No Bigsby, I say do it

Oh I'm certainly in the pro-bigsby camp, just the first time I've thought about actually adding one to one of my existing guitars....but the price has put me off a bit :-(

Maybe for my 'next' purchase (which won't be for a while I'm sure). 

OilCityPickups

ThePrettyDamned said:

@theguitarweasel, that looks cracking, congrats on taking the plunge!

Well the V now has a V2 Venom 17k alnico 5 bridge pickup ... and a Scrapyard Dog Plus neck one ... and I have to say, feels superb and plays beautifully. I trashed the tone knob (who the hell uses one of those things anyway) and made my usual 'spin a split' progressive tap for the Venom. Now it does somewhere between Tele and Rickenbacker HiGain wound all the way off ... and bluesy/heavy rock bellow full out. Combine a versatile pickup layout that allows mega Tele style cut for rhythm with a light and readily usable Trem ... then throw in the pose-ability of a black V ... soon to have a blood red scratchplate ... and I'm somewhere close to heaven

Will be fitting the 'Luthiers Love' locking tuners from Axesrus instead of the standard Grovers though. The trem makes you want to use it to the full ... and non locking tuners don't really 'mutt the custard' for stability.

paulk

The answer to "Should I put a Bigsby on it?" is always "yes".

Panama_Jack666

paulk said:

The answer to "Should I put a Bigsby on it?" is always "no".

Fixed that for you!

paulk

Oh ye of little taste

ThePrettyDamned

TheGuitarWeasel said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

@theguitarweasel, that looks cracking, congrats on taking the plunge!

Well the V now has a V2 Venom 17k alnico 5 bridge pickup ... and a Scrapyard Dog Plus neck one ... and I have to say, feels superb and plays beautifully. I trashed the tone knob (who the hell uses one of those things anyway) and made my usual 'spin a split' progressive tap for the Venom. Now it does somewhere between Tele and Rickenbacker HiGain wound all the way off ... and bluesy/heavy rock bellow full out. Combine a versatile pickup layout that allows mega Tele style cut for rhythm with a light and readily usable Trem ... then throw in the pose-ability of a black V ... soon to have a blood red scratchplate ... and I'm somewhere close to heaven

Will be fitting the 'Luthiers Love' locking tuners from Axesrus instead of the standard Grovers though. The trem makes you want to use it to the full ... and non locking tuners don't really 'mutt the custard' for stability.

Don't want to come across as uncool, but I'm well looking forward to buying your pickups again.

I have a volume, tone and blend pot loom and I look forward to using it, but wouldn't mind some kind of tapping thing as it's probably (like your V) going to have some pretty hard rockin' pickups in.  Either a tap or a split.  I wouldn't want an extra knob though, so it'll be a switch (hopefully a mini switch but...er...big). 

OilCityPickups

I love me dial-able split   But back to the LP/trem thing ... to me this is the ideal. I can chose my guitar ... based on feel and ... yes, looks then have a trem system on that doesn't mean me having to carry allen keys ... or cut my balls off ( ... er) or have the Grand Canyon routed in ... and a set of bedsprings attached to a combine harvester stuffed in the arse end of my instrument

chrisj1602

I got a bigsby b7 from the states off eBay, way cheaper than here and got through customs for nowt.