The Bigsby Vibrator - Which GUitars Should Have Them
A few months ago, I wrote about the infamous Bigsby vibrato bridge and voiced my concern (opinion) about which guitars should incorporate this famous tail piece. Go HERE for that article. Now, I’m no purist or expert but I simply disagree that a Bigsby vibrato tail should be installed onto a Telecaster, Stratocaster or Les Paul. These classic guitars have their own unique design and sound. A Bigsby vibrato bridge is just not right for this style of guitar. Want a Bigsby? Buy a Gretsch or some other guitar where Bigsbys are properly integrated and sound fantastic. I think all Gretsch, some Gibsons, old Mosrites, and/or new Danelectro guitars are perfect for the Bigsby vibrato bridge. Just don’t destroy a perfectly good guitar by trying to shoe horn a Bigsby onto it. In my mind, it would equivalent to installing monster truck tires onto a Porsche.
A few weeks after publishing this article, I received several emails and comments back. Some wholeheartedly agree with my opinion about this matter. Some couldn’t disagree more. This is a the beauty of our democratic guitar community!
Matt Rayner’s Tele Modification Project
Matt Rayner, a British guitarist living in Helsinki ran across my article and sent me pictures and commentary about his Tele modification project. His overall comment to me was “Man...What a mistake!”. Matt tried to integrate a B5 Bigsby Kit onto his Fender Telecaster. The problem is that the B5 is too narrow. The Bigsby B5 Telecaster Kit is not just the bar and roller system. It includes the bridge, studs and bridge plate.
1.) Width of bridge (centre of saddle Top E to centre of saddle Bottom E = 55mm
2.) Width of B5 string retaining pegs = 50mm
There is a mismatch in convergence. In other words, the strings converge after coming off the bridge down to the Bigsby and they don’t stay parallel. As a result, the bottom E string slips off the saddle constantly when playing anything harder than The Girl from Ipanema. It’s Matt’s opinion that the B5 Kit is just poorly made. The mechanisms, machining and finish are actually pretty good. It just may be a quality control issue here. He’s contemplating building his own. Also, the B5 Bridge kit from Bigsby requires that you drill two big holes in the body of the guitar and sink the bridge posts.
Matt tried to contact Bigsby several times to no avail. This, I guess, is the worst part.
You can also see that Matt installed the EMG “T” series pickup into his guitar. He’s got nothing but good things to say about the EMG Tele replacement pickups!
The moral of this story? Well....you already know my opinion.
