Bigsby on your main guitar?

[Stefan Eff]

I love Bigsbys:

[What now?]

I have bigsby's on all my electrics. Most full sized archtops (17" 3.5" deep), most laminate, though one has a pressed spruce top. (Yamaha AE1200S)

While I could understand one impacting a carved top acoustic archtop's sound,(though I have to admit I'm experimenting with that pretty well as we speak) on a laminate archtop I don't see what the big deal is/ I've never had tuning issues and I use them alot. Mostly in a very subtle way and once in a while as a dramatic crazy/silly effect.
They don't seem to impact the top a lot and I've never had a top deform. I'd use one on a ES-175 or a 350 without worrying about it.
I don't use them on my acoustic flatops or other acoustic instruments, but electric guitar opens the opportunity often having more sustain.

Some people like to play with a vibrato bar and some don't.

Interestingly those that do like them generally don't heap scorn and derision on the hard tailpiece guitars and their users.
You never hear things like this:

"well if you like your strings all stiff and unmoving??"

or

"I don't play one of those ridiculous rigid uptight tailpiece guitars."

or

" Those puritanical rigid tailpieces are like a %$#&%$# in the *^%^$&^%, on a cold winters night"




I don't specifically play jazz, though I really like the original more song-orientated 'jazz'.
When I do write and play jazzy material it's more akin to jazz's origins when it was essentially pop music. Not in anyway rarified or purely cerebral. It was often DANCE party music. It was the crazy wild young people music and had piles of style, verve, humour and fire and flash.

Aesthetically and otherwise I sometimes see more modern jazz as often being quite purist/conservative/unassuming in it's approach, despite being technically improvisational.

Bigsbys are big and flashy it's true, ( however they aren't actually that heavy . As they're mostly aluminium many aren't any heavier than some of Gibsons high end tailpieces.)

I can understand why they don't fit in with the more purist jazz aesthetic and ethic.

I think they can make things sound quite lovely, when used tastefully (and sometimes not) especially with a bit of reverb or echo.

[cosmic gumbo]

Say what???

[What now?]

oops! ancient thread. My apologies!

[Tal_175]

My ES 175 came with a factory installed Bigsby. I ordered a zig zag tail piece and ditched the Bigsby in no time. The thing is it presses against the most resonant area in the lower bout of the guitar. The guitar became noticeably more resonant after the Bigsby was gone. I don't use tremolo even on my Strats.

[jads57]

For those of you with Bigsbys and even without them.I highly recommend trying a Wayne Compton bridge for your guitar. It improves sustain noticeably and over all tone as well. I have them on my Elferink,335.339 w/Bigsby.

[Greentone]

For a long time, before I got my ES175, my main jazz guitar was either of two Gretsch CA6120 Nashville models with Bigsbys. Loved them.

I'll agree with Tal175 though that the Bigsby unit presses the top plate of an arch top making it less resonant.

[customxke]

just saying

[sgosnell]

Well, yeah, a Bigsby wouldn't be complete without a Bigsby.

[neatomic]

not quite that easy a write off of bigsbys...tho true the added weight to archtop could inhibit resonance, they do hold the tailpiece to bridge/saddle angle better than most tailpieces...since they are static upon the top..whereas typical tailpieces rise under continued tension

so if you have a ringy arch or one that has ghost notes in that tailpiece to bridge area, then a bigsby may actually help!!!

probably better for laminated tops than carved spruce, but...

paul bigsby was early guitar gear genius..he got a lot of things right..right off!!!

he started as early motorcycle tech!!

big influence on leo fender...whom i consider the greatest guitar gear genius ever!

cheers

pb

[customxke]

[neatomic]

yeah man...love that ricky too


a tk smith admirer too im sure!!

pb!

cheers

[cosmic gumbo]

I be thinking about putting a wiggle stick on my ukulele for the extra surfy vibes.