Carvin DC-150

**randyc** · 02-01-2010, 05:27 PM

Dang, now I'm a stoned bird-killer

**Meggy** · 02-01-2010, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by randyc

Dang, now I'm a stoned bird-killer

You're a lovely man Randy! Bad choice of metaphor on my part maybe?

**randyc** · 02-01-2010, 05:42 PM

Not at all, mate, use that one myself!

cheers,
randyc

**lpdeluxe** · 02-01-2010, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by randyc

Dang, now I'm a stoned bird-killer

No, just a rock guitarist.

**randyc** · 02-01-2010, 06:41 PM

Ahhhhhhhh - the Ted Nugent urban legend?

**lpdeluxe** · 02-01-2010, 06:49 PM

No, he used a bow and arrow.

**Meggy** · 02-02-2010, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by lpdeluxe

No, he used a bow and arrow.

Archery is my other big obsession in life besides music/guitar. In the UK we are not allowed to kill things with our bows and arrows though, unlike Ted. We just shoot at targets for score. It is a fantastic sport/hobby though, for anyone who fancies a try - just seek out a good nearby club (contact GNAS/Archery UK in Britain). I had a go originally in 1990, and have not been able to get it out of my system since. Not that anyone here wanted to know any of this

, apologies for the thread hijack!

Getting back to the SH550, I think it is an interesting example of a class of guitar that is still evolving, i.e. a semi acoustic type that is capable of going further into the archtop jazz sound area than has previously been achieved. A very nice guitar for anyone who likes to cover the full range of jazz styles, from more straight ahead through to fusion/rock areas.

**lpdeluxe** · 02-02-2010, 02:13 PM

The 550 has one serious attraction lacking on my 335: the availability of a Bigsby vibrato. I really miss the one on my Chet Atkins Country Gent, to the extent that I installed one on my SG.

But the SG, useful as it is, does not have the same feel as the ES-335. I'll probably talk myself into mounting a Bigsby, using a Vibramate mounting plate as I did on the SG. Alas! The B5 just doesn't have the look of the B7!

I'll try to cope.

**Meggy** · 02-02-2010, 02:48 PM

In the Ted Greene chord chemistry book, there are some pictures of him playing a number of well modified looking guitars, including a couple of 335 types (they might be the 345 or 355 models possibly) but he has fitted Bigsbys to them which I think are the tail mounted type. I'll have to have another look to remind myself though.

**randyc** · 02-02-2010, 03:39 PM

John, seems as if we've talked about this before - why is a Bigsby installation a problem?

Mine was factory-installed and, as Meggy pointed out, I've seen many 335 and 335-derivatives with Bigsbies mounted. (Apologies for the poor quality photo - a copy of a copy from an original taken in 1972.)

cheers,
randyc

PS: It's coming back, I think, to me - the problem is with plugging the holes for the stop-bar, right?

**lpdeluxe** · 02-02-2010, 03:56 PM

In the '50s and '60s, 335-345-355 guitars were available with "tail mounted" (B7) Bigsbys. The lesser two models were fitted with "Custom Made" plastic plaques to hide the holes that had already been drilled for the stop tail piece. 355s were supplied with Bigsbys (I'd guess they were competing with Gretsch with that model) so did not need the plaques.

Into the '60s, the Bigsby was replaced by the Gibson Vibrola.

There are currently three ways of mounting a Bigsby on a stop-tail 335: first, by pulling out the tail piece studs and bolting on a Bigsby B7. This entails two operations I am not eager to commit on my 335, namely drilling new holes and filling existing holes in a prominent location on the instrument's face. Second, by mounting an EZ-Mount bracket to the end pin and the existing threaded sockets for the stop-tail. This looks closer to the B7, but the maker bundles the bracket with a Chinese-"made under license" Bigsby B5; they are not available separately, and they charge a hefty price for the privilege of attaching a Chinese accessory to your lovely American-made Gibson (the Asian components do not interchange with the American ones). Third, Vibramate sells an aluminum mounting plate that attaches to the guitar at the stop-tail sockets and mounts an American-made B5. I have this device on my SG, and it is very neatly done. Without close inspection, you wouldn' t know it didn't come like that from the factory.

No doubt it's apparent that I lean toward the Vibramate, but not whole-heartedly. While the installation is easily done and quickly reversible, it just does not look right, and I know, that were I to do that, I would be irritated every time I opened the case.

Unfortunately, I am falling back in love with the Bigsby. My hope is that Vibramate, who are still introducing products (the last being a plate that mounts a B7 to a Les Paul), will shortly debut the B7-on-a-335 that I want.

The other options are to order a Bigsby-equipped Heritage 535 or a Carvin 550, or haunt craigslist until something turns up.

**randyc** · 02-02-2010, 04:02 PM

Got it and I agree, I wouldn't modify an ES-335. You might as well wait for my '71 to show up on Ebay

**Meggy** · 02-02-2010, 04:06 PM

Cheers lp, I understand better now what the issues are. I guess Ted's guitars may have been the 355's that came with a factory fitted Bigsby, from what you say.

**lpdeluxe** · 02-02-2010, 05:14 PM

Randy, I was composing my treatise while you were posting, but I think I answered your questions.

Meggy, I was actually responding to you.

So, Randy, how much? Do you have a pre-need plan?

That looks like just what I want -- cherry red with a Bigsby. I thought at first it was a 355 but now I see that it's a block inlay 335 -- there was no need to fill the stop-tail holes in that era, since the non-Bigsby guitars had a trapeze.

**randyc** · 02-02-2010, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by lpdeluxe

... So, Randy, how much? Do you have a pre-need plan?

That looks like just what I want -- cherry red with a Bigsby. I thought at first it was a 355 but now I see that it's a block inlay 335 -- there was no need to fill the stop-tail holes in that era, since the non-Bigsby guitars had a trapeze.

You're correct about no "stop-bar" tailpiece. I don't have that nice 335 any more - it was the very last guitar that I sold, the one that formulated my "no mas" policy.

Although it makes me sad to tell this story, the deal was that it was to be traded for a Martin D-28, an old, nice-sounding one. The guy backed out at the last minute but still wanted the 335. I wasn't playing at all in 1975, he offered $300 and I took it -

Anyone can understand, after reading the previous, why I decided never to sell another guitar - whether or not I was playing at the time. There are seven or eight guitars purchased after that time that I no longer own but they weren't sold, they were "gifted", to friends and relatives.

cheers,
randyc

**lpdeluxe** · 02-02-2010, 06:59 PM

Ah: YOU won't be listing it on eBay. Nor, I suspect, will it show up for that same $300!

I've been looking there and on craigslist for a suitable platform for a Bigsby...but all the guitars I found were even prettier than my own 335, and I'd be yet more averse to drilling and patching one of them.

Perhaps a Heritage is in my future. Last spring I stopped at a dealer in Missouri and got a quote for a Bigsby-equipped 535, and it was only a couple of hundred more than the 550. As noted earlier, the lack of binding on the Carvin is a deal-breaker. They offer binding on other models, and I'm surprised it's not an option.

I've recovered from my recent Mesa/Boogie purchase (got change back from what I sold my LP for) but I'm running out of stuff I'm willing to part with. And I see an iMac (and Photoshop) looming in my future -- my graphics computer runs XP, and has PS from several years ago loaded on it; and the local graphics people have been teasing me unmercifully about not having an Apple (artists can be so cruel). Although my true motive is that the Apple monitors show subtleties in color and shading that make my (one-time) high-dollar NEC look like '50s Technicolor -- all primary colors and fuzzy edges.

But, as we know, love will find a way.