Trapeze tailpiece for Godin 5th Avenue?

[westsideryan]

I would like to find a drop in replacement nickel tailpiece to replace a Bigsby on my Godin 5th Avenue. I can order a drop in chrome tailpiece from Godin. But, I would prefer a nickel tailpiece. Does anyone know where I may find one?

[Avery Roberts]

1. What's the rest of the hardware? Chrome or nickel?

Chrome and nickel may appear to be the same, but if you put them side by side there's a significant difference. Chrome is a cold blueish colour while nickel is a warm slightly yellowish colour.

Take a chrome socket from an auto socket set and place it next to the tuners, bridge and the pickups to make sure.

2. Are you sure the Godin drop in replacement really is? Bigsby is an American company and so their products may be still in inches. Godin on the other hand is a metric company.

3. Archtop Tailpieces

Cheers - Avery Roberts

[John A.]

Stew Mac

and

Allparts

And

Wdmusic

all have nickel trapeze tailpieces. I don’t know whether they’ll fit a Kingpin. For sure Stewmac would be able to tell you or give you measurements to figure it out.

[westsideryan]

The hardware on my guitar is definitely nickel plated. And, the rep at Godin assured me that their chrome trapeze tailpiece would attach without any modifications. I am a member at Stewmac. Unfortunately, they do not have anything that would work without plugging and drilling new holes. I had also checked All Parts and WD with no luck. Although, I didn’t see the Oettinger style finger tailpieces at WD before. I’ll have to check the measurements to see if one might fit.

[westsideryan]

The Oettinger style tailpieces from WD are also the wrong size. But, last evening I dug through some parts that I had on hand. And, I found a Graphtech ResoMax bridge with String Saver saddles. I was able to make it fit by slightly modifying the retainer clips on each end. Now, I do not seem to have the tuning issues that I was associating with the Bigsby. Plus, the ResoMax bridge is way less noisy than the roller was. Also, the acoustic tone of the guitar has improved quite a lot. And, the acoustic volume has also increased quite a bit. So, I think I will try this for a little while and see if the bridge swap fixed my issue. I’ll have to wait a couple of days for proper strings to arrive so that I can intonate it. For the time being I just slapped some acoustic strings on it.

Attachment 98743

[John A.]

The hardware on my guitar is definitely nickel plated. And, the rep at Godin assured me that their chrome trapeze tailpiece would attach without any modifications. I am a member at Stewmac. Unfortunately, they do not have anything that would work without plugging and drilling new holes. I had also checked All Parts and WD with no luck. Although, I didn’t see the Oettinger style finger tailpieces at WD before. I’ll have to check the measurements to see if one might fit.

FWIW, if the tailpiece covers the existing holes, there's no need to fill them, though (obviously) you'd have to drill new ones.

[Freeman Keller]

Here is the tailpiece the Godin puts on the 5th Avenue



I wass recently asked to remove a Bigsby from a semi hollow, I just put a generic tailpiece on and plugged the holes. the owner kept the trem in case he ever wants to put it back on

[westsideryan]

FWIW, if the tailpiece covers the existing holes, there's no need to fill them, though (obviously) you'd have to drill new ones.

For at least some of the tailpieces I’d have to plug the holes as the new ones would be drilled real close to the old ones. That being said, I don’t want to permanently modify the guitar until I know that I have definitely bonded with it. Since I installed the new bridge, I haven’t been having the issues I was having before. So, hopefully it will stay that way. Then, I’ll just live with the Bigsby for the time being.

[John A.]

For at least some of the tailpieces I’d have to plug the holes as the new ones would be drilled real close to the old ones. That being said, I don’t want to permanently modify the guitar until I know that I have definitely bonded with it. Since I installed the new bridge, I haven’t been having the issues I was having before. So, hopefully it will stay that way. Then, I’ll just live with the Bigsby for the time being.

Makes sense.