Bigsby

[Norm]

Thing is I've had my Bigsby drilled through, Paul had a couple of them drilled through and on gretschpages, every time this topic comes up no one has ever said "I took the pins out and it started breaking strings>" I think the string breakage idea is just one of those things that someone said "the strings might break" which got morphed into The Reason.

I have not read any direct experience by anyone having the bar drilled experiencing any breakage.

I still think Paul Bigsby had them that way in the mid fifties to accomodate the pros who wanted to put lighter strings on their first and second. Until Ernie Ball came out with his single string assortment the only light strings available were banjo strings and banjo strings had a loop end. So Bigsby used pins to work with ball or loop end.

THAT makes sense. Continuing to use pins does not. I sent a note to Gretsch's Joe Carducci about this and he said, in essence, that it was something they talked about but other things got in the way of doing anything about it. I know Paul Yandell was in communication with Fred Gretsch about this and Fred even sent him a sample bar drilled and chamfered but it never went any further.

[Mike Nye]

Maybe so, but if there was buck to have been saved (with NO downside) FG would have been ALL OVER IT INSTANTLY ! ! !

[Norm]

What they did with the Duane Eddy signature models was to make the pins longer.

I think they're afraid to because of the mythical string breakage rumor.

I keep telling myself I'm going to shut up about it but I can't help getting worked up about it because it seems so obvious. At gretschpages several people now have straight through restringing.
None report any breakage.
Oh, well, whut th' hail, while you guys are fooiling with bending tools and blocks when you change strings I'll just run mine through and smile.

[Mike Nye]

Well, There are still people who claim that 4-wheel brakes on a car is a total waste of money too . . .

Like I'd previously said, omitting the pins would substantially reduce unit cost, so WHY hasn't FG been cleaning up ? ? ?

[Norm]

I just sent a note to Joe Carducci

He usually responds but it will likely take a couple of days.

Stay tuned...

[Wes Southerland]

What you are seeing at the bottom of the Bigsby is someone has added a Sta-Tuned device on it. You can purchase it online from a company in California. It allows for fine tuning much like a violin string tuning. There is also another piece that you can not see in the picture. At the nut is a string clamp. I have this system on my '59 Reissue Country Gentleman and I like it alot. Check it out.


http://www.sta-tuned.com/electric-guita ... ystem.html

[BillB]

I have a Stay-Tuned setup on an old Ibanez with a Bigsby that has had severe issues with going out of tune. It made it a much better guitar to play.

Norm,
I haven't drilled the holes on my '06 Nashville Classic (yet), but I've been using your eraser method of changing strings since 2007 when I got that guitar. Sure saves a lot of hassle.

Bill B.

[bill park]

What you are seeing at the bottom of the Bigsby is someone has added a Sta-Tuned device on it.

Perhaps, but the Bigsby on the black Gibson 335 above in the first post doesn't look like this:




I'm not seeing the round fine-tuning knobs on the Gibson.

Thanks, Bill

[Mike Nye]

Bill,

I did a screen capture of your photo . . .

It looks to possibly be a prototype of a quick re-string Bigsby that might be in the works by either Bigsby or a third party.

Or, It could even be an adapter from a third party that slips over the Bigsby's pins . . .

Mike

This is a screen capture I did of the original photo, that I blew up 6X and cropped . . .

It looks to be a similar device, but NOT exactly the same . . .

And the Sta-tuned costs MORE than the Bigsby itself; I bet that will be a real selling point ! ! !

[Norm]

It's a gizmo made by Vibramate

http://www.vibramate.com/index.php

tried a couple of google searches,finally hit with bigsby adapter