Put a New Bigsby Arm on my Ibanez...

[ajbremer]

Wednesday Night - 2/13/2013

I've been playing on my new Ibanez hollow body and I really like it. I bought a new Bigsby shaft type tremolo arm for it and put that and new strings on it today. It's not bent the way I like it and I'll have to figure out the best way to bend it. I had a Nashville Classic years ago and sent my Bigsby arm to Paul Yandell and he bent it for me, all for free as a favor...what a great guy! Now I need this one bent and I'm not sure how to go about it.

One thing I've never experienced before was a movable bridge. When I went to change the strings the bridge just fell out of position. The bridge just sits on top of the guitar and the tension of the strings keep it in place. The thing I've heard most people do is to try and mark its position once it's set. I didn't mark mine and I put it back just about in the same position. I check my intonations and all is well.

Very soon I'm going to change my pickups to TV-Jones Classics. I emailed and called TV-Jones Tech. and they emailed me and called me back. Here's what TV-Jones emailed me about putting their pickups in my Ibanez. (I'm going to do it asap)

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Hi Allan,

I recommend a pair of TV Classics for a Country Gentleman tone.

You can order the pickups in the English Mount with a USA Gibson-style EM1 ring ($136 each, ad $5 for gold). The English Mount pickups are smaller than standard humbuckers, so you'll need to order an EM1 ring or there will be an unsightly gap around the pickup. The holes in the ring may not match up exactly with the stock rings if the stock rings are metric, so you would need to fill the old holes with wood glue and a toothpick. Another option is the Humbucker Mount ($130 each, add $5 for gold), which will suspend from the stock rings.
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Here are a couple of pics of my guitar with the bar:

[Norm]

There are several YouTube vids showing how to set your intonation (which is what bridge placement is all about)

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... tiojDOLNOM



Speaking of those handles, if you get one for yourself you might need to bend it to suit your own hand and style because for some reason they aren’t bending the handles far enough . What happened was when Gretsch bought Bigsby some of the operations were moved to Korea and they started bending them wrong right from the start. I wasn’t connected with Gretsch at that time and I guess no one else no-ticed the error. The handle is bent the same as the old ones except the knob end. It’s not parallel to the first string. I’ve worked to get that changed since the Nashville Classic came into being. They finally got it right in early 2005.
One thing about the new handles I like better than the old ones is that the knob unscrews so I could bend the end up a little which is the way I preferred.

What I use is an old ratchet wrench I have that has a hole in the end of the handle. The hole just fits that quarter-inch rod to allow some leverage so I could bend the metal. If you have to bend the handle at the knobbed tip remember that the knob unscrews. Take the tip off so’s not to break it at the threads. Bend the end around straight and bend it up a little… then bend the handle back where the first bend is. You can make it higher or lower according to your needs.

Another thing you can use is a piece of oak plank cut about 2” wide and 7 or 8” long. It needs to be about one inch thick. Drill a hole in one end a little bigger than the handle and you can bend it with that. Bend in small increments. A little goes a long way. You might want to warm the handle up some by holding it under your arm so it’s easier on the gold plating. If the metal is too cold the plating could flake. Of course you have to take the handle off the guitar to do all this.
__Paul Yandell cgp

[George Beasley]

I use my Gretsch for more than Chet/Paul style, so I never could get used to a fixed arm. It is great it you dont want to strum the guitar, but otherwise i would recommend the swivel bracket.

[Vidar Lund]

Allan, as you know from our previous correspondance I own the same guitar, except mine is transparent red. I kept the standard flat Bigsby handle, but replaced the pickup with TV Jones Classics as you plan. I ordered the ones to fit in the standard Humbucker cavities, and changing them was piece of cake.

After buying the Nashville Classic with the Chet handle I agree that that one is a better choice than the flat one, but since a friend of mine borrowed my Ibanez a while back I won´t do anything with that. He used to own a Country Gentleman in the sixties but sold it to finance his girl friend as he said. After playing my Nashville Classic he said it was just like playing his old CG, and it practially played itself. Paul Yandell certain did a masterpiece when he created the 6122-1959 Nashville Classic!

[ajbremer]

I remember my Nashville Classic well and I made a huge mistake by selling it years ago. I would love to have one now but can't afford it. Some day I'll get a new CG but for now...I'll try to get as close as I can with this Ibanez.

Thank you for the information about the pickup change. Oh, by the way, when I changed my strings on the Ibanez I was pretty surprised to see that the bridge wasn't pinned. I was told that some people mark its location but I just guessed at mine and got it just about right on. I have a good tuner and checked my intonations. How do you handle changing the strings and placing your bridge back to the proper location?

[Vidar Lund]

I forgot to say that my brigde was floating as well. When changing strings and doing other adjustments I fix the bridge by using some kind of adhesive tape during the operation, easlily removeable of course. I know some people fastens the bridge by using tape with double sided adhesive, and even pinning it down permanently, but I don´t think that would be necessary, at least I didn´t. By the way, you have a lovely guitar, just as lovely as mine. But I would never part with my NC!

[ajbremer]

Thank you Vidar, I should have never parted with my NC!!!

[ajbremer]

About the placement of the Bigsby handle that I put on my Ibanez, it's a lot longer and the end of it extends almost to the middle of the neck pickup, that's too far. Seems like the pivot point/spring sits back much further on the Gretsch 6122 CG. I would like the very end of it to barely get into my palm when I'm in my normal position, right above the lower part of the bridge pickup. That means that I'll have to cut the arm, bend it, and then use a die to rethread the shaft. Anyone ever done that?

[Ray Bohlken]

I can't tell what the length of your Bigsby arm is, but they make some as short as 7.5" long and that would be a way to get a better length. Here is a link to Bigsby spare parts and you can space down the page to the Chet Atkins arm/handles. I hope this helps.
Ray

http://www.bigsby.com/vibe/products/spare-parts/

[ajbremer]

Thank you very much Ray, I will look into that.