Travis bar on a Bigsby

[George Beasley]

Just for the heck of it, I bought a Travis bar and put it on my NC. I've never used one before. How high above the top of the guitar should I set the loop end?

[albertgen]

Watch Merle Travis, He had it so he could put his little finger in it. He got amazing colorings of tone with it by picking above the fingerboard and using his bigsby. Al

[George Beasley]

I'm not talking about where to place the loop...I'm asking about how high to have it. Should it be fairly low to the top, so that when you drop it to the top of the guitar it only goes down a half step...or should I be able to drop the pitch 2 steps.

As I came from bigsby, it is sitting about 4 inches above the top of the guitar...which seems wat too high.

[albertgen]

Good question, I suppose it depends on how you use it, with your little finger or hand. I would go with a half step. Al

[thenorm]

I think Merle had the end of the handle (the loop) fairly high.

Merle, when he used it, liked to make it do what it was designed to do, meaning he would move the handle to get both sides of the note and made sure you knew he was doing it.

Thinking on it now, I've noticed that the P-90 pickups on his Super 400's have an unusually gnarly tone when he plays it near the fingerboard. I think he knew this as a 'sweet spot' and when he made his first long handle he put the ring where it kept his hand right over that sweet spot.

I made a handle like that once using 1/4" rod from a hardware store and the Walkin the Strings album cover. I already had the stationary bracket. Used it for less time than it took me to make the handle. I couldn't see the advantage of such a long handle and still don't. Chet's handle is much more to my liking. Having a liong handle like that just because Merle had his that way wasn't motive enough for me.

But Merle sure did like to use the Bigsby when he picked up near the fingerbaord.
And that ring is right there.

That's how it looks to me.

PS. What you guys who have stationary brackets and are flummoxed by them this is what you should do.

Get a piece of 1/4" rod (welding rod would work) and make your own. You want it away from the bridge enough so you can do a full palm mute if yu want to. Then you see to it the tip just touchess the main bend in your little finger when your right hand is in 'Chet Position'.

Here's a shot of one of mine before I got the Chet handlie. In my case the tip on mine and the tip on the Chet handle were the so close I had minimal adjustment time.

[thenorm]

This ought to answer any question as to how high Merle had his

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oIw_ukvtKc

[RandyBuckner]

Bresh came by the Ison booth at CAAS to see my guitar, which is an homage to Merle's 400. Thom told me to have the arm bent so that it runs parallel to the bottom edge of the pickguard. He also said to shim the arm until it was about 3" above the pickguard. If you go to the Travis fan page on Facebook, you'll see some excellent photos of Merle's Bigsby.

Hope this helps -

Randy

[RandeDager]

Hey Randy! I was looking forward to meeting you and am sorry I didn't. Will you be at CAAS next year? I intend to make it. I'm also hoping to post some of my own "stuff" here before this year is over. I recently got a good paying job at a church and have been "given permission" to put that money toward my music passions. I'm working toward a MacBook Pro. I'm fed up with trying to use my PC for music.......never had any success, for one reason or another. The Mac has been recommended by several of my friends who are music production professionals. Anyway, my point is that a few here will eventually know me for more than just my prolific posting and being such a "motorfingers".....lol. From there the face-to-face meetings will have more meaning.....such as whenever I meet you or Bruce Keener.

[RandyBuckner]

Hi Rande! Sorry about the slow reply, we've moved and I just got internet connected to my big computer. I'm looking forward to meeting you and Bruce in person as well - we can steal licks from each other. I'm planning on attending CAAS next year, maybe we can stay up all night jamming with Bruce and who ever else we con into it.

Hope your new job is going well, talk to you soon -

Randy

[RandeDager]

Hi Randy,

I had forgotten I posted anything to you until I saw your response. My job begins next week but I've been teaching
all Summer. Yes, it would be nice to get together and trade ideas. You're more formally trained than I am but I've managed to pick up quite a lot over the years. Maybe you can tell me WHAT I'm doing...........lol.