#1
|
|||
|
|||
Bigsbys and Gretsch bridges
From things I've read it seems to me that many players are as drawn to Bigsbys because they "look cool" than simply as a functional tool. From my experience I very, very rarely use mine. And I've noticed that many players IMO really simply don't use them well. Too many wack away at those handles rather than using them in a minimal, graceful way, as a subtle accent. Given that they make it more clumsy to change strings and I rarely use mine, I'd as soon have a regular Gretsch G cutout tail piece.
On another note, I wonder how Gretsch determines whether to use the rocking bar, the space-o-matic or the adjust-0-matic bridges. If the adjust-o-matic allows for fine tuning intonation, then shouldn't all their guitars have that feature. And does that mean that guitars with rocking bar or space o matic bridges have intonation issues that are difficult to adjust? Instead it seems more of their higher end models have either the rocking bar or space-o-matic bridges. I've seen 6120s with any one of those three bridge types. Further there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to whether or not they employ a pinned bridge. I'd be interested to hear comments.
__________________
"To walk in the wonder, to live in the song" "The moment between the silence and the song" |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Lifelong (55 years worth) Gretsch fan here - I'll try to straighten this out to the best of my ability (YMMV):
http://www.vibramate.com/vibramate-string-spoiler.phpHope this clears things up...
__________________
"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
I put a Bigsby on my Samick Greg Bennett Royale semi and my Luthier friend said that I needed to change the bridge also. (Existing Tune-O-Matic Gibson style bridge to a roller bridge instead). Reminds me that I need to dig that guitar out and play it.
Sorry about not being able to help out with your Gretsch enquiries. Last edited by Steel and wood; 01-23-2017 at 03:24 PM. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
I was thinking and hoping you'd post a reply Steve.
So if I hear you correctly, the rocking bar and space control bridges are mostly for historic correctness? Yet, it seems that they use these mostly on their high end models. I'd think that sound would supercede "historic correctness." But that's just me Re pinned bridges; I can't imagine why all bridges shouldn't/wouldn't be pinned for convenience if nothing else. I read that years ago Chet Atkins and Paul Yandell pinned their bridges themselves, something I'm considering doing on my 6120. Something that annoys me with my adjustomatic bridge is that at random I get various low level rattling buzzes that clearly emanate from the bridge. Usually just one or two different strings on different days. Sometimes no buzzes at all. They come and go I think with changes in weather/humidity despite the fact that I am conscientious about keeping all my guitars as stable as possible. I've heard about the Vibramates, but have not gotten around to getting one yet, in part I think because in the back of my mind I think about replacing that Bigsby with the metal G tail piece. What are your thoughts about what I see as the prevalent misuse of Bigsbys? Here's kind of an interesting web page you may be aware of. It's from when Paul Y. was still alive. It's kind of long and sometimes it's a bit repetitive, but I found a lot of the info interesting nonetheless. http://www.studio9kc.co.uk/paul/paul..._questions.pdf
__________________
"To walk in the wonder, to live in the song" "The moment between the silence and the song" |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
I once had a fairly strong prejudice myself against vibrato bridges, but I had strong non-arthritic fingers back then too. Now I don't mind the help. Use of vibrato bridges is deeply ingrained in a lot the electric guitar vocabulary. I got around that in my "no whammy bar for me" days with multistring bends and pre-bends and just grabbing the body and the neck of my Telecaster and giving it a good wiggle (cue acoustic guitar players wincing at the thought). Now I figure a vibrato bridge may be worth the price of some tuning stability issues and complexity. Beside just random equipment fad-dom, I suspect aging players and the revival of styles where vibrato style multistring dips and wavers has also increased the popularity of the Bigsby. Roller bridges seem like a good idea; but if the break angle is not to sharp, a TuneOMatic style bridge can work. I now have two Bigsby equipped Telecasters using Graphtech saddles and find they're slick enough.
__________________
----------------------------------- Creator of The Parlando Project Guitars: 20th Century Seagull S6-12, S6 Folk, Seagull M6; '00 Guild JF30-12, '01 Martin 00-15, '16 Martin 000-17, '07 Parkwood PW510, Epiphone Biscuit resonator, Merlin Dulcimer, and various electric guitars, basses.... |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
__________________
"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
Been considering the Vibramate for my Bigsby but actually think I'm going to go with this: Callaham Upgraded Main String Shaft for Bigsby Vibratos Some of the newer Gretsches have Bigsbys with a similar design. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
I think that Callaham looks more appealing, less bulky than the Vibramate.
Thanks. Yes some of the newer Gretsch' do have a similar design. My 6120am is from 2016 and doesn't. I don't understand why they wouldn't put this new design on all their models since some of their advertisements concede that the new design is better in terms of convenient stringability.
__________________
"To walk in the wonder, to live in the song" "The moment between the silence and the song" |