Fiddling with a couple of existing guitars

[FrankHudson]

I often think I'll enjoy doing some simple maintenance or mods on some of my electric guitars, but it wasn't until last week that I found the bench time to do a couple of things.

I have a Squire Bigsby Tele. Pretty nice guitar and while I found the stock pickups worked well enough, I have a long-term fondness for the under-rated and very affordable Fender 52 Vintage Tele bridge pickup. I got one of those last winter and now I finally put it in this Tele. Also added a Vibramate Spoiler to the Bigsby, cleaned the fretboard, restrung it (thanks Spoiler), and adjusted the pickup heights.

Oh, very nice. Hard to say exactly why I like the Fender 52 Vintage bridge PU, but it just says "Tele" to me. I didn't replace the neck PU, and the middle setting combining the pickups (one I use quite a bit) also pleased.

I'd planned to wait for a back-ordered set of Fender locking tuners to do any work on this guitar, but I'm glad I swapped this pickup.

Next up: my Gretsch 5422T Electromatic. I'd been trying wound G D'Addario Chrome flat-wound strings on this one, and it just wasn't getting me to where I wanted to be with this nice guitar. Someone here on the AGF reminded me earlier this year that Gretsch pickups are particularly height sensitive, and the last change I'd made was to raise them some which did help, but still...

So off came the flats and on went a set of "Fender Jimi Hendrix Voodoo strings" These are a pure nickel wrap string set with what is now an unusual gauging. They start of as .010 high E but the low strings are extra light (low E is a .038). Though Fender markets them with the Jimi branding, they are in effect a continuance of the Fender 150L set that I used to buy back in the '70s. And since I was experimenting with strings, on went another Spoiler, which helps make string changes easier. I kind of wondered how the Spoiler would work with the Gretsch's Bigsby in that it doesn't have the front roller bar, so the strings come off the Spoiler to the bridge with shallower angle. Turns out no issues noted.

This is the 4th or 5th set of strings I have had on this guitar. I played it for a short time with whatever shipped with it new, then tried a set of conventional .010 high E Ernie Ball Slinkys before going with the flats with a wound G. The "Voodoo" nickel strings have a plain G, but so far I think I may have found the strings to bring this guitar up to my expectations. One marked change was that arp'ing or playing "lead" on the low strings is now exactly the feel and sound I want! Think mutant Duane Eddy. The plain strings have enough punch for me.

I have two other electric guitars with flats (a Tele and a jumbo archtop DeArmond X155) so I'm not really loosing that sound and feel with this change, just adding a different sound from the Gretsch.

[Rogerblair]

Good for you, Frank, that you tackled these projects and were rewarded with improved tone and functionality. I enjoy working on guitars too, and am always interested in others’ efforts and successes
Roger

[Steve DeRosa]

+1 on the Vibramate Spoiler - made a big difference on my 5622, got a gold one sitting in the case for when the Falcon gets a string change...

Although I've often said that the guitar has a way of telling you what it likes (my Falcon is a perfect example) and you seem to have made all the right moves in the pickup department (you don't mention the polepieces), I'm surprised that things didn't work out with the 5422 - just curious what gauge flats you were using...

[FrankHudson]

Which Chromes: the 11-50 set with wound G. On electric I play a lot of single note, double stop and arpeggiated stuff. I'm duff at most kinds of chordal chops much less chordal shapes moving to each beat kind of stuff -- not proud of that, but that's me at my advanced age.

Some of the arp'ed stuff (similar to what I play on acoustic, using cross-picking technique with a flatpick) can work well on heavier strings, and like I say I have another Tele and my jumbo hollowbody DeArmond X-155 for that, both with flats currently. In the single note stuff I associate my desired Gretsch sound more with more bite that I was getting and I think I explore the lower strings more in "lead playing" than some players. My dad always complained that electric lead guitar avoided the low notes, so I hear his voice in my ear about that. That 10-38 Fender set was always good for that range for me.

[GoPappy]

Does the Vibramate spoiler really help that much with string changes? I've been using a scrap piece of foam pipe insulation that I jam under there to hold the string in place while I wind it up to tension. It works pretty well and is a no-cost low tech solution, but I'm always open to improvements.

When you install the Vibramate for the first time, I assume you have to hold the Vibramate in place as you string up the guitar. And after that, you re-string it one string at a time and the Vibramate stays in place. Correct?

Frank, I put the Biggsfix on my G5622T recently and the reduced break angle from the Bigsby to the bridge helps. But I still have some tuning issues so I think I'm still going to get a roller bridge.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by GoPappy

Does the Vibramate spoiler really help that much with string changes? I've been using a scrap piece of foam pipe insulation that I jam under there to hold the string in place while I wind it up to tension. It works pretty well and is a no-cost low tech solution, but I'm always open to improvements.

When you install the Vibramate for the first time, I assume you have to hold the Vibramate in place as you string up the guitar. And after that, you re-string it one string at a time and the Vibramate stays in place. Correct?

Frank, I put the Biggsfix on my G5622T recently and the reduced break angle from the Bigsby to the bridge helps. But I still have some tuning issues so I think I'm still going to get a roller bridge.

The Spoiler sorta stays put even if you've removed all the strings, you have to depress the bar to get it hooked onto the pins in the first place and then when you release the bar the spoiler is encouraged to stay in place.

Another advantage for the spoiler is single string replacement "in the heat of battle" -- and of course some Bigsby users have floating bridges and are therefore led to do string at a time changes.

Some like more break angle than others with many bridge/tailpiece setups, not just Bigsbys. My personal theory is that if you have enough to not buzz or "sitar," and the string doesn't jump out of the bridge slot when doing string vibrato, then you have enough. Some also think that less break angle leads to easier string bending "feel" though I'm not sure my fingers can tell. And yes, more break angle can lead to greater siticksion issues.

I have a roller bridge on one DeArmond with Bigsby (a doomed turn of the century line of "Guild-a-likes") and I like it fine. Some think they rattle, but I've never noticed that. As with Strats and Jaguar/Jazzmaster "trems", I'll shake the bar a little without plucking if I've got a rest between using them for extreme vibrato.