Zeb_hendrix Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 I just bought a Bigsby B5 & i got a few questions about them. It sais in the setup to install it as far back on your guitar as possible, but what if you put it so far back the whammy bar was out of reach. On my guitar there is quite a bit of space under the bridge & if I installed it at the very end of my guitar then the end of the whammy bar would just be level with my bridge. Is it really necessary to install it so far back? Chears. Keep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdog Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 I just bought a Bigsby B5 & i got a few questions about them. It sais in the setup to install it as far back on your guitar as possible, but what if you put it so far back the whammy bar was out of reach. On my guitar there is quite a bit of space under the bridge & if I installed it at the very end of my guitar then the end of the whammy bar would just be level with my bridge. Is it really necessary to install it so far back? Chears. Keep I'm guessing you have a TOM bridge of some kind, right ?? Ideally you should install the B5 so that the strings have a decent break angle at the bridge saddles and still clear the back edge of the bridge body without touching it. Think Gibson: this positions the bridge so that the tension bar more or less seats where the stop tailpiece would be. I don't think there's any good reason to put it farther back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeb_hendrix Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Ye using a tom bridge thanx for that but is their a set distant that gibsons use from the tom to the tailpiece Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeb_hendrix Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Just while where on the topic of TOM bridges the one i bought is a Gotoh GE-103BTN & the notches in the saddles are realy realy tiny. Are you supposed to file them down so the string fit better or use it as is. Also ive seen pictures of guitars with the gotoh bridges & three of the saddles have been turned around. Should i do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Just while where on the topic of TOM bridges the one i bought is a Gotoh GE-103BTN & the notches in the saddles are realy realy tiny. Are you supposed to file them down so the string fit better or use it as is. Also ive seen pictures of guitars with the gotoh bridges & three of the saddles have been turned around. Should i do this? Turning the saddles around is so you can get your intonation spot on - if you need to move the saddle forward or back and have hit the limit of that saddles movement and you still need a little more to get the intonation right, flipping the saddle lets you get the break point a little bit closer or farther to get things right. It's really a matter of the guitar in question. One of my guitars, I had to flip a couple saddles around, the other I didn't. I think the bridge may be angled more on one of them, and string gauge and action can also play into this.) I've always slotted my TOM saddles when I get the unslotted kind, although I suppose if the little notches and in the bridge are keeping your strings where they ought to be in conjunction with the tailpiece, you could leave it. Slot it the same way that you would a nut, a be careful not to leave any rough edges (rought edges on a metal bridge are a great way to break strings!) and keep on eye on keeping the string radius at the bridge matching the radius at the fretboard. When setting the distance from the bridge to the B5's roller bar, you basically want it close enough that you don't get buzzing behind the bridge (like what happens on some jaguars) and far enough that the strings don't rub against the tail of the bridge as they bend over the saddles and down to the B5's bar. I ended up drawing out the angles involved and making my decision based on that - I moved the B5 back enough until the strings would just clear the back of the bridge if I had the bridge jacked up all the way. How far back that is is going to depnd somewhat on how high you plan on having to set your bridge, whether the B5 is on the same plane as the bridge (is the guitar flat topped, or is the B5 on an area lowered because of a carve or something?) but it certainly shouldn't be too far back. If you've got a flattopped guitar, look at pictures on the Bigsby website of like a Gibson SG or something to get an idea of how far back is decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeb_hendrix Posted February 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Thanx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeb_hendrix Posted February 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 I looked on the bigsby website & i couldnt find any pictures of gibson with bigsby b5s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdog Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 I looked on the bigsby website & i couldnt find any pictures of gibson with bigsby b5s Maybe this helps: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 The photo's Blackdog posted should help, what I did was go to the Bigsby website (bigsbyguitars.com) and click "vibratos" on the left hand side. From there, you should see the "Bigsby Match Maker" in the main column, and just select different guitars from the pull-down list - it pulls up different pictures, and you can get a slightly bigger one by clicking on that - it's nice because they're all straight-on shots. I had to take a screen shot on my computer to get the image, it wouldn't let me download it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeb_hendrix Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Ok thanx everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.