ChamberedBody Trem holes

[gdgross]

Hi all, have a chambered Jazzmaster body on which I’m installing a bigsby B5. (Had warmoth rout for a tune o Matic bridge and angled neck pocket)

I spaced the Trem and drilled pilot holes for the 4 mounting screws on the bigsby. 3 out of 4 of them are over the chambered areas, I think, as they don’t feel like solid drills.

So what are my options now?  The drill holes into the chambers make me nervous about holding the Trem in place with the force of the strings ( and I tend to use heavier strings, like 10s on fenders or heavier maybe)

I had the thought to drill the three holes out bigger and install/glue short dowels maybe ½” in diameter or so, flush against the top and just re drill the holes?

Any other ideas?

 

[stratamania]

Is it a finished or unfinished body?

 

[Rick]

Got any pictures?

 

[gdgross]

It’s a finished body (finished by me last week) and I don’t have any pics, but they wouldn’t show much unless I drilled out the holes bigger like I said, it’s just look like a body with four screw holes for the B5 tremolo...

I can take some tonight if you think it’d help visualize tho.  In the meantime tho I drew a quick side view of the guitar body that shows one one mounting screw going into solid wood and the other going into a chamber. Hopefully that helps clear it up...

I’m imagining something like a helicoil for wood...or filling the chamber or something to give the screw something to anchor into.

 

[Rick]

My imagination is pretty limited, so I can only see four paths:
One, abandon the bigsby and turn it it into a hard tail.
TWo, with a dremel very carefully ream off the cap of a chamber to accept a dowel or wood block.
Three, call warmoth and ask for advice.  I've had issues like this when it came to pickguards, and they gave me helpful suggestions.
Four, is there another kind of bigsby or adapter you can use?

On the warmoth website, while they don't have a pic of the interior of a jazzmaster, they have one of a strat, and I can't imagine the honey combing is that much different.  Definitely, two screws of the bigsby will have problems.

Sorry I couldn't help more.

 

[mayfly]

If the top is about 1cm or so thick, you could use a threaded insert such as used in necks.

I'm talking about these guys or similar:

 

[stratamania]

Putting in dowels or inserts will only be as effective as the wood surrounding them. There may not be much for them to hold onto.

I would be inclined to rout out a section between the bridge and the back of the body, put in a block of solid wood (call it a tone block if needed) refinish the body (hopefully it was a solid finish) and then mount the Bigsby to the solid block.

Or as Rick suggested fill the holes, refinish and abandon the Bigsby.

 

[gdgross]

Yeah, I was imagining the dowels glued well to the bottom of the chambers at least, but that might be hard to guarantee.

what about filling the chambers with some kind of epoxy?  Or perhaps some kind of hard wood putty or something?

 

[stratamania]

Another thought. I am not a Bigsby user but happened across this for fitting a B5 to a Tele the other day without needing to drill holes. Perhaps it may also be adaptable to a Jazzmaster.

http://www.vibramate.com/vibramate-v5-install.php

A video on another TOM tailpiece set up.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6yud6_phIQ[/youtube]

 

[BigSteve22]

Also not a Bigsby guy, (or any kind of trem guy, for that matter), but I've seen these adapters installed, and they definitely seemed to work well.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Maybe a Bigsby B3 or B7 ?

 

[mayfly]

You know, the vibramate perfect.  Might use that on my up-coming mooncaster build!

 

[BigSteve22]

...on my up-coming mooncaster build!

That's I build I'll be watching, for sure!

 

[TBurst Std]

If you got some wood there you are good.  Keep in mind the tension of the strings is not trying to lift the Bigsby off the top of the Guitar.

As a reference, every Casino, ES-330, hollow body Gretsch, etc with a Bigsby has it into a thin lam top with no wood underneath it.

 

[stratamania]

If you got some wood there you are good. 

That is the thing because it is chambered how can he know how much wood is there?

 

[gdgross]

I asked warmoth and they said it’s about 1/8” thick. Not enough for me to feel comfortable with. Most hollow electrics w bigsbys have thicker tops than that I’m guessing.

Think I’m gonna try an epoxy or dowel fill

 

[TBurst Std]

I asked warmoth and they said it’s about 1-8” thick. Not enough for me to feel comfortable with. Most hollow electrics w bigsbys have thicker tops than that I’m guessing.

Think I’m gonna try an epoxy or dowel fill

Well let me get some work done this AM then I’ll pull out my Heritage HM-530 (Heritages version of an ES-330 or a Casino) and measure for you.

 

[TBurst Std]

The Heritage as well as my Gretsch White Falcon measured at 1/4 thick top

 

[gdgross]

The Heritage as well as my Gretsch White Falcon measured at 1/4 thick top

Thanks for checking Mark, much appreciated!

Still thinking I’m gonna try a fill of some sort. Only one screw all the way into solid wood just makes me nervous. And it’s one of the front screws, so if there were any temptation to pull up, that’d be the pivot point rather than a good anchor...)

 

[Fat Pete]

ES330s and similar don't use surface-mounted Bigsbys, they use trapeze-style units like the B3 and B7 so the top thickness isn't really an issue.

Just as a check, to the OP - you stated that 'they don’t feel like solid drills'. Are you just putting it mildly or is there doubt about whether you drilled into chambers? Having been through that rather alarming moment when you first drill into a chamber, I can assure you that it's not ambiguous; you definitely know when the drill drops into empty space.

If the guitar is drilled for a stop tailpiece as well as the T-O-M, then the Vibramate option is probably the best bet. You'd need the one intended for LPs and SGs etc. - not the Tele version.