How Do I Fit A Bigsby To This? (Squier '51 Project Start)

[JaySwear]

so after a lot of debate as to whether to try this project at all, i've finally gotten around to ordering a few parts for my Squier '51 i've had for a year or so. here are a few of the specs and a few pictures, along with a bigsby question.

• basswood body
• humbucker bridge route
• angled single coil neck route
• top loader bridge
• telecaster neck heel
• tele/strat hybrid pickguard with telecaster bass control plate

so my plans are to order a dimarzio virtual solo for the neck. i have an air norton already and originally thought about putting that in. then i thought maybe i should put the air norton in my warmoth strat and put the super distortion in the '51. any opinions on this? i can't find any clips of the air norton in the bridge position, so it's hard to make a decision. the super distortion and virtual p90 i have in the warmoth sound great, but don't really blend well together. i think the air norton and p90 will be great for lighter stuff, and the super distortion and virtual solo should blend well together.

i'm also going to be using a blend pot for the pickups. haven't tried one before, so i'm a little iffy on it. if worst comes to worst i can possibly widen the control plate's holes enough to allow for a plain old 3 way switch. i also ordered some graphtech saddles, as i've really fallen in love with them on my other two guitars :icon_biggrin:

QUESTION: how would i attach a bigsby to this whole contraption? i was thinking i could mount it behind the top loader bridge and feed the strings all the way through, but thinking about it that may be WAY too much friction for the strings to stay even remotely in tune. any suggestions? i've thought about mounting an archtop-style tune-o-matic bridge in place of the top loader, then feeding through to the bigsby. but looking at the tune-o-matic, it would sit about an inch and a half tall, maybe a little less. my action would be pretty ridiculously high with it, i'm afraid. how hard would it be to drill for a regular tune-o-matic bridge in place of the top loader?

some starting pictures:

i planned on using the second style of pickguard in black but guitar fetish ran out literally the day before i could order  :sad1:  go figure.

 

[Mor Paul]

Try filing down the area where the strings pass through the bridge. It's often done for teles that have benders or bigsbys.

 

[JaySwear]

here's the bridge i'll be using, and the string holes are under the intonation screw. definitely a poor design, but it lets me use graphtech saddles, so i don't mind too much. anyway, you can see i can't file upwards (where the string would be pulling) since the screw is right there.

might have to scrap the bigsby idea, which honestly wouldn't bother me too much since the bigsby would almost cost more than the rest of the guitar by itself.

 

[Mor Paul]

here's the bridge i'll be using, and the string holes are under the intonation screw. definitely a poor design, but it lets me use graphtech saddles, so i don't mind too much. anyway, you can see i can't file upwards (where the string would be pulling) since the screw is right there.

might have to scrap the bigsby idea, which honestly wouldn't bother me too much since the bigsby would almost cost more than the rest of the guitar by itself.

Could you put the screws in the string-through holes, and vice versa?

 

[Unwound G]

Ah, another fellow Squier 51 modder.

You can try a modified Mustang bridge exclusive at Warmoth ( http://www.warmoth.com/Modified-Mustang-Bridge-Chrome-P616C716.aspx ).  This works better than a Tune-O-Matic bridge because of its low profile.  You may have to slightly shim the neck pocket just a tad if necessary.

You can also use a cut-off Tele bridge like so :-

and notch the rear like so :-

Have fun.

 

[JaySwear]

i think you might be on to something max. the screws seem to fit alright (just barely, but doable) in the lower hole. then i can carve out the top like i had wanted. it doesn't leave much room for intonation, but if it gets there i'll take it. even if it doesn't look pretty.

and to unwound g, that mustang bridge looks awesome, but my tools are pretty limited. i'd basically be filling in the old bridge's screw holes with wood filler and then drilling the holes for the bridge studs by hand with a drill. could work, but its dangerous.

 

[chrisg]

Have a look at this

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN2MLRbIC5M[/youtube]

 

[chrisg]

You could also look at some of these - http://www.xs4all.nl/~msengers/htm/gallery.htm

 

[JaySwear]

You could also look at some of these - http://www.xs4all.nl/~msengers/htm/gallery.htm

cool link! i almost wish i were using a telecaster instead of a strat body. the tele seems to lend itself to the bigsby really well. definitely a lot more common to see it on a tele-type guitar than a strat. it'll definitely be jury rigged, whatever i come up with :icon_biggrin: that is if i decide it really does need a bigsby afterall. i'm afraid i might spend the money to get the bigsby only to find out it's a tuning nightmare. i won't be trying crazy divebombs or anything, but i've heard even the slightest touch can put them out of tune if it isn't set up properly

 

[Unwound G]

Please check out my revised post earlier since I did not realize the intonation screws are in the way.  You can get a cut-off Tele bridge for quite cheap and work a file over the slots.  No sophisticated tools needed.