Talk to me about Bigsbys on Teles

[Tony Ounsworth]

While I'm gearing up for my next Warmoth guitar, I've also been sifting through my existing collection, with a view to shedding dead wood, but also maximising the potential of what I've got.

Two very cheap guitars I currently own are this pair of Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecasters. One in all black:





And one in 3 tone sunburst:



They're wearing black pickguards there, sometimes they sport mint white. Personally I really rate them as guitars. I've been playing since 1989, and these are so far removed from the budget guitars of my youth it's amazing. An electrosocket here, a brass compensated saddle there, and you've got something very useable indeed.

More to the point (which I promise I will get to!), they are just about the cheapest way to obtain a double bound Tele body in the UK.

Thing is, apart from the colour, mine are both identical. Same pickups, same necks, same everything. So I find myself wondering whether I could make the sunburst one transform into THIS!



Wouldn't that give me something different to the other one?

However, a friend of mine has given me all sorts of dark warnings about bridge post holes, necks angles, and so on. Given the existence of many, many Teles with Bigsbys attached though, it must be possible, right?

So - how easy or difficult is this to do, what are the pitfalls, what's the best type of Bigsby to go for, and should I even bother?

 

[Ribeye]

You have a couple of alternate bridge options apart from the Bigsby tele.  One which I chose for my Bigsby conversion was to notch the back of the traditional ashtray bridge with a dremel.  This allows the strings to pass through to the tailpiece, and also eliminates the need for neck angle adjustments.  A few mfgs make notched production tele bridges-- Callaham?

 

[Tony Ounsworth]

That is extremely interesting, thank you. What an elegant solution. The Callaham looks great, if pricey.

Do you have a pic of the whole guitar handy?

 

[Ribeye]

That's not actually my tele, but a photo borrowed from Google to demonstrate the idea.  There are examples aplenty if you search "telecaster bridge bigsby".

Agreed the Callaham is a pretty penny.  That's why I modified my own.

 

[Ribeye]

Directions to tele bridge modification:
http://www.bigsby.com/vibe/forum/modifying-a-vintage-style-telecaster-bridge-plate/

 

[Tony Ounsworth]

Thank you very much for that.

I'm not very skilled with that sort of thing, but it's definitely something to consider.

 

[Cagey]

Any solution that will work reliably is going to cost you some real money and require some real work.

You may want to consider why you want a vibrato bridge on a Tele to start with, as that may dictate which one you look at. Bigsby units have a reduced range compared to the Wilkinson or Floyd designs, so if you're thinking you'll suddenly get the ability to do wild EVH-style dives on a Tele, forget about it. A Bigsby is more for subtle stuff, like you might use in jazz or classical music.

Bigsbys are notorious for not returning to neutral, but historically it's been the bridge's fault, not the tailpiece. You really need a bridge with very low-friction saddles, preferably rollers. Coupled with a good nut and some locking tuners, the return to neutral issue is mitigated to a large degree. But, the next problem comes with the Bigsby tailpiece itself. They have several models, and only the originals have ball-bearing pivots. The rest use bushings, which bring back the return to neutral problem. The originals are still available - I have one on the guitar in my sig - but they're pricey.

If it was me, for the cost and effort it would take to put any kind of usable vibrato on one of those Squires, I think I'd just pass and go buy a guitar that already has that kind of bridge/tailpiece installed.

IMO, having multiple guitars that feel the same to play is actually a Good Thing. Almost all mine feel the same. But, they sound different and have different capabilities. You could accomplish that with one of those Teles by just changing pickups. Sound like a whole new guitar, but you won't have to learn how to play it all over again.

 

[DavyDave53]

Would an easier path be to trade your least favourite on a Squier "Vintage Type" Strat?

 

[stubhead]

Bigsbys are largely cosmetic, like putting sparkles in your mascara. I don't know of anyone who uses one to actually bend to a specific pitch, like you could with a decent two-point vibrato. There seem to be two groups of people who "need" them, one is the retro-rockabilly crowd like Brian Setzer and the gentler offshoots aping Chet Atkins, and: Neil Young.

If I was looking to do something life-transformative - to an existing budgie - I'd consider a Hipshot Trilogy instead.

http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=9

They can be had a good deal cheaper than THAT, and with a bit of orifice resizing you can put them on with threaded inserts. "Fun with Open Tunings" is one of the great luxuries of having more than a few guitars, the only downside is you can never remember where anything is anymore.

Not that there's anything WRONG with sparkles either, if you spend 27.5% or more of your practice routine posing in the bathroom mirror a Bigsby might even be good for you.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Tony Ounsworth]

Yeah, to be honest I like the way they look, and the occasional warble on it is a bonus rather than a requirement. Plus, you know - a foolhardy project gives me something to bore people about!

I've already got the pinch harmonic divebomb angle covered with my Ibanez S470 featuring this incredible trem:

And I've got vintage style Strats coming out of my ears, so it's not like I lack vibrato in my life. I just thought "Hmmmm, that Tele would look nice with a Bigsby", and it's not a valuable enough guitar to worry about messing up.

 

[Tony Ounsworth]

The bridge plate that comes with this Vibramate kit looks ideal to me.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291010822279?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_1933wt_1161

Any experience here?

 

[Tony Ounsworth]

Actually I only just realised that the Vibramate is a reversible install:

http://www.vibramate.com/vibramate-v5te-install.php

Might be a good way for me to dip my toe in. Thoughts?

 

[stubhead]

The notion of purchasing a +$100 doodad to avoid ruining the resale value of a Chinese Squier by installing your +$100 Bigsby is... is, ummm, mmm. But you'll have it!  :cool01:

Woo! So now you can buy $1000 of Warmoth telewood later on to do it justice?

And yes, I know those Chinese Squires were another Fender screw up - periodically, they hire a factory to bang a quick buck out of the cheaper side of the fence. But then they do too good a job of training, scaring, ummm-motivating the prison factory workers and they go build some guitars as good (or better!) than the "iconic" "legendary" ones! Yes Fu Chow, build 'em good and you can have three meals a week, and a fish head on Sundays!...

They did it in Japan several times over, some 80's & 90's Japan-builds are way fine. Though partly because some Japanese workers had already mastered the Strat - Tokai comes to mind. :evil4: I just wonder who at Fender gets to go overseas and supervise the crapification of the too-good $300 line. "No, no - we want the paint spattered on sloppy. Whadaya mean, "dress" the frets? :icon_scratch: Yes, we want you to pick through the pile and find the scratchy potentiometers...." No, you throw out the good ones and use the noisy ones....

 

[drewfx]

A bit OT, but I think Fender is currently more concerned with generating cash flow to meet debt payments than any kind of long term strategic business plan.

 

[Tony Ounsworth]

The notion of purchasing a +$100 doodad to avoid ruining the resale value of a Chinese Squier by installing your +$100 Bigsby is... is, ummm, mmm. But you'll have it!  :cool01:

Woo! So now you can buy $1000 of Warmoth telewood later on to do it justice?

Big assumption on your part there my friend. I don't care about the resale value of the Squiers, it was more that if I don't like the Bigsby I can put the guitar back how I like it. Although I guess I could then sell the Bigsby and Vibramate - so if anything I'm more interested in the resale value of those!

As to your second comment, I don't think an Alder Warmoth body with white binding would look any better or worse than these Squiers, so I wouldn't waste my money on upgrading that unless I was dead set on a chambered body or something. They're very well made indeed.