Bigsby use ?

I'll be gigging with mine tonight! Put it on many years ago w/no regrets.

 

I would put one on mine, but as a strapped for cash hobby player, I can't seem to being myself to drop the coin on it... same goes for going with a B-Bender.

 

I finally remove mine and it's on EBAY right now with no reserve. It's a B50 (gold). Just in case you're looking for one
I'm gonna restring my MIM 60's classic string trough and enjoy playing it without tuning problem.

 

thats weird ...the young guy playing on Greg Geddins post is playing just about the only song I ever use the whammy bar on my strat for .my wifes loves it played through my Gdec with backing track .Still have no idea what the songs called but I recall playing it in pre beatles 60's school bands on my red Hofner solid ( V3? ) with a vibrato arm to give a whammy its English term .Probably it was a Shadows track via the Ventures . I used a Watkins Dominator amp and a borrowed Watkins Copy Cat tape echo .Great days but wish I had that guys long fingers .I dont think I could bear drilling holes in my tele to fit a Bigsby as its irreversible and cannot be covered .

 

Sleepwalk

You haven't lived until you see Redd play it... without a whammy bar.

 

A bandmate has a bigsby on his tele. I like nothing about it on the tele. Too heavy, action doesn't feel right. somehow does not seem necessary on the tele. Which is odd, because I'm really enjoying it on a Dearmond Starfire Special. that's a semi-hollow. Maybe I'm reacting to the body style and how the bigsby interacts with it.

 

just my opinion

To me...and this is just my opinion, but the #1 way to kill the distinct, unique, "tone" of a Telecaster is to put a Bigsby on one.

The snap, edge, bite, sustain, etc. all go out the window (to my ears anyway).

Gretsch guitars sound great with a Bigsby. But on a Telecaster it just doesn't work.

YMMV, IMHO,...etc....etc.

take care,
Robbie Wallace

 

Try one that uses the Bigsby with a regular 3-saddle vintage bridge (instead of the Mustang bridge) - no change in tone at all. On my Tele, I did that comparison, since mine can be strung up both ways (string-through, or Bigsby), and the tone stays absolutely the same.

 

I made sure to use the Bigsby at least once per song last night as a tribute to Fuzzy.
Adoring fans applauded, grown men cried...
Three 45 min. sets. Darned if I didn't have to adjust the low E once AND the D string once as well.
I attribute that to new strings.

 

i've got one of the mexi 50s teles with a bigsby with the mustang bridge. the tone is not quite as razor-sharp as my 52 reish. but... that's not necessarily a bad thing in a 3 piece r n r band, methinks (as i am). don't have to roll off the tone as much. and the bigsby is ridiculously stable, no tuning issues at all.

 

I have 2 MIJ 62 RI Teles. One w/Bigsby, one not. When they both had steel
threaded saddles & SD Broadcaster pups, you couldn't tell them apart when amplified.
Unplugged, the non-Bigsby seems a little livelier.

 

He didn't play it, but take a look at the Elvis movie Girl Happy at the beginning and the end - BG Tele with a Bigsby - very cool indeed.

 

jees fuzzy...it's not like you to sound so negative! was there a recent incident that brought all this on??
i put a bigsby on my 'ol workhorse partscaster mostly to cover up some holes that were filled i use it on a few tunes every night . some for some shimmery kind of effect and a few surfy divebombs. personally i love the look. it's beautiful in an Edsel kind of way! it does affect the tone but not enough to irk me. how many guys bastardize the tele-tone with humbuckers and other wepons of mass distortion?

 

heres a pic of the plugs i was trying to cover. from a gibson tailpeice that was on it when i bought her back in '86. the guy who plugged the holes did a good job matching the grain but the plugs just didn't age the same as the rest of the body. then there is the ooogally hole made by yours truly while trying to remove the cheap screw that broke off while installing the bigsby! i'm such a butcher!

 

Never played a Tele with a Bigsby tail piece, I've always thought they look cool though...This one doesn't sound "toneless", not your typical Tele tone but I like it...

 

Here is a pretty good version played on a Les Paul with a Bigsby:

 

In a Nutshell

So well said, nothing I can add.



Bubbanov

 

I've tried teles with them on and they're 'ok' but it's a bit like gold plating a brick.

I've got a Bigsby on my Casino, I don't touch it much except for a bit of shimmer. I'd take it off, but it adds so much mass to the tail piece. Without it the sound just doesn't quite ring as much.

It's funny of the trems I've got (Strat/JM/Bigsby), the Jazzmaster is the one I have the least problems with and I like using the most.