Icandrive55
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2019
- Messages
- 166
Hi All,
I finally installed the '56 Bigsby B7 on my '55 Special. I still have to notch the tailpiece but it's sounding great so far. I shimmed the Bigsby up a bit, which helped with the break angle. The Bigsby also didn't come with screws but I managed to find pretty spot on replacements from thevintagescrewcompany.com. I ended up using 4 gauge 1" round head steel wood screws. Today's Bigbsy's use size 6 & 8 so these were considerably smaller. They matched the existing drill holes perfectly though.
I'm also filming a test to see if there is any difference in tone/sustain before and after a Bigbsy install. I keep hearing things about losing sustain or the guitar sounding brighter but I haven't come across a definitive test. I'll definitely share that with everyone once I'm done editing it. My initial impressions are it makes very little difference tonally. I did notice that it's much easier to bend notes, which was a surprise. The weight difference is also noticeable. The guitar is a bit back heavy but still weighs 9 lbs, which isn't bad at all.
<iframe allowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" class="imgur-embed-iframe-pub imgur-embed-iframe-pub-a-b15wJb3-false-540" scrolling="no" src="https://imgur.com/a/b15wJb3/embed?pub=true&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lespaulforum.com%2Fforum%2Fnewthread.php%3Fdo%3Dpostthread%26f%3D78&context=false&w=540" id="imgur-embed-iframe-pub-a-b15wJb3" style="height: 500px; width: 540px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"></iframe><script async="" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I finally installed the '56 Bigsby B7 on my '55 Special. I still have to notch the tailpiece but it's sounding great so far. I shimmed the Bigsby up a bit, which helped with the break angle. The Bigsby also didn't come with screws but I managed to find pretty spot on replacements from thevintagescrewcompany.com. I ended up using 4 gauge 1" round head steel wood screws. Today's Bigbsy's use size 6 & 8 so these were considerably smaller. They matched the existing drill holes perfectly though.
I'm also filming a test to see if there is any difference in tone/sustain before and after a Bigbsy install. I keep hearing things about losing sustain or the guitar sounding brighter but I haven't come across a definitive test. I'll definitely share that with everyone once I'm done editing it. My initial impressions are it makes very little difference tonally. I did notice that it's much easier to bend notes, which was a surprise. The weight difference is also noticeable. The guitar is a bit back heavy but still weighs 9 lbs, which isn't bad at all.
<iframe allowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" class="imgur-embed-iframe-pub imgur-embed-iframe-pub-a-b15wJb3-false-540" scrolling="no" src="https://imgur.com/a/b15wJb3/embed?pub=true&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lespaulforum.com%2Fforum%2Fnewthread.php%3Fdo%3Dpostthread%26f%3D78&context=false&w=540" id="imgur-embed-iframe-pub-a-b15wJb3" style="height: 500px; width: 540px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"></iframe><script async="" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>