Does anybody have experience with both Bigsbys and Les Trems?

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

I love that shimmery warble and lovely detuned motion a Bigsby can add, and want it on this guitar, but tbt I don't want to obscure my D.R.I. Guy sticker, so I am thinking of going with a Les Trem and roller bridge set up for this guitar.

Your thoughts, experiences, and opnions are desired.

The guitar is an Arctic White Gibson LP Special with Ebony fretboard I modified with a Lollar Teisco Gold Foil single coil clone in Black Chrome at the neck, and a Lollar Gibson A5 Staple clone at the bridge.

Thank you.

 

[TBurst Std]

Well I will say this. I have 4 Bigsby swiped guitars for live performances. None need a roller bridge. Under heavy usage for a few songs, yeah it loses .5-.9cent on tuning. No big deal. You get that by heavy fretting. Save some cash on the roller bridge.

 

[TBurst Std]

I have no experience with the Les Trem II, but am thinking on one. One of the guitars I referenced is a Duisenberg and has their version of a full Bigsby. Very satisfied.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

Well I will say this. I have 4 Bigsby swiped guitars for live performances. None need a roller bridge. Under heavy usage for a few songs, yeah it loses .5-.9cent on tuning. No big deal. You get that by heavy fretting. Save some cash on the roller bridge.

Cool. Thanks.

I currently have 4 Bigsby equipped axes, but was up to 6 at one point.

Have:

1. Vintage Cherry Eastman 330 copy with Fralin Dog Ear P90's, and a B5 Bigsby.

2. Arctic White Gibson LP Studio with Ebony Board, TV Jones Supertron at the neck, vintage Gibson Tarback at the Bridge, a Black B7 Bigsby, and a roller bridge.

3. Guild Hollowbody with two Dynasonic pickups, and a Guild licensed B7 Bigsby.

4. Guild Semi Hollowbody with three of their especially nasty and gritty P90's, and a Guild licensed B7 Bigsby and a roller nut.

Had:

1. '85 Gibson Explorer 3 with 3 P90's and a B5 Bigsby I added. On this one I added both a roller bridge, and a roller nut. Even tuned to A std with 15-70 strings it was by far the most stable tuning wise. Alas it was stolen.

2. '78 Gibson SG Custom with a TV Jones Magnatron neck pu, vintage Gibson Tarback middle pu, TV Jones Supertron bridge pu, a Bigsby B5 and roller bridge I added. Sold it. I was gonna use it for slide because the nut width was too narrow for me, but I needed the cash at the time.

Ime since I added the above nuts and bridges myself, as well as the Bigsbys on the LP Studio, SG Custom, and Explorer III a roller nut helps some, a roller bridge helps more, and both together make for a night and day difference in tuning stability.

 

[Happy Tree]

Never used a Bigsby but I have Les Trems on my 335 with nylon saddles and 355 with normal ones. Neither have any tuning issues. The only slight downside is that the arm holder position sometimes gets a bit in the way of my picking hand, if I'm flailing it about.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

Never used a Bigsby but I have Les Trems on my 335 with nylon saddles and 355 with normal ones. Neither have any tuning issues. The only slight downside is that the arm holder position sometimes gets a bit in the way of my picking hand, if I'm flailing it about.

I had the same issue with the volume knob on my Strat. I had a pervasive habit of hitting it when picking and lowering the volume inadvertantly. It lead to me oft times utilizing my pinky as an anchor point when playing my strat which mostly solved the issue.

Strangley enough it doesn't seem to be a problem with my Bigsbys.

 

[Happy Tree]

It's quite a light spring, you don't need to move it much to get the wibbly. I like 'em. On this vintage spec stoptail post spacing I just needed to file about 0.2mm on one side of a hole in the unit to get the screw back in properly.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

View attachment 26001

It's quite a light spring, you don't need to move it much to get the wibbly. I like 'em. On this vintage spec stoptail post spacing I just needed to file about 0.2mm on one side of a hole in the unit to get the screw back in properly.

That's a gorgeous guitar.