Bigsby on wraparound PRS? Too Late!

Winny_Pooh

It's done. 

I've wanted a trem on my Mira for some time and finally thought fuck it. I love the neck & body shape but I'm always wanting to reach for a bar nowadays. I really researched alot then emailes Stetsbar as their PRS trem is not stocked anywhere in the EU. No reply.
Looked on line and there are 2 people who put a B7 on their Se One. Here we go, new frontiers in bravery (stupidity).

It's tricky on this guitar due to the edge radius which means putting a trem closer than ideal for the string break angle. I thought about a B3 but then the string height without the roller would be too high, you'd need to recess it somewhat. So a B5 style then.

I like the idea of the adjustable arm on the Duesenberg trems and read good things about the build quality so ordered one.

Its slightly longer than a (licenced in this case) B5 and the tension roller is a tad higher which is good. Note also the string mounting holes, class!





Side by side you can see that the Dues is spaced a bit wider. There's no extra foot at front as the mounting screw sits under and holds a round coller that the spring rests on.

I'll spare the gruesome sight of the install. This was just done by placing it on the body and lining it up with the strings and pickgaurd. You can see it's as far back as will allow.




In haste I open the package for the locking studs, (so the bridge stays put when the strings move) and find to my supreme annoyance that despite PRS using a USA bridge on the S2 that the studs are not: Metric like the SEs.

So I have a discounted set for Core PRS spare in the classifieds for someone.



I think "ok lets pop in the body ferrules that came with" the locking studs. Nope, partially removed one before finding that they're larger than the Tonepros.



So the wait for a new set of studs. 

Winny_Pooh

New studs arrive.
Put studs on.
Put strings on.
Excited.
Fuck!

The strings are grinding so strongly against the back of the bridge due to the break angle that the strings stay down in pitch when the bar is pushed down & up when pulled up.

Time for step 2 which I'd hoped to avoid.

Winny_Pooh

Rather than make a spacer from scratch to raise the trem (life's to short and it's too cold to go looking for wood in the wilds) I order one of these:



I originally debated added this at the start onto new stop tail mounting holes drilled into the body but it doesn't look as clean and still makes holes in the body.

So last night the last two issues to solve:
-Clean up the mouting adaptor and remove the mounting hole edges.
-remove excess metal from the bridge under the string path so there is a smaller contact point to rub over.

After much cutting, filing, chattering racket and sanding (sountrack highlight: https://open.spotify.com/album/6kI1d7IG7tTtufb3CnErUD?si=glKqTl1-SW-taMPzGM62KA)
We have the prepped spacer:



Next up, removing metal behind the break points on the bridge.
You can see that I've used marker in the slot to track how much I've removed (like with fret stoning) and how close the break point is. I then polished up the slots with progressively finer grits and the whole thing with metal polish. All of this took way too long.



It was getting on past midnight now. Added some oil/pencil lead lube in the saddles and strung it up.
Success
Went to bed

Winny_Pooh

Successful break angle

ICBM

Nice job.

One of these raised rollers might possibly be a neater solution than the spacer -



Now when you come to restring it you will find what an absolute pain in the arse through-stringing the bar is, and why Paul Bigsby designed it with the pins...

Funkfingers

Interesting thread. Thanks for sharing.

I confess that I have never been a fan of Bigsby vibratos but, since you have a Winterizer II humbucker, all is forgiven. 

Winny_Pooh said:

2 people who put a B7 on their SE One.

Perhaps, I should put a B7 (or clone) on my SE One? Then, maybe, somebody would buy it from me.

TheMarlin

ICBM said:

Nice job.

One of these raised rollers might possibly be a neater solution than the spacer -



Now when you come to restring it you will find what an absolute pain in the arse through-stringing the bar is, and why Paul Bigsby designed it with the pins...

That’s the Bigsby Tuning Stabiliser. They’re excellent, I have several of these on tension bar Bigsbys (B50/B70). Makes an incredible difference, transform the worst Bigsbys into some of the best. 

https://bricksbiggsfix.com/

I’m a huge fan of this simple to install mod.