Na

fendermadlewis

Na

johnl

Fantastic looking thing - I've been trying to resist buying one since they came out and this isn't helping

TINMAN82

Awesome Lewis, would be great to see a video of you playing that. 

Vaiai

This a treat for you getting your album to number one Lewis? Lovely guitar - happy NGD!

Seziertisch

Smashing guitar. Get yourself a pair of these  https://www.crazyparts.de/bridges--tailpieces/thumbwheels/domed-thumbwheels-bigsby-maestro-nickel.php

They make all the difference when using a Tuneomatic with a vibrato of some sort 

Kittyfrisk

That looks gorgeous. Makes my heritage cherry SG look positively common 

stickyfiddle

These are fantastic - best electric in the regular Gibson range right now imo. SGs will always be better than LPs for me

p90fool

Awesome looking thing!

RandallFlagg

Nice one, looks lovely.

rze99

Simply splendid and very cool

chris45

Seziertisch said:

Smashing guitar. Get yourself a pair of these  https://www.crazyparts.de/bridges--tailpieces/thumbwheels/domed-thumbwheels-bigsby-maestro-nickel.php

They make all the difference when using a Tuneomatic with a vibrato of some sort 

Can you explain why they make difference - a bit like a rocking bridge?  Thanks 

Seziertisch

chris45 said:

Seziertisch said:

Smashing guitar. Get yourself a pair of these  https://www.crazyparts.de/bridges--tailpieces/thumbwheels/domed-thumbwheels-bigsby-maestro-nickel.php

They make all the difference when using a Tuneomatic with a vibrato of some sort 

Can you explain why they make difference - a bit like a rocking bridge?  Thanks 

Exactly like a rocking bridge. 

In my experience with a Bigsby on a Les Paul, two things happened when you use the Bigsby - the strings tend to get caught slightly on the TOM saddles as they move back and forth causing tuning issues, and the TOM itself slides ever so slightly back and forth on the flat surface of the thumbwheels and depending on where it comes back to rest after using the Bigsby the intonation will be slightly off for the whole bridge. 

The domed thumbwheels allow the TOM to tilt ever so slightly back and forth with Bigsby use, meaning that the strings aren’t dragging across the saddles but rather the saddles move with the strings and the TOM is much more inclined to come back to its original location on the fulcrum compared to flat thumbwheels meaning more stable intonation.

Apparently, Neil Young’s tech Larry Cragg considers them a must for his guitars (Old Black has a set of them) The original system devised by Paul Bigsby foresaw a rocking bridge being used with a Bigsby. Similarly when Gibson first brought out Maestroed SGs they all came with domed thumbwheels and some even had TOMs with curved undersides (which allowed the bridge to work on the same principle) This knowledge seems to have gotten lost along the way. A few years ago, the only place to get domed thumbwheels was when an original set from the 60s might occasionally turn up for sale on EBay, usually for quite a bit of money. Crazy Parts have made getting some a real no brainer.

Iamnobody

Splendid. I really fancy one of these but the neck spec puts me off. What’s your appraisal of the neck?

I’m favouring a jr with a chunky neck at the moment and my SG is a classic with a fatter neck than most SGs.

roberty

Seziertisch said:

chris45 said:

Seziertisch said:

Smashing guitar. Get yourself a pair of these  https://www.crazyparts.de/bridges--tailpieces/thumbwheels/domed-thumbwheels-bigsby-maestro-nickel.php

They make all the difference when using a Tuneomatic with a vibrato of some sort 

Can you explain why they make difference - a bit like a rocking bridge?  Thanks 

Exactly like a rocking bridge. 

In my experience with a Bigsby on a Les Paul, two things happened when you use the Bigsby - the strings tend to get caught slightly on the TOM saddles as they move back and forth causing tuning issues, and the TOM itself slides ever so slightly back and forth on the flat surface of the thumbwheels and depending on where it comes back to rest after using the Bigsby the intonation will be slightly off for the whole bridge. 

The domed thumbwheels allow the TOM to tilt ever so slightly back and forth with Bigsby use, meaning that the strings aren’t dragging across the saddles but rather the saddles move with the strings and the TOM is much more inclined to come back to its original location on the fulcrum compared to flat thumbwheels meaning more stable intonation.

Apparently, Neil Young’s tech Larry Cragg considers them a must for his guitars (Old Black has a set of them) The original system devised by Paul Bigsby foresaw a rocking bridge being used with a Bigsby. Similarly when Gibson first brought out Maestroed SGs they all came with domed thumbwheels and some even had TOMs with curved undersides (which allowed the bridge to work on the same principle) This knowledge seems to have gotten lost along the way. A few years ago, the only place to get domed thumbwheels was when an original set from the 60s might occasionally turn up for sale on EBay, usually for quite a bit of money. Crazy Parts have made getting some a real no brainer.

That's very interesting. Both of my bigsby Gibsons are rock solid stable but I'm half tempted to give these a go for the shigs

@fendermadlewis that guitar is properly stunning mate I'd be lying if I said a part of me was not envious. The bleached cherry colour is spot on

chris45

Cheers for the explanation @Seziertisch I have this exact issue with a Gretsch.  Will give it a go

fendermadlewis

@Iamnobody Slim but not as skinny as previous 61RI I've played. I don't like skinny necks and I can get on with it! About the same as the historic 61 imo, i've played a few of those.

@Seziertisch That's very useful to know! I'll have a look at them, cheers!!

Iamnobody

fendermadlewis said:

@Iamnobody Slim but not as skinny as previous 61RI I've played. I don't like skinny necks and I can get on with it! About the same as the historic 61 imo, i've played a few of those.

@Seziertisch That's very useful to know! I'll have a look at them, cheers!!

Thanks very helpful - I’ll have a look at one sometime. 

andyp

Love that! Great work. Hope you enjoy playing it for many years.

Seziertisch

chris45 said:

Cheers for the explanation @Seziertisch I have this exact issue with a Gretsch.  Will give it a go

There are a couple of other areas to look at too with a Bigsby and a Tuneomatic. 

The nut needs to be cut properly and lubricated, even still the fact that the strings fan out to the tuners at the nut make tuning that bit less stable.  There is a thing called a String Butler which apparently helps with that, though I’ve never used one.

Don’t waste your money on locking tuners. Great if you want to speed up string changes a bit but not to improve tuning stability. There is also a method of winding the strings so that they are effectively locked. It’s on the Martin website afaik.

Otherwise, depending on the Bigsby model you have the break angle over the bridge might be too steep, like a B7 on a Les Paul. There is a guy in the US who makes a replacement roller to counter this issue, the product is called Briggs Biggsfix. Though you could also potentially use washers or similar to shim the Bigsby up off the guitar. I got some modified strap buttons to do it on mine.

I put a Bigsby on my Les Paul and quickly discovered it was just a cool looking ornament of no practical use because the guitar went so horribly out of tune when it was used. I got locking tuners installed - no difference, a new self-lubricating Tusq nut - minimal if any difference, shimmed the Bigsby - a bit of a difference (maybe), Graphtech String saver saddles - maybe some difference, but not enough. I then put the regular brass saddles back on and used the domed thumb wheels and now it is more or less perfect. Now, after heavy Bigsby use the whole guitar might be slightly flat or sharp but in tune with itself and not so far out that you would have to stop playing, whereas before some strings would go substantially flat and some would go sharp after even the slightest use and basically it was like an untuned guitar. Now, even if it is slightly sharp or flat a quick yank on the Bigsby brings it back into tune usually, before there was nothing to be done other than stop playing and tune

roberty

Seziertisch said:

chris45 said:

Cheers for the explanation @Seziertisch I have this exact issue with a Gretsch.  Will give it a go

There are a couple of other areas to look at too with a Bigsby and a Tuneomatic. 

The nut needs to be cut properly and lubricated, even still the fact that the strings fan out to the tuners at the nut make tuning that bit less stable.  There is a thing called a String Butler which apparently helps with that, though I’ve never used one.

Don’t waste your money on locking tuners. Great if you want to speed up string changes a bit but not to improve tuning stability. There is also a method of winding the strings so that they are effectively locked. It’s on the Martin website afaik.

Otherwise, depending on the Bigsby model you have the break angle over the bridge might be too steep, like a B7 on a Les Paul. There is a guy in the US who makes a replacement roller to counter this issue, the product is called Briggs Biggsfix. Though you could also potentially use washers or similar to shim the Bigsby up off the guitar. I got some modified strap buttons to do it on mine.

I put a Bigsby on my Les Paul and quickly discovered it was just a cool looking ornament of no practical use because the guitar went so horribly out of tune when it was used. I got locking tuners installed - no difference, a new self-lubricating Tusq nut - minimal if any difference, shimmed the Bigsby - a bit of a difference (maybe), Graphtech String saver saddles - maybe some difference, but not enough. I then put the regular brass saddles back on and used the domed thumb wheels and now it is more or less perfect. Now, after heavy Bigsby use the whole guitar might be slightly flat or sharp but in tune with itself and not so far out that you would have to stop playing, whereas before some strings would go substantially flat and some would go sharp after even the slightest use and basically it was like an untuned guitar. Now, even if it is slightly sharp or flat a quick yank on the Bigsby brings it back into tune usually, before there was nothing to be done other than stop playing and tune

With a properly cut graphtec nut I have no bigsby tuning issues. Don't need nut lube on either of mine. Had problems with bone and nylon nuts. Here's my SG nut, it's the break angles that will spoil your fun without proper attention

andyp

It’s not the same level of guitar, but I had the nut replaced on my SG Faded and it fixed my tuning issues altogether. Night and day.