Gretsch, Epiphone or Ibanez Semi Hollow

Strumit

Thanks to all for your contributions and advice.  I've been slowly working my way through the setup and will probably have to do it all again, as I am definitely going to have to change the heavy strings!  I have a set of 10-46 on their way to me to try and if they are still too heavy, I'll try my spare set of 9-42's but not sure that they will fit the bill!  It seems that this guitar was one of the later models and it already has a roller bridge for the vibrato (all now checked and working well, albeit a bit heavier than my strat).  I had to fettle the nut as the top 2 strings were cut a fraction high.  I'm tempted by a brass nut but they are 1mm thicker than the standard, which fits into a shallow slot just under the truss rod adjustment cover.  I'll see how it goes.

Cheers all.

TheMarlin

Keeping any guitar with a Bigsby in tune is all about the nut. It’s the source of 90% of the tuning woes. 

The other source is (with tension bar bigsbys) the break angle over the bridge 

TheMarlin

I recommend the Reverend squishy spring for bigsbys, takes the stiffness out, makes it much nicer to use.

Strumit

TheMarlin said:

I recommend the Reverend squishy spring for bigsbys, takes the stiffness out, makes it much nicer to use.

Ahah!  That sounds like a must have for me then - ordered! Thanks again, Mike

OilCityPickups

Strumit said:

Thanks to all for your contributions and advice.  I've been slowly working my way through the setup and will probably have to do it all again, as I am definitely going to have to change the heavy strings!  I have a set of 10-46 on their way to me to try and if they are still too heavy, I'll try my spare set of 9-42's but not sure that they will fit the bill!  It seems that this guitar was one of the later models and it already has a roller bridge for the vibrato (all now checked and working well, albeit a bit heavier than my strat).  I had to fettle the nut as the top 2 strings were cut a fraction high.  I'm tempted by a brass nut but they are 1mm thicker than the standard, which fits into a shallow slot just under the truss rod adjustment cover.  I'll see how it goes.

Cheers all.

I'm thinking of trying the aftermarket zero fret ... supposed to be great for Bigsbys ... not tried it yet 

Strumit

OilCityPickups said:

Strumit said:

Thanks to all for your contributions and advice.  I've been slowly working my way through the setup and will probably have to do it all again, as I am definitely going to have to change the heavy strings!  I have a set of 10-46 on their way to me to try and if they are still too heavy, I'll try my spare set of 9-42's but not sure that they will fit the bill!  It seems that this guitar was one of the later models and it already has a roller bridge for the vibrato (all now checked and working well, albeit a bit heavier than my strat).  I had to fettle the nut as the top 2 strings were cut a fraction high.  I'm tempted by a brass nut but they are 1mm thicker than the standard, which fits into a shallow slot just under the truss rod adjustment cover.  I'll see how it goes.

Cheers all.

I'm thinking of trying the aftermarket zero fret ... supposed to be great for Bigsbys ... not tried it yet 

I have tried a zero fret on a Burns and that works really well.  The 10-46's are now on, all reset along with truss rod adjustment and bridge height.  Whilst the strings were off, I took the time to clean and lube all the moving parts of the vibrato along with the screws and rollers on the bridge.  The nut needed sorting, so that was fettled too.  Truss rod adjustment is always a squeaky bum time for me as I snapped one when I was a youngster! (not my fault, as it was rusted when all was opened up!).  Just waiting for the lighter vibrato spring and we'll see how it all sounds then!

Strumit

TheMarlin said:

I recommend the Reverend squishy spring for bigsbys, takes the stiffness out, makes it much nicer to use.

Great advice thanks.  It's much better with the "squishy".  No more creaking and crunching and a smooth vibrato! Cheers!