Bluesboy Bigsby Conversion Attempt

The F Bigsby arrived last night and today was the big day that my week old Bluesboy was going to be a lone Bluesboy Bigsby as it is not an option from G&L. About an hour into the conversion, I decided to abort. After a lot of layout and measuring it became apparent the the pickup cavity would have to be routed to move the bridge plate high enough to maintain the 25 1/2 in scale. I would have had to file the pickguard a bit but that was not a problem. Even though everything looks the same as a Fender the pickup backplates allow virtually no movement. I have a recent 52 Tele reissue with a chambered body that I will put the Bigsby on instead. I am including pictures for those of you who are interested in this attempt.


This is before I started.



The hardware is removed.



My helper.



And the layout.This picture is where the problem becomes obvious. The two large bridge holes are not centered vertically as the bridge pickup cannot be raised closer to the neck pickup. This is enough of a problem so the intonation would have been a problem. This is when I decide to hang it up as I am not going to do any routing. As some of you are I aware, I have done this mod to several Teles. So everything is back to original, all adjustments have been made and she is dead on and sounds killer. These Seth Lovers really do have tone and the combination with the bridge pickup is as good as it gets.



She is back to normal and-----



is sporting locking tuners which is part of my normal Bigsby conversion.

It was a couple of hours of entertainment and interesting to say the least, but it would have been fun to have a Bluesboy Bigsby. Darwin.

Too bad Darwin. But this is priceless information for any of us contemplating to put a Bigsby on an ASAT Classic, Bluesboy or not. I trust you'll find good use of your F Bigsby anyway!

- Jos

Jos, I have been sitting here with my helper, had a cold one and looked through my tool cabinet. I think that this may be possible. Tomorrow is another day and what I could do would only add about an hour to the project. I will sleep on it tonight. This BB is really awesome and I do not give up easily, but sometimes I need a break to rethink things. Anyway, stay tuned!! --Darwin

Hey Darwin,

To some extent this is related to replacement bridges too isn't it? From your measurement marks in your pictures it looks that the bridge pickup for the ASAT is at a slightly different angle (your center line does NOT go through the center of the center hole in the back of the backplate) and shifted slightly backwards (your marks are above the center line for the large holes) compared to using a similar bridge on a Fender Tele. Or is that entirely a 'mismatch' in the Bigsby backplate?

Just curious. Have to look up posts on replacing the bridge on a ASAT Classic ... EDIT: Found a useful post here.

- Jos

P.S. Yes, and no matter what, a Bluesboy is killer

Jos, the center hole is not lined up perfectly. I just laid the bridge plate on there and it was not centered to the side but I wanted to show the vertical alignment problem. The problem is that the pickup hole is not routed high enough. It could be as simple as G&L having a tighter tolerance on the routed hole. Also the pickguard will need about 1/8 to 3/16 s removed from the area where the bridge plate fits in. All these measurements are extremely critical to get the scale correct and the string alignment side to side on the pickups and the roller on the Bigsby. This all works so well and there is no room for error. These are such fun projects but I have seen many Bigsbys that were not perfectly installed. You only have one chance on this and I will back out if I am not sure. I am all fired up for the next shot. Lets see what happens as I have all day tomorrow. I just did a comparison on the sound of my new Bluesboy with the Seth and my Mahogany BB which has the different neck pickup. The Seth is brighter and I prefer it for the old rock and roll that I do. The Mahogany is a bit more mellow. I hadn't played the hog for a long time and had forgotten how much I like it. I have some guitars that I do not play frequently and forget why I like them so much. I get a new experience every time I try one of them. That is the advantage of my age! --Darwin

On the Bigsby, I just watched this instruction video:
[youtube]bN2MLRbIC5M[/youtube]
and as anyone can see, this guy a) is not reusing any hole already present and b) does not seem to mention scale length and intonation one single time. His instrument has no string-thru-body and indeed a larger pickup hole but I'm still puzzled how he got the scale right.

On having a collection, isn't that the fun part? I have the same thing. I assign one of my guitars as 'guitar of the week' to make sure each gets some serious attention at least once in a while. But usually I haven't played that instrument for some time and am always surprised. Pleasantly surprised ...

- Jos

Jos, I just watched that video. Highly entertaining and that it what many that I have seen, looked like. The bridge plate is mounted cooked and when you look at the final tailpiece alignment to the bridge plate is it visually crooked from as far away as the camera is viewing. No wonder that many people do not like Bigsbys. I like the part about drilling 3/4 deep and how he does it. They must not have had a drill press available! Good Saturday night entertainment! That was a 1 hour conversion.Think I will have another cold one!! Thanks Jos. -- Darwin

Darwin,

Thanks for posting this attempt. Knowing what projects to take up is half the battle to enjoying a DIY gig!

Hi Darwin,

I'm not sure if I understand exactly what the problem is BUT - have you considered cutting off the section of the bridge plate that holds the bridge pickup? (ie. just in front of those two larger holes for the saddle)

That might save routing the body out. Just a thought....

Jamie, I had that thought but I do not want to compromise the pickup in any way. I am about to start my new plan of execution today and will post a blow by blow when I am finished. Hope to get it done today but serious projects like this must be well thought out. If I run into a glitch I like to sit back and think it through. Thanks for the idea, and thanks to all for the ideas that you have had. Jos posted a video last night that showed the process. Will post when I am completed.

Darwin

Enjoyed the conversation too Darwin! Here's is the scary part on the video. I got to it through the link at the body of the official Bigsby B5 page. The job does not look professional at all. He could have used tape on the drill to mark the proper depth, his instructions on how the piece of guide string is supposed to run is great but it is anybodies guess what to do with it next. Apparently, we're all supposed to assume the wire continues in a straight line behind the bridge.

Anyway, looking forward to your progress.

- Jos