Test Drive Of Bluesboy Bigsby

I was asked how the Bigsby affected the balance of the guitar last week. Yesterday was a test drive as our band sponsored a fundraiser for a drummer who has played with us several times. He had a heart attack the day before Christmas and it recovering quite well. That is good news. A bunch of us musicians played at the well publicized event yesterday and were able to raise just over $10,000 to help with medical bills and living expenses for his family while he is recovering.

This was the first real test of the Bluesboy since the Bigsby installation. The balance is fine and it is a heavy guitar to begin with. There was another ash Legacy there that was as heavy as this Bluesboy of mine. The guy was stroked with the Bluesboy. It does have tone. I had a small issue which I resolved this morning. Some of the saddle adjustment screws had backed out a bit. One on the high E had backed out completely and was ready to fall out. This is a fairly common problem with this Jazzmaster type bridge. The cure is a drop of Blue Locktite on each screw after the radius adjustments have been made. This guitar is a keeper and will most likely remain in the family. I just wish it were a transparent Red or something more racy than the sunburst. I am at the tail end of the flu but life is good today. Darwin.

Thanks for the update, I am glad someone else uses locktite on guitar parts occasionally. I thought I was the only one! I use it on jack nuts and things if they keep coming loose.

I have a general bigsby question. The only thing I know about them is they look cool. How do they handle alternate tunings? I tune down half a step a lot. And do some drop d stuff. Is it easy to do those tunings on the fly? What about changing string gauges? Does it require hardware setup? Thanks!

Congrats on the successful fundraiser, sounds fun and worthwhile!

jeremy

Jeremy, alternate tunings will most likely require retuning. Most vibratos are not very good for alternate tunings. The Bigsby is pretty much limited to the spring supplied with it. I did a drop D on Long Haired Country Boy yesterday without retuning and it worked okay but there were quite a few of us on stage and it probably wouldn't have been that noticeable. For someone who has never tried one, the Bigsby is more limited in the amount of pitch change but give you more control in the amount of change. A lot of it is what you are used to. It will handle different string gauges fine, and will not require a setup change with the bridge that I use. You will find that the height of the handle will change when you go to a different gauge. Restringing them is a bit fussy until you are seasoned at it. How you string them will also affect how long it is for them to become tuning stable after restringing. They are a different animal however a cool one. Fussing over all this just contributes to the emotional attachment.-- Darwin

Last edited by darwinohm on Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for the report Darwin. i was curious about it. Happy the guitar handled well.

- Jos

thanks darwin. i can't just go inspect one in helena! so the description is appreciated.

Darwin, I'd love to hear your band! I recall you saying you'd get some audio together one day - has that day come about yet???