Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

In another very recent thread, someone mentioned having to "slam" their Bigsby to get the responsiveness of an Accent. I can only suspect this is because the edge of the Accent nearest the bridge actually slams against the strings, while the Bigsby has no such thing going on. Thoughts?

That was me, Jay. And I can tell you why the Accent feels more responsive to me: it's the spring tension. There isn't a lot of give or travel in the arm. You barely have to move it to get a noticeable change in pitch. The Accent's spring is this whopping great U-shapped piece of metal, and there isn't a ton of flexibility in it. You'd think that would be a bad thing, but it's not. By contrast, the conventional wire spring in the Bigsby feels mushy. All of my Bigsbies (sp?) are mounted on non-Rics, so I'd be interested in hearing from others.

Now the fact that you don't have to move the arm much to get a noticeable result is no doubt down to how the Accent shortens and lengthens the strings, and you've got that absolutely right IMO.

I'm a fan of the Bigsbys, to me they feel solid and responsive. But I'm not a "dive-bomber" on vibrato, so just a little bit of movement gives me what I want.

I've never liked Strat vibratos, they just seem too flimsy. I don't own a Rick with an Accent, but my best buddy has a '67 330 with an Accent, and I don't really care for it either (besides I always feel like I'm gonna shish-ka-bob myself on that pointy arm).

A Bigsby certainly feels more solid to me then an Accent. I've been on the fence for a while about putting one on my 330. I still like the Accent, but it'd nice to have both.

"I always feel like I'm gonna shish-ka-bob myself on that pointy arm"

I have had a few close calls myself.

Jdog, two words: "vinyl tip".

Sitting at home these last few days, between hallucinationatory (see what I mean) experiences and the Campbell Soup Diet, I took some time to complete the inventory of my guitars, basses, amps, and keyboards. Restrung a few, tuned 'em all, played some. Discovered that I own a buncha Bigsbys (all my Gretsches except two have 'em and two Ricks have 'em as well, both American made and Asians), Kauffmans (not relevant), Accents (several), then there's my Jags and JMs, with the Fender Kooky Setup, my Mustangs with their patented SPROINNNNGGGGG® Vibratos, and one sole Duo-Sonic that I hand-built from scratch years ago that has a Floyd Rose.

Bigsby: If I could grow sidies, I would. It screams "Bakersfield" when it's not whispering "Nashville". There is a noticeable difference between the American-made (sintered metal bushed) and the Asian-licensed (tiny nylon bushings).

Accent: Amazing little piece of engineering, this. That three bent and plated pieces of sheet metal can give such subtlety and control, and return to pitch most of the time, is supernatural.

Bigsby is a hunka hunka cast and polished alloy, so the feel is more solid, but I can't for the life of me, suss just why this should be important, as long as they work.

Range: Does the Floyd Stuka win on points? Surprise: Nope!

It's the Mustang vibrato that's the proto-dive-bomber here, and it has no pitch problems, at least with the strangs thet Ah feeit. (.010s). Nines are another story.

Another surprise: The character of the vibrato sound. The Bigsby shimmers like the glint of the Central Valley sun on the horn ring of your uncle Jed's '53 Oldsmobile Starfire.

The Accent sounds a bit darker, I guess I'd say.

Almost forgot: I've got a couple of '64 Fenton-Weil vibrato units that I got NOS from a gent in Stepney (true--Ebay, of course). These actually weigh over a pound each, are made from 16-gauge steel on which the plating is still flawless, have heavy, machined ball bearing pivoted string blocks, a 1/4" diameter non-removable swivelling arm with a rubber tip, over-engineered and tanklike in every way...

...except for the spring, which is a chunk of natural rubber which is compressed when the vibrato arm is given a shove, and naturally springs back to original position. Of course, since these are 42 years old, they have ozoned into concrete, so the vibratos are useless except as door handles.

(Also BTW--how do I know these were 1964 units? Well, they came wrapped in some pages of the Guardian from Feb '64. Lots of Harold MacMillan, no Beatles though.)

Extremely well-written, Paul. Nice that somebody actually had the time to do this! Downtime can be fun, I suppose.

I agree 100% about the Bigsby "shimmer". It's no Floyd and no Mustang vibrato in terms of pitch movement, but there's something special there.

I like my Accents, but they tend to be real creaky when pushed on. Have you had this problem in your experience? (When the Accents are pushed on, not you!)

What do the Fenton-Weil units look like?

John, I get creaky even when NOT pushed on...my Accents don't.

I'll get some pics of the F-W units. They are UGLY. All right-angles and klunk. No elegance whatsoever.

A Bigsby all the way for me.

My Accents have been squeaky creaky.

Paul, so glad to hear you talk about Mustangs. I have a '64 (I think) Mustang. I've been waiting forever for the springs to come in from back order so I can fix the vibrato.

Yeah, those are odd springs, and Fender is not too good at taking care of customers on special parts orders...

I think the culprit is Allparts. If anyone knows an alternate solution (Fender maybe?) I'm all ears.

Vinyl tip, eh? I ain't no woosie.

A question... I saw a power metal band a few nights ago called DragonForce (dunno if any of you lot have heard of them) and the 'main' lead guitarist (Herman Li) goes nuts with his vibrato. I think he has a Floyd Rose and one of his 'trademarks' is pinching a harmonic then holds the whole guitar up with the vibrato unit. This makes the guitar emit a high pitched wail during a solo. Now, is that possible with a bigsby? Or are they only used to lower the pitch of the strings? I don't have a guitar with a tremelo so I have hardly any experience with the things.

I don't have a Bigsby handy at the moment, but I think (On a B7 model at least), the pitch can be raised only very slightly. Lift it too much and the arm comes completely up, exposing the spring.

A Bigsby and a Floyd Rose are two completely different systems. Apples and oranges, really. You will never get even remotely close to what Dragonforce does with a Bigsby.

Speaking of Bigsbies (sp?) did any of you ever see the huge arm that Merle Travis had attached to his? This way he could play up near the neck and still bend.
Anyway, turns out they sell those things. (!)

http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/MTHA-NICK.htm