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Bigsby on a 350?
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2001 5:03 pm
by ferrisdw
Hello, and thanks in advance.
I recently bought a 350 that I'm dating to '96 by Gruhn's book. I want to swap the trapeze tail for a bigsby, but I've run into a glitch. My Guitar store/tech ordered a B5 Bigsby, but when we placed it on the tailpieceless instrument, the slope of the body didn't work for the front mounting nib (finger, protuberance...searching for proper jargon). The front was elevated about 1/4 inch above the body necessitating a shim of some sort. Do I have the wrong tailpiece? Did Ric change the slope point on the 350 so guys like me couldn't do this mod? Hmmmmm. Any insight or guidance would be most appreciated--df
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2001 11:33 am
by markthemd
AS this is a new guitar and semi -new I'll defer this to the ever lurking John Hall .
He would know more about this than I .
I have NEVER at any time done this to a 325 .
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2001 10:02 am
by ferrisdw
Since it's a week later and no word from John Hall, now I'm wondering if the spec is different in the tail area between the 350v63 which is what I believe mine is and the earlier 350.
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2001 10:51 am
by markthemd
Again I ask for the all knowing JH to answer this question .
I can give you a " I guess this " but he would have a better idea .
I don't have the specs to the tailpiece cutout on a 325 ...never have .
I do know they changed from guitar to guitar ...at least when I worked there .This was a major hand done operation and a scary one at that ...The huge cutter on a spindle with a guy sitting ,holding the body and eyeballing the tapers ....TOO much .
I don't know if the guitars that came with the Bigsby's were tapered specially or not ...but I think they were .
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2001 11:07 am
by johnhall
The slope on a 325v59 and a 325v63 is quite different. As such, the Bigsby does not fit properly on a 325v63, upon which the 350 is patterned. I've seen it done, but it doesn't mount on well.
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2001 3:00 pm
by ferrisdw
John,
Thank you so much for participating. After much soul searching and a trip to a local store where I could look at a 325v63, I've decided to can the Bigsby idea in favor of the accent tremolo. A tech I respect mentioned that I could do this modification similar to a Gibson SG mod, by placing the screw under the spring and grinding off the nib, but I'd rather stay closer to stock. I'm not really keen on defacing this fine guitar. Also, I'm a player more than collector. I like the feel of Bigsbys but, I've no need to do excessive trem moves so the accent should work just fine for me once I get used to it. Thanks again for participating.