I just installed a bigsby b5 vibrato tailpiece onto my SG Special. Would anyone recommned also having a rocking or roller bridge installed as well? What are the advantages/disadvantages of it? Any advice would be great.

Steve

Hi Steve,

How's it holding tuning? A rocking/rolling bridge is often put in with these systems to allow the strings to move more easily over the bridge - in the standard tune-o-matic setup, the strings never move from their place on the saddles, but once a vibrato tailpiece is put in, they have to be able to move back and forth freely without too much friction.

A roller bridge would be easier to install than a Jazzmaster style rocking bridge. Wilkinson make a particularly nice one which you might be able to find on eBay.

Harry

I'd recommend going with the rolling bridge. The guitarist that I play with uses one on all of his guitars (all of them have Bigsby's) and he swears by them. And they're the only ones that will take any type of abuse...not a lot, but way more than the "stock" bridges.

You can also swap out the saddles in a tune-o-matic with Graph Tech saddles.

TheMilford wrote:You can also swap out the saddles in a tune-o-matic with Graph Tech saddles.

Very easy and probably as good as any other option.
Seconded.

-A

The Schaller roller bridge is pretty nifty, worked wonders for my Bisgy'ed LP Jnr.



http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_ta ... ridge.html

My question would be "Why would you ruin an SG with a Bigsby?"

zom-zom wrote:My question would be "Why would you ruin an SG with a Bigsby?"

I'm looking at the cover of the Wipers box set -- Am I not looking at an SG fitted with a Bigsby? I could be wrong.

zom-zom wrote:My question would be "Why would you ruin an SG with a Bigsby?"

My answer would be "It came with one."



Starting in '71 Bigsby's appeared as options and several models came with them from the factory...like the SG-100 and SG-200, and the more "high-end" SG Pro and SG Deluxe.

Yep, that is a bigsby on an SG on the Wipers cover. Thats part of the reason I got it.

Thanks for the info, I'll do some research on the various items everyone suggested. Thanks a lot.

Steve