Do BIGSBYS Suck? What's the deal with BIGSBY TREMS? [a pretty cool history] 

I think the thing with the bigsby is the subtle wobble. Yes, it's cumbersome, but so are the semi hollow guitars that people love them on. I think it's interesting to hat your demo highlights the beautiful subtlety of the bigsby but you don't see the point. I think when done right it really gives to he player a strong sense of control and feel. Especially since it's so limited in range. It makes you feel like you're getting gentle sparkles out of your chords

Nothing wrong with a bigsby that a three person string-change crew can’t fix. I believe bigsby also invented a motorised capstan chain anchor for rowing boats - the strap-line was ‘that thing’s going nowhere’… I’ve been trying to update the Wikipedia entry for years now. I paper my bedroom walls with the cease and desist letters.

In a galaxy far, far away, vibrato has been utilized as a mainstay of musical expression for centuries. Oh wait, in this galaxy, actually! A common technique in singing, this periodic variation in the pitch (frequency) of a sustained musical note or tone should not exceed a semitone either way from the note itself. The effect is believed to add warmth to the voice. Although vibrato is perceived as a pitch variant, it is discerned as a vocal timbre, or as an integral part of tone, evenly distributed over the group of notes, rather than as a pitch deviation. The pitch variance remains centered around the actual written pitch, and the listener automatically hears the average of the pitches being sung. The same applies to bowed string instruments including violins, violas, cellos and upright basses. Note that the voice and bowed instruments have the ability to easily vary the pitch by over an octave, unrestrained by pesky frets or limiting wiggle sticks, and yet you never hear a cellist or vocalist "dive bombing." While my guitar skills (??) are mostly self taught, I was fortunate to have had formal vocal and cello training as a kid. Vibrato was the sweetener that I sorely missed with the guitar. (try doing a bend type of vibrato on any six string chord!) My 2000 Gibson Blueshawk was built with a factory Bigsby and it allows me to humanize and warm the notes similar to what I have grown accustomed to with my singing and cello adventures. Can I attain that semitone consistently and accurately? ....Yes! Do I need/want to get more than that? ....No, so what would be the benefit of a vibrato system that could? (actually, if I NEED to,...I just pick up the Strat) Expand your horizons,... musical expression was present and polished long before Keith Richards even knew what a guitar was. Bigsby......not for everybody, but much of my repertoire would be pretty lifeless without it. Hopefully some day you will "get it!"

Yes Paramore!! That song helped me through a lot, and it was awesome hearing your take on it. Literal tears in my eyes!

Funny that Julian Lage said they added a Bigsby on his signature Collings for the sound.

I don't think of the Bigsby as a tone shifter like on the Strat or Floyd Rose; it is almost more like a modulation effect. I love the way it makes my Gretsch sound, and when I use it I barely move it at all (and I never raise it, only lower it). I even use it on jazz gigs, much to the consternation of my more purist bandmates.

Your playing is so tentative! I added a Bigsby B-7 to my Epiphone ES-335 about 6 months ago, and I love it. No particular tuning issues. I'm using medium gauge flatwound strings, so that might have some impact on my experience. Lately, I've been enjoying the sound of really bouncing my hand on and off the bar as I pluck a string with my thumb. I was aiming for a sound similar to a sax or trumpet player "lipping" the beginning of a note. Jeff Beck often did this with the bar on a strat. The Bigsby has plenty of range to make this kind of sound, and the guitar quickly bounces back to nominal tuning on all strings. The effect is only subtle if you want it to be.

I love that subtle sound and have a japanese vintage re-issue tele and a gretsch with bigsby onboard.. i can get pretty close on my modern strat trem as long as i dont actually forcefully move the trem but hold it gently in my hand while just moving my hand if that makes sense

Merle and Chet used the bags by so well. If you at a long delay with a bigsby you can get a great chores effect. I have a bigsby on Kelton Swade tele and I really love it.

Bigsbys are fantastic. You just have to know how to use them.

I love Bigsbys. They are not meant for dive bombing. They are subtle. With the right spring they can be absolutely killer.

Ik a big fan of bigsbys... Keep en mind dat roller bridges are a must.... And properly setup it should give exactly a whole tone bend. You can setup this by placing something under neath the spring

What a great player!! ... I think the bigsby adds loads of gorgeousness......

I have installed a Bigsby B5 on a new build Tele. I love it!!! Compared to my Strats Tremolo I much prefer the Bigsby for 2 main reasons. 1. For vintage look 2. The feel. I wished they’d give you 2 different tension springs and be able to string it through the bar. I know of drilling the bar mod and the vibramate string spoiler but would like to keep my setup stock. I’d gladly pay extra if these options where offered.

I have Bigsbys on most of my guitars, I love them! They’re useless for dive-bombing, true - but if that’s not your style, they have a tremendous feel. And in the event a string is broken, they seem to have a more stable center than a floating trem. You can usually make it to the end of a song, while with a PRS or Strat style, forget it. You do need to install a roller bridge though! That friction point is as you point out, unacceptable. Unless it’s got a tilting bridge design like in a Fender Jazzmaster.

The subtlety is the point (the looks and retro vibe are there, but secondary). If you just want a little warble, you can be less exacting with it because it's less sensitive. You have to really baby a Floyd to get that same effect. Also, you get less pitch change on the other strings when bending. I have one with a Vibramate string spoiler, and it adds a bit of "dead zone" at the equilibrium point. It changes the feel a bit (even LESS sensitive!), but makes the tuning more solid, AND (the big bonus): I can drop D without the other 5 strings going sharp. With a floating vibrato. Best of both worlds.

I never had a guitar with one, but I think I played a Gretsch once that had a Bigsby, it seemed way more stiff than the one you’re using here, I really couldn’t do much of anything with it. I’m guessing that most of the appeal of these is that they look kind of retro? Cool story about that Gretsch, it was owned by the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of a band I was in, and he told me he was driving somewhere at night during winter in a Volkswagen Beetle, with the guitar sitting propped up in the back seat. Somehow he lost control of the car and it flipped over several times. The roof of the car was crushed in all around the guitar, but the guitar neck held part of the roof up (I guess because it had a good truss rod). My friend was banged up but not seriously injured,and he credited the guitar with saving his life!

The amount of pitch drop depends on where you fret the note. I get about a minor third most of the time and higher up the fretboard it can be a major 3rd down. Where the bigsby is positioned also seems to effect how it works - further back on the body has a more subtle effect at least on my install compared to the Gretsch I have that has it closer (like your Yamaha). The spring size has an effect on how much you can end down - mine are cheap licensed b50 models like yours on the yamaha but I get m3 to M3 on both guitars. I like that it's pretty stable with a roller bridge and I like the sound of light vibrato for chords more than for solo playing. It's not a Fender style vibrato or Floyd but it has been much more stable than my fender show master and certainly less hassle than the fender and floyd. I can get some cool not quite flutter but a cool effect by wacking it while soloing and you can pull it back as far as your willing to risk the strings snapping. Not for all but I like its stability. I'd definitely be disappointed with a tone or less bend down but I get a solid m3-M3 (3-4 semitones).¯⁠\⁠(⁠°⁠_⁠o⁠)⁠/⁠¯

Planning to put one on a Squier thinline tele in the next few months. I prefer strat style to Bigsbys overall, but I like having the wobble and it works well in P&W for a little flavor, which I do a lot of.

A Bigsby allows you to wobble and still have double stops and the ability to tune to drop D, so a great combo of fixed bridge and a tremolo? :)

I'd rather put a Bigsby on my Les Paul than to rout it out for a Floyd Rose.

To me it’s all about that wobbly effect, plus the fact that it’s you who choose when and how to wobble and not a vibrato pedal. And yes, you could absolutely do the exact same thing with a Floyd Rose, but for some reason those things, as well as the more vintage type Stratocaster vibrato units (sorry, I refuse to call it a tremolo unit) are the units you will never find on the type of guitars I like to use. I can’t remember the last time seeing a Gibson ES-335/345/347/355 etc., or something similar in the Gibson lineup (137/175 etc.), nor have I ever seen a strat style whammy bar, or a Kahler on Gretsch guitars and so forth. AND IT’S NOT MY FAULT!!! Even though we’re so used to the looks of it and I would understand that it would scare away the conservative purists that most of us seem to be, whether we like it or not, I think I would be more than happy to buy a Gretsch White Falcon DC with a Floyd Rose (as long as they keep it gold 😬). But I would want it because of the much better tuning stability and not because of the potential dive bombs. I don’t want the dive bombs. I want a subtle wobble. And actually, there are systems that I regard as crossovers. Deusenberg makes vibrato systems that are similar to Bigsbys, but better. Stetsbar is another one. But also on some Fender type guitars there are fully original designs that are better (in my opinion) than the Stratocaster vibrato systems. The best example is the one they use on Jazzmasters. That system once was the single most important reason for me to doubt my decision of buying a Gretsch instead of a Jazzmaster. And, overlooked by most anyone, of not EVERYONE, is Fender’s unit on the Mustang!!! Set it up right and you have a beautiful jangly wobble. And since they still make these Mustangs and relatively affordable even for beginners, I HATE the fact that you hardly see them anymore on cheaper Mustangs. Because I, as an old guitar player who’s past his heydays, but who still loves to play, without spending thousands of euros for guitars to gig with 10 to 12 times a year….. I would LOVE to buy a nice good functioning Mustang with ditto bridge for a little amount of money. Who wouldn’t want an option like that? Anyway, I digress, but that system works amazingly well, although you won’t be able to do more than a subtle wobble, which is exactly what I want. 😊

I agree with Jonathan. It also opens up a huge world of potential tuning issues.

Super jealous of your touch feel. That with the compression from the drive makes the attack on each pick and strum so gentle. it sounds fluid as hell.

i wish it rotated up higher. would light it in my palm while picking. was thinking of grinding down the part of metal that prevents full rotation

The Bigsby on my Reverend is spot-on. Even light enough to get "flutter" from the bar.

I find on my classic vibes 60 squire strat with 6pt tremelo and on my firefly tele's'with even better two pt tremelos, that it's very difficult to get the blues vibrato if I have the stick on the guitar. I end up just using my palm on the tremelo base without the stick in it to get beautiful vibrato from cords. It's way too sensitive using the tremelo bar for vibrato on fender designs. So I actually imagine a bigsby would be perfect for this vibrato for cords.

The bigsby story is great! The book "Birth of Loud" is great. Many say Leo stole many of Bigsby's ideas

What I like about Bigsbys is the fact that you can have a floating trem without sacrificing the ability to do string on string bends. Which, in fairness Floyd Roses do as well, they are just such a massive pain.

Did I hear you correctly,. Bigsby basically was the creator of the classic fender headstock?!! I never knew this.

Just curious why so many people call it a tremolo when the effect is pitch shifting therefore it’s vibrato. Tremolo refers to volume changes.

As worship musician I love bigby's just for their warm tone and esthetics

I think that you misunderstand the Bigsby.

There was an absolutely beautiful line of Telecasters that came out in 1972 with factory Bigs on them. Almost untouchable now. That's the one I hate I didn't get when I had the chance.

It’s as much about aesthetics as it is function for me. Thanks for another great video!

A chunk of metal??? I´ve been using Bigsbys for more than 40 years now, I have 12 guitars with Bigsby ( I´ve just count them out) and each one works a little different. I can´t play whitout it, I even miss it when I play my flamenco guitar. A Floyd Rose it is a chunk of metal and sucks tone from the guitar, they all sound pretty much the same. The Bigsby it´s made of aluminium, it´s not heavy and gives a wonderful character to the tone of the guitar, that´s why Ry Cooder use Bigsby on Strats ( no one sounds better than Ry Cooder). Merle Travis is a very important guitar player that everybody should know, he´s not someone from the distant past. Chet Atkins, one of the most important electric guitar players ever, very different from Travis, although they sound similar when you first hear them, used hard the vibrato arm ( not as hard as Van Halen, of course) and he was always perfectly in tune. I´ve always wondered why Jazz players never used Bigsbys, can you imagine Wes Montgomery or Jim Hall with one?You don´t get that great sound and that subtle effect from other vibratos. And last, but not least, they look gorgeous! It always amazes me the controversy between Bigsby and Fender headstocks. Stauffer was using one pretty much like the Bigsby in the early XIX century, and probably he was not the first. Even Martin, who began on Stauffer shop before moving to the States, made at some point the Stauffer six on one side head, long before the Bigsby

I have a Bigsby on two of 3 of my guitars both with the reverend soft touch spring. if you add shims into the spring pocket and the spring cup on the handle you can get a lot more range for pitch shifting. I can get my A string down to an E. I do dives on my bigsby. try n do the subtle wobble on a floyd rose, its alot harder and you need to be subtle with it. Defiinetly a feel thing...

Some spring reverb and a Bigsby is the way to get beautiful, natural sounding "manual" chorus. I just bend my neck for it as I enjoy light guitars with tuning stability that fit its case.

The hype? Because Bigsby's are great once your expectations are in line with what they actually do, instead of what you wish they would do. As mentioned by other posters, for putting a subtle vibrato, almost chorus-like movement on fretted chords - there is nothing better. They have a "sound" that other trem systems do not. Comparing Bigsbys' to a Fender Trem or a modern system like the Wilkinson, or even a locking system like the Floyd kind of misses the point. It's like comparing a Dusenberg to a Ferrari, the Ferrari is faster, flashier, and has modern tech ... BUT ... it's not a Dusenberg and can never be a Dusenberg.

I used to have a 70s SG with a Bigsby. It was the only thing about the guitar I didn't like. Not because I didn't like the effect, but rather because I found it almost impossible to quickly replace a string if It broke. You also HAD to buy barrel-end strings - Fender had just come out with their bullet-end strings, and I couldn't use them on the SG.

I had a bigsby on a 1987 Greco rs90 semi-hollow. Loved it, though changing strings is a bit of a pain. Sold the guitar once I got the Greco SA1200 as that was a better guitar but still have pangs about missing the bigsby

I’ve slapped a bigsby on my firefly Les Paul and it’s one of the best musical choices I’ve ever made

There's a RU-vid video of Julian Lage, Miles Okazaki and Mary Holvorson where Julian talks about the bigsby (around 37:00). He says he never uses it, but it's there as a counterweight and if it's not there the guitar would be too light for him from a sustain point of view. His signature Collings guitar is pretty much hollow and only has the trestle block so this sounds logical when you think about it. Not sure if it would affect a solid body guitar the same way however.

I love Bigsbys. Since having one installed on my Gibson Les Paul, I can’t be without one. A little delay and reverb…🤌🏼

There is a big difference between the licensed Bigsby units and the real deal, in my experience. The real ones are much smoother, which makes them much better for the wobble and even allows you to do some Jeff Beck type tricks. I had one on my 335 for a bit, and might go back that route again. That said, I ended up selling it and using those funds toward a VegaTrem on my Strat, which has been a much more versatile and stable addition.

For Gibson style guitars these days, bigsby is greatly overshadowed by the Dusenberg Les Trem II. I love mine on my 339.

I'm trying to develop a way of using mine on lead lines that basically places the sound near a slide. More of the Jeff Beck thing but it's more subtle - towards half and quarter steps rather than the whole step that other tremolo's gravitate towards

Have you tried the mastery bridges? I'm not really a whammy person but really enjoyed the mastery

They definitely create a unique rockabilly Setzer, Chris Isaak sound. But I've always thought them a bit stupid! I do like the look of that forties fifties aesthetic. But not on guitars. Interesting fact about the Strat headstock!

People who like Bigsby really only want it to put a little movement in the air around chords… it’s like a manual chorus pedal you use sparingly. It sounds worse when you try to use it to bend in a melodic way.

They are cool. It gives you more frequency modulation than shaking the neck but less than most other vibrato systems. I think its home is in jazz, rockabilly and surf. Not so much the dive bombing hair band stuff

I have a love/hate relationship with Bigsbys. Now I'm predominantly a hardtail player, I find Strats uncomfortable, floating trems aren't my thing feel weird do weird tuning things, and divebombing is frankly obnoxious. So the only trem sound that connects with me is the subtle, enigmatically haunting Bigsby vibrato. All that said they do add a noticeable string tension and if you don't have a thick enough gauge that can increase tuning instability, they're a pain to restring, and even a good one will go out of tune. But they're aesthetically and aurally beautiful. The only tremolo system that can claim both.

Not a tremolo, it is a vibrato. If you want a tremolo go Floyd Rose. Bixby is for vibrato

Think it is very much a less is more type of trem. If you re-examine the vid you may notice you are using it like a normal trem, where as for me a bigsby is something you use to a super sparing degree and perhaps even almost constantly whilst playing but just gently nudging the arm so the sound choruses a bit. Really slow most of the time. Of the two I use regularly the gretsch based on is definitely like this. The handle also leans you that way like a piano sustain pedal. On the deusenberg variant, it is a bit different as well but definitely an entirely other trem to say a fender one.

Brian Setzer: hold my beer!!

Checkout reverend soft touch springs for a cheap upgrade.

Yeah, I just bend my neck for that amount of wobble. I have only broken one 😂

Yeah...now that you mention it

It hilarious that you're making the sounds that people love a bigsbys for, and then saying you don't get it. THAT is the sound. Remember hollow and semi hollow guitars don't really have a floyd rose option. ;)

That’s a nice video, but I always understood that tremolo is a variation in volume while vibrato is a variation in pitch. Are those definitions widely accepted? Oddly, this means that a Fender amplifier has tremolo, while a Fender Strat has vibrato.

Jay Leonard j!

I like the sound of some classic recordings where the guitarist was doing subtle vibratos with a bigsby. But with a little practice you can learn to be reserved with a fulcrum style trem and get the subtle wobble (AND extreme dives and warbles if you want) I avoid jazzmaster trems as well. To me they look like sloppy contraptions slapped on the front. They also lengthen the strings more than I'd prefer. But people like different things, whatever works.

I don't agree with you, and am therefore mad. Unsub