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Bigsby+FloatingBridge+LockingTuners=HepMeJesus!

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- Rated: 20 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 12:05 a.m. Bob Wire:

Holy Effin' SHIT, I am about ready to SMASH this 5120 into little orange SMITHEREENS and go out and do a naked interpretive dance in the ROAD after spending three goddamn HOURS trying to change the strings.

First off, hello, Mr. Bigsby, why in the HELL do you make us deal with those little PINS, instead of doing the decent, American thing, and putting some nice soft-edged HOLES in that gawdfersaken Bigsby bar?!? I know it's been addressed before in these very pages, but I IMPLORE you sir, I BEG OF YOU, I mean, WTF?

Secondly, I got this friggin' floating bridge that's dancing around like a goddamn Barishnikov while I'm tryin' to maintain a 20-lb. tension on the A string so's I can...

DAMN! It popped off the pin again. HEY! BOY! Go fetch me one of your pink pearl erasers you used when you were in the third grade. Yeah, the first time. Thank you! Okay, now that sumbitch will stay put. Jesus, what am I, tying a dry FLY here? Time to crack another barley pop.

Okay, I'm stringing these babies up through the Planet Waves Trim-Lock™ tuners so I can..HEY! Why'd you cut the damn string off! Mother...that ain't right. It ain't fair!

Do I tighten the dooley-bob first? Or do I just turn the tuner until it...HEY! MOTHER (garbled) Fletcher...who drank my beer...

Look at that bridge...it's like Disney On Ice. Holy Schnickes, I'll never get this done. Got a gig tomorrow. I will be playing the Telecaster.

Sometimes, man, the Gretsch is just more complimicated than it's worth.
- Rated: 20 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 12:23 a.m. Bob Wire:

I mean, do I have to become a better guitar player so I can appreciate these delicate improvements on what was already a perfectly workable system? Jesus Christ in a cartoon, it's too much for a simple honky tonker to TAKE!!!!
- Rated: 39 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 12:25 a.m. jetbunny:

Floyd Rose are b*tch to re-string all the time.

To tell you the truth, Bigsby are easy to string. Do it one string at a time, starting from the inside, D and G and working yourself to the outer strings.

About the bloody little pins, a cork sliced diagonally does the trick. Stuff the cork under it when you insert the ball ends and you're done before you know it.

I can finish re-stringing the whole guitar, ten minutes tops.

You'll get the hang of it sooner or later.

BTW, what's your Tele specs?
- Rated: 29 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 2:08 a.m. Adam:

Your post in the "gfs pickups in 5120" thread makes much more sense now.

Tape your bridge down while you change the strings.
- Rated: 5 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 2:59 a.m. awfurby:

And if you've got a floating bridge, don't take all the strings off at the same time.
- Rated: 8 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 3:06 a.m. Cliff's Gallup:

Very creative wording in your thread post lol. Did you bend the last 1/4" or so at the string hoop end 90 degrees - that helps keep string on too. Good luck!
- Rated: 22 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 3:16 a.m. Thomas:

I must say, I had this too. But over the time, after a few restrings, you won't even notice the extra effort. I have to admit though that restringing my brother's strat is way more easy than the gretsh,
- Rated: 90 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 3:32 a.m. Walter Broes:

Stick that bridge down for starters, several methods for that, thin double sided tape being the easiest.
Put the guitar on the carpet floor between your knees and use your knees to hold the guitar in place, pre bend the string so it looks like it's going to look mounted on that bigsby (no tools needed), reach down and attach string to pin, pull string taut, thread through tuner hole, once it's in there pull it taut between bigsby and tuner, and put a pegwinder to work. crank until tight enough, tune up manually.

Takes me under ten minutes to restring a guitar with a Bigsby and no locking tuners, just takes a little practice.
- Rated: 27 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 3:40 a.m. Jukka:

Yep, one string at a time and pre-bend the end of the string. It will go as fast as any other guitar.
- Rated: 16 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 4:13 a.m. DustyRoad:

tape the bridge down...remove all the strings...clean all the gunk off the finger board"lemon oil"....put a little bend on each string by the ball..put strings on geetar...stretch the strings...tune the geetar.... hit a few jazz chords...hit a power chord with your amp turned 4/5ths of the way to max. volume...and smile like the Bad Ass Dawg that you are.Rock and fukin' rool
- Rated: 47 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 4:27 a.m. MrMoonlight:

The only time you should remove all the strings from your guitar is if you need to do serious maintenance on it (fretwork, changing pickups, wiring harness, etc.) or if you need to thoroughly clean the fretboard. Otherwise, if you're just putting on a fresh set of strings, you'll want to swap out strings one at a time in order to prevent skating bridges and Bigsby frustration. I can change strings on a Bigsby equipped guitar in less than 10 minutes. It's not hard and the more you do it, the faster you become.
- Rated: 25 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 5:01 a.m. Gigatron:

Yesterday I put a TruArc bridge on my Corvette, and at the same time I replaced the tuners with Gotoh locking tuners

It took me a little while to get the hang of the tuners, but I find that it's actually a little easier to change strings now.

The tuners were really easy to swap. They fit right in, and even the screw holes were in exactly the same places. No drilling or routing required.
- Rated: 27 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 7:26 a.m. fjr_wertheimber:

Hey Bob Wire, +1 man.... LMAO Been there, done that... You had me crying I was laughing so hard; I feel your pain, brotha!
- Rated: 39 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 9:22 a.m. Ripley1046:

I've been there too man. Listen to the folks above, it's all in the bend, and patience. A good start for the bridge is to line it up with the "points" of the F holes. That should get you close. Good luck man, it really does get easier.
- Rated: 8 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 9:28 a.m. tedzepplin:

use pliers to bend the end of the string so it grabs the pin better. change one string at a time. keep tension on the string with one hand while you wrap the string around itself with very few windings and you won't need locking tuners. see this vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rhdxCECcl4 rub pencil graphite or big bends nut sauce into the nut slots and bridge grooves. use thin double sided tape to hold the bridge in place. watch this vid for bending and capo technique, but the guy doesn't do the much needed wrap around locking with very few windings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRxqGZrnyYA
- Rated: 53 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 11:36 a.m. mainsoda:

Great post Bob, I know what you're going through. I did the same thing the first few times I restrung my 6119. But this is just a phase and soon you will learn to love your Bigsby!
- Rated: 5 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 1:21 p.m. Itchin For Gretschin:

Ha I enjoyed reading the original post, very descriptive

This is actually very timely for me as well, as I'm stoked to b getting a Tru-Arc soon which will mean that I will be having to change the strings without the aid of the guitar guy who set me up previously (I'm not in the mood to get any attitude from him over why I'm not buying an Adjust-o-matic from his shop, and besides, I have to learn to do this myself sooner or later).

Anyway, this discussion is great and hopefully will help me avoid re-stringing anxiety, but I also found a good youtube video from Gretsch Guitars that does a very detailed tutoruial... Hope someone out there finds it useful, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jHUg--teQE
- Rated: 18 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 1:52 p.m. threadkiller:

Use black electrical tape and tape the base down if you're that worried about it. Likely that you need to check your setup anyway if it's time for a string change. You can also put double sided tape under the base and stop it from moving somewhat. Also loop the ball end of the string around a screwdriver or pencil, then simply place it on the bigsby. Sorry it's not a stringthrough like a tele. If you want something comparable, ditch the bigsby for a trapeze tailpiece and pin the bridge. Problems solved. It's kinda like drivin a stick after owning a standard all your life. Betcha it'll be your main axe once you're warmed up to it!

PS. -1 for language.
- Rated: 18 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 1:53 p.m. threadkiller:

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- Rated: 18 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 1:53 p.m. threadkiller:

This post has been deleted
- Rated: 24 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 2:23 p.m. tidalwave_sideburns:

@Tedzepplin, ofcourse, a Capo!!! You can clip the strings to the neck with a capo.... Then wind the strings for decent tension, unclip the capo and there you go... So simple, I might buy one of those just for this purpose...
- Rated: 31 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 2:26 p.m. ToneHound:

First... Get yourself one of those soft sponge-like car wax applicators. The type that I use has a cloth side and a side with a mesh type material (for bugs) and of course, the sponge between the two.

Pre bend the string on the ball end making sure you are bending toward you with the hole in the ball facing up. Wrapping around a roller ball pen works well after the little bend and the end to shape the end of the string.

Feed the string from the bridge side of the guitar. Seat the hole upon the pin and shove the soft sponge (cloth side down) right under the bar and below that string that you now have wrapped across the top of the bigsby bar. This means that the sponge is between the top of the guitar and the bar with the string pinched between the two.

Keeping the string tension tight with one hand, feed the tuner end into the tuner with the other hand. If you have a capo, you can use that to maintain the tension as a substitute for your hand.

Begin to tighten the tuner with the first wind or so so the slack is out of the string. Align the part of the string at the Bigsby bar end so that it is now directly over the top of the bar pin so the string is perfectly aligned at the end. Tighten the string to pitch and pull out the sponge and repeat for the other strings.

The best advise for managing the floating bridge "slide" is to replace one string at a time.

The sponge will be your best friend the next time you have to replace strings.

P.S. Don't forget to stretch the strings after you have them on for better Bigby tuned performance. BTW, Big Bends Nut Sauce works wonders on the nut and the slots of your preferred bridge. A tiny bit goes a long way to staying in tune!
- Rated: 16 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 2:49 p.m. DustyRoad:

Remove all the strings at the same time....don't be a sissy.
- Rated: 46 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 2:58 p.m. Beatles6120:

Love the CAPO!!!!!!
- Rated: 17 ↑
Jul 3, 2009 3:38 p.m. Paddywagon:

That was funny! Almost did a spit take on the Barishnikov line!

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