Members gardo Posted June 4, 2020 Members Share Posted June 4, 2020 Last year I installed a Bigsby on an ES 335 clone. It’s great for what it does but tuning stability was not as great. The first thing I tried was a roller bridge or should I say rattle bridge. Hmmm, my experience as a mechanic told be that if a bearing rattles a little lube will quiet it . So yes I did, I sprayed the bridge with penetrating grease then with cleaner to remove the excess. The result was that it did indeed get rid of the rattle and some what muted the tone. It was great for songs like “Wheels” or “Listen To The Mockingbird “ so I had some fun ,for a while. Now I’ve gone with the one pictured here from Guitarfetish . The verdict is I like it . It brought back the sustain I lost with the roller and the tuning stability the TOM style was lacking. I use the Bigsby with a lighter touch, no dive bombing or anything like that. I’m happy at least until next year. I plan to replace the two black screws with chrome or stainless as soon as this corona lockdown ends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted June 4, 2020 Members Share Posted June 4, 2020 Which roller bridge did you try? I have a Wilkinson with a bigsby and it never rattles. The schaller type are more prone to rattle IME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted June 4, 2020 Author Members Share Posted June 4, 2020 4 hours ago, mrbrown49 said: Which roller bridge did you try? I have a Wilkinson with a bigsby and it never rattles. The schaller type are more prone to rattle IME. It was a generic type roller that I got from a friend. Very much like this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted June 5, 2020 Members Share Posted June 5, 2020 Yeah. Those give roller bridges a bAd name. Try the Wilkinson roller bridge if you still aren't happy. It's a much better design IMO. https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardware/all-hardware-and-parts-by-instrument/electric-guitar-parts/electric-guitar-bridges-and-tailpieces/tune-o-matic-bridges/locking-roller-bridge.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted June 5, 2020 Moderators Share Posted June 5, 2020 I concur with mrbrown, there are good roller bridges, crappy ones and in-between...the type you showed is one of the crappier ones [i know, because I tried one several years ago on a Bigsby conversion job...terrible]. The Wilkinsons are great [but pricey*], there is another one from StewMac [Golden Age?] that is pretty good, that was what I wound up with**. *Guitar Fetish has them discounted nicely, but the shipping costs can be stupid....at least to the west coast. **the 'terrible' one I wound up putting on my Epi Alley Kat, and it is very happy there, no whammy bar, but I have not broken a string in years... better than the Korean tun-o-matic it came with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted June 6, 2020 Author Members Share Posted June 6, 2020 On 6/4/2020 at 8:44 PM, daddymack said: I concur with mrbrown, there are good roller bridges, crappy ones and in-between...the type you showed is one of the crappier ones [I know, because I tried one several years ago on a Bigsby conversion job...terrible]. The Wilkinsons are great [but pricey*], there is another one from StewMac [Golden Age?] that is pretty good, that was what I wound up with**. *Guitar Fetish has them discounted nicely, but the shipping costs can be stupid....at least to the west coast. **the 'terrible' one I wound up putting on my Epi Alley Kat, and it is very happy there, no whammy bar, but I have not broken a string in years... better than the Korean tun-o-matic it came with I did check the Guitarfetish website when I ordered. The chrome was out of stock and it's not currently offered by them . I am happy with the one I have . I'll play this one as is and start modding another one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted June 6, 2020 Moderators Share Posted June 6, 2020 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted June 6, 2020 Members Share Posted June 6, 2020 Does that tension bar have a roller on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted June 7, 2020 Author Members Share Posted June 7, 2020 6 hours ago, mrbrown49 said: Does that tension bar have a roller on it? Yes ,it’s three separate pieces with a floating center Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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