- Ripped out TV Jones Classic Filtertron and B5 apparatus
- Drilled holes for Bigsby B16 that has been sitting around for the past year...Many mistakes going unseen!
- Added parchment Esquire pickguard
- Shimmed neck with 3 folded business cards to accommodate sky-high compensated floating bridge
- Rocked out Jesus-style this afternoon
The news:
The tension with .011s over the break angle isn't as bad as I thought, sustain is decent, but there is some serious sliding across the bridge that is going on, which has prompted me to think about what my tech friend might do to file in some TOM-style saddle grooves. By the way, the string clearance is mad high, I could bow the thing like Jonsi all day if needed, although it's now a spanking pink bad ass Esquire and won't have the needed neck p'up for the time being. Tuning and intonation are really stable, given how the floating bridge actually rocks as the strings move together over with the bridge, although the trem itself is stiffer than that of a B5 (a bit of an unexpected surprise), with less practical movement as well. Is fairly comparable to my Jazzmaster's present trem setup/feel.
Tonally, the flat angle does produce some chimey vibrations between the strings and the bridge itself, but not like the rattle of grub screws or sooper low string action. The Nocaster p'up is gutsy and just bright enough to do its bridge position thing well, although it's very different from a plinky Tele twang, and gets colored a bit from the slightly post buzzy-attack + blunt sustain-producing floating bridge in what I reckon is a Django/Gretschy sort of inherent twang. I had to adjust the pickup height a bit to maximize tone and position(after above pics shot), but the funny thing is that I haven't drilled the pickup crew holes yet, since the bobbin top fits snug in the B16 casing...Which is just plain weird.
All in all, the B16 is a weird deal with a fresh feel that began to grow on me all day, although I wouldn't recommend it to those who simply want a vintage-looking fatass toilet handle'd Tele and none of the baggage. Personally, with some saddle grooves filed in, this baby is going to get some heavy mileage for sure, as I'm already enjoying the sheer height of the strings above the body.
So what about the TV Jones and old Bigsby? Gonna get the B5 bridgeplate routed/chopped/modded to have another filtertron squeeze in for a B5 dual filtertron'd dual-bound semi-hollow (black? surf green? transparent orange? still haven't decided) baritone sometime soon. Until then, it's good times in the Ultrahousehold.
My Korean-Brit friend Jina was seriously chuffed(her words, not mine) over the thing as she twirled about with the thing in her pink one-piece, and had to take some kooky shots with it. She's quite a character, being a pragmatic London-born-and-raised Korean with looks that mimic a Manga girl. Two other girls enviously waited in line to get pics of their own, and the pink enigma ensued...
