ShortScale.org

Well now. I've had a bigsby B7 on my R6 (historic '56 reissue) and it's been a bastard to keep in tune. I finally found someone who'd actually listen to my issues without immediately insisting on a roller bridge and since then, things have definitely been a lot better. Here's what they did:

1. New nut. The stock one was cut too deep.

2. Extra thumb wheels on the ABR-1. The bridge used to rock slightly when I pushed the arm down. NOW, I kinda thought that was a good thing, until it was pointed out it was never going back to where it was beforehand. The extra thumb wheels clamp the bridge down. Seems to help.

3. Raised the bigsby a good 5mm off the top using cork strips. Makes the break angle shallower behind the bridge, thus stopping the strings touching the back of the bridge.

4. New bridge saddles. Nothing special, just that the old ones were again cut too deep.

Lot of work, but it's done the trick.

"The bridge used to rock slightly when I pushed the arm down."

That is what should happen with a TOM though - you don't want the strings to drag through the saddles as they will start to cut into them and ruin your radius. But yes, it should go back to the same place after you let go of the Bigsby arm.

awfurby wrote:"The bridge used to rock slightly when I pushed the arm down."

That is what should happen with a TOM though - you don't want the strings to drag through the saddles as they will start to cut into them and ruin your radius. But yes, it should go back to the same place after you let go of the Bigsby arm.

Yeah, well, what do I know? I've heard conflicting views on this and I guess I can see both sides of it. I'm just not clued-up enough to know which is the truth.

I mean, look at Mastery bridges. I have one on my JM and it barely moves at all, compared to the stock and Mustang bridges that were on there before. Trem-related tuning stability seems no better or worse than it did before, as far as I can tell. Feels a little stiffer, perhaps.

Maybe both solutions are fine. I suppose consistency is the key. Either a bridge doesn't move at all, or it rocks or uses rollers and returns to its original position consistently.

In my case, so many variables were addressed at the same time (nut, bridge movement, break angle, bridge saddles) that it'd be difficult to attribute my current tuning stability to any one of them in particular. If we discount the nut and saddles (all guitars need a correctly cut nuts and bridge saddles, right?), then we're left with break angle and bridge movement. Which do we think is the more important?