The Chetboard

Anybody play thumbstyle on one of these things? I've got a chance to trade for one and I thought I might add a BIgsby and see what happens. I build my own Telecasters and have been playing them for years but don't really care for them for Chet stuff (notwithstanding Scotty Anderson). It seems like my thumbpick always hits the body between the pickups and I don't like the bridges on 'Bigsby-fied' Teles - you can't mute right.

A guitar depends more on the player than the instrument, actually.
The solid bodies are perfectly fine for thumb style if you're comfortable with the way it plays it seems to me. Chet's traditional sound/tone tends to be more associated with Gretsch, its pickups and hollow bodies in combination.

Re: thumbpicks. Not many people seem to try the obvious and that is, to shorten the blade on their thumbpicks so they don't go so deep behind the string and, as in your case, hit the body or in other cases hit the pickup. Chet trimmed and shaped his a little and I've trimmed and shaped mine for years