The Chetboard

Hi ya'll,
I was wondering if anyone knew if you could fit one of the Chet Atkins bigsby wire arms onto a Gretsch Electromatic??
Thanks,
Bella

Shouldn't be a problem. You just need to decide if you want it to swivel or be stationary and order accordingly. The assembly replaces the standard spring cup and handle mount held on by a single allen screw. The actual rod of the wire handle has set screws so you can tweak it in the holder.

I just did this - very easy to replace the hinge. I ordered mine from a local music store that I regularly support but if instant gratification is important, many examples show up on eBay by searching for "Chet Atkins Bigsby arm". You can also get the arm in two different lengths advertised as 8, 10" but I didn't see any long arms advertised on line at this time. The longer arm allows you to get closer to the neck for some of Merle -style licks. I ordered the hinge and longer arm as separate parts but could not do so through on-line merchants.

Mike

The other unspoken thing is that, regardless what mount you settle on, you can experiment with bending a piece of 1/4" rod to your own taste.
That's what Chet did, after all is said and done

Norm . The Chet wire bracket won't fit the Gretsch Electromatic overseas made guitars. I installed the Chet wire handle to my G 5120 and I had to ream out a little bit of stock on the Chet bracket to fit. No big deal in doing it. They make Gretsch guitars different in Korea and japan. I have a 2003 Nashville Classic and I replaced the Gold headstock badge on it to read Chet Atkins Country Gentleman on it and I discovered that the Japan model guitar name plate is smaller in size which meant I had to make Two new screw holes which I didn't want to but I did anyway. Hope this helps ya. J B.

Some of the Bigsby stuff was made in Korea and is metric. I remember Paul grumbling about it years ago when Gretsch was trying to get settled after Fred bought the company again. I don't know if there is any way to tell the difference between the two but, as pointed out, if you get a Korean unit you may have to ream it out a bit.


I remember when I got my first stationary bracket from Bigsby himself in the early sixties. He said I might have to ream mine out to get it to fit and in fact I had to do some work that was more than just reaming it to get the bracket itself to fit on my guitar back then. I remember sweating bullets fitting the thing because I'm not all that good at metalcraft and you know if you take off too much there's no going back. But I got it to work.

Most of Bigsby's items are made in a foundry in Kalamazoo. But the Korean ones are still out there. I think the main frame is different than the standard "Vee" "Gretsch by Bigsby" American made models

The non-U.S. made Bigsby's say:

"Bigsby®-licensed"

From the Bigsby website:
QUESTION: WHERE ARE BIGSBY VIBRATOS MADE?
Answer: Standard Bigsby Vibratos are made in the USA. Some licensed models may be manufactured internationally.

I just bought a chrome wire arm and the nickle-plated stationary bracket from Blackrider. Not only is the hole for the string bar too small (which I expected), but the wire arm won't fit in the hole it's supposed to go in. The hole is 0.239" diameter and the wire arm is 0.258".

Rats.


MIke

I'd spend a little money and call blackrider. Be sure to have your receipt on hand to answer questions. See what they reccomend

I sent them an email. I hope that will do the trick.