The Chetboard

Paul (and others) was an advocate of threading the strings through the string bar on the Bigsby instead of fooling with those pins. I can attest that it makes restringing much easier.

Someone finally has started making string bars that are machined especially to do this...

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Callaham Upgraded Main String Shaft for Bigsby Vibratos

This upgrade eliminates the years of problems and frustration of a Bigsby Vibrato restringing. This again is a polished stainless steel shaft that is counterbored for the string ball ends. Thread the string through the hole and up to the tuner. Works for all models and comes with retaining clip.

Price is $40.00 plus shipping
(Not for licensed or import bigsby styled vibratos)
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http://www.callahamguitars.com/#up_kit_big

My brother & I were just talking about this the other night. What a god-send and reasonably priced. Thanks for sharing Norm.

Paul Yandell would have been pleased to see this. He was a big advocate of the straight-through string bar on a Bigsby.

Paul should have patented his idea!

Probably not patentable. Even if it was, knowing what patents cost and how easily knock-offs can be made it probably wouldn't have been practical.

He did try to get Gretsch to adapt the idea. He and I were emailing a lot about this. The Gretsch folks even made him at least one nice prototype. I sent a note to Joe Carducci and he said the idea gets talked about but R&D is focused on larger projects.

They still could do it I guess.

Thanks for the link, Norm

Callaham has been a supplier of Fender part upgrades for quite a while. The Tele and Strat folks speak highly of their quality.

Glad they are making this Bigsby upgrade. I just ordered two: one for my CGP, and one for my Duo Jet. When I get it, I'll post a review.

Evidently great minds think alike. After I ordered this part from Callaham, I did a google search and found that servereal builders have been doing this mod for at least 6 years (Tom Anderson, Dusenburg), and at least one company has offered the part for sale on the aftermarket.

It makes sense, so no real surprise. I'll let you know how the Callaham part works out.

Isn't that funny! I never thought to look it up elswhere. I know there are a couple of gadgets you could attach to the Bigsby string bar but no flat out replacement bar.

Norm....I never thought about either, since it has never been a major chore for me (I learned to pre-bend the ball end with needle nose pliers long ago).., but it is nice to simplify things.

I've been barking about it for years. I believe the reason Bigsby made his vibrato using pins was because at the time of the unit’s design (around 1950) you could not buy strings singly. If a guitarist wanted a lighter first and second string he had to use banjo strings which have a loop end instead of a ball end so Bigsby made sure that need was fulfilled for both string styles.

Once assorted single strings became available it never occurred to the makers of Bigsby to modify (and simplify the manufacture of) the unit.

There is absolutely NO advantage to using pins vs straight-through holes that I can see but The Suits couldn't seem to make that final modification.