New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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gishuk
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New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by gishuk » Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:21 am

I've been listening to a lot of alt-country recently, which has led to some late night ebay searching with inevitable results. I found a guy selling an Epiphone Les Paul Studio but with this b-blender modified Bigsby and vibramate on it, so I bought it :whistle:

The price was low enough that I figure once I sell on the Epiphone (which came with a upgraded tuners, bridge and hard case and frankly was a better guitar than I'd expected but still not one for me) I'd be into this contraption for about a quarter of what it would have cost me to just buy these parts.

Got it on my 79 Custom today and set it up, it works very well. The Bigsby functions as normal but if you pull the handle upwards towards the strings, it bends the B string to whatever note you set it to. Its really quite a nifty thing and works smoothly although I think I need to spend a bit more time adjusting it to get it perfect. Needs an allen key I don't have to do that though ::) so that will need to wait.

Feel like I may be slightly outside my comfort zone, or above my skill level, in playing this though, but the challenge should be fun to try and learn some B-bender stuff and get used to the extra movement involved. Plus it looks cool, although this is now the heaviest guitar of all time.

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marqueemoon
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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by marqueemoon » Thu Mar 19, 2020 11:01 am

I didn’t know that was a thing. Looks like a fun challenge.

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Larry Mal
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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Mar 19, 2020 1:43 pm

That's interesting... I have two Telecasters right now with Hipshot B benders, I had a Telecaster with the Parsons/Green bender in there, and I had a Bigsby Palm Pedal that I couldn't quite like.

And I'm really not very good at the bender, either, for all this effort! I did do this one kind of fun track, though.

That's a great looking guitar with that bender on there!
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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by Telliot » Thu Mar 19, 2020 3:03 pm

I had one of those on an old Jupiter I owned. It was really fun, but yeah, challenging. I have a Bigsby on my Sorrento and I’ve been thinking of outfitting it it with a B-Blender. One of the things I struggled with was its looks. I know that’s shallow of me, but it detracted from the guitar enough for me that I ended up taking it off.
The cool thing about fretless is you can hit a note...and then renegotiate.

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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:55 pm

Telliot wrote:
Thu Mar 19, 2020 3:03 pm
I had one of those on an old Jupiter I owned. It was really fun, but yeah, challenging. I have a Bigsby on my Sorrento and I’ve been thinking of outfitting it it with a B-Blender. One of the things I struggled with was its looks. I know that’s shallow of me, but it detracted from the guitar enough for me that I ended up taking it off.
The Bowden bender is fun looking.

Man, I love that Norlin era Les Paul.
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gishuk
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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by gishuk » Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:11 am

I know that era of Gibson gets a bit of a bad rep but this is a great Les Paul. Heavy as shit though, it must be about 10/11 lbs and thats before the bigsby!

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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by Larry Mal » Fri Mar 20, 2020 4:06 pm

Not by me it doesn't. I love Norlin stuff. The playability can be wonderful with those. I like the volutes, and all the rest of it.

That's a wonderful guitar.

I bet that Bigsby is heavy on there! I had a '92 Les Paul Studio, and I don't think the body was weight relieved even though they tell me that era had that done to it. I don't know. It's very heavy, and the body likes to slide off my lap.

I had a Bigsby on there and pulled it off for that reason! It's still heavy as can be, if it didn't sound so good I'd move it on.
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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by hexes » Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:24 am

I never knew this existed! incredible! thanks for sharing, now I need one.

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gishuk
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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by gishuk » Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:05 pm

It works perfectly, once the string stretched and I adjusted the start point it bends to a perfect repeatable note every time. I'd very much recommend it if you want a bender on a bigsby guitar.

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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by Telliot » Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:27 pm

Yep, they work perfectly, and IIRC the bend amount is fine-tunable.
The cool thing about fretless is you can hit a note...and then renegotiate.

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Re: New Bigsby/B Bender day - or how I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Post by gishuk » Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:32 pm

Yeah you can set the amount to bend, could be more or less than a whole step.

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