Bigsby vibrato tailpiece
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The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (or Bigsby for short) is a type of mechanical vibrato device for
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
designed by
Paul Bigsby Paul Adelburt Bigsby (1899–1968) was an American inventor, designer, and pioneer of the solid body electric guitar. Bigsby is best known for having been the designer of the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (also mislabeled as a tremolo arm) and prop ...
and produced by the
Bigsby Electric Guitar Company Bigsby is a brand of guitars and guitar accessories that operated as an Privately held company, independent company by Paul Bigsby until 1966 when it was purchased by ex-Gibson (guitar company), Gibson executive Ted McCarty. In 1999, the brand w ...
(currently an independently operated subsidiary of
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturer of instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equipment, however it is best known for its ...
). The device allows musicians to bend the pitch of notes or entire chords with their pick hand for various effects. Bigsby was inspired to create a new vibrato system after being tasked by Merle Travis to repair the Kauffman Vibrola on his
Gibson L-10 Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gibso ...
. The Bigsby system would debut in 1951, with the first example going to Travis. By the mid 1950s, Bigsby had ceased production of his own guitars and began only producing a range of vibrato tailpieces.


Design

The Bigsby vibrato unit is installed on the top of the guitar and includes a 'rocking bridge', not a 'roller bridge'. The lever arm of the Bigsby is spring-loaded and attached to a pivoting metal bar, around which the strings of the guitar are installed. In the neutral or unused position, the pressure of the spring counterbalances the pull of the strings, resulting in constant pitch when the strings are played. When the arm of the Bigsby is pushed down towards the top of the guitar, the bridge rocks forward causing the strings to loosen, lowering their pitch. When the arm is released, the strings return to normal pitch. The arm may also be lifted to raise the pitch of the strings. The Bigsby is highly controllable within its range of motion and usually requires little force to operate. It is ideally suited to musicians who use slow, subtle, or extended bends. It has limited range compared to vibrato units using longer springs contained internally. Competing units, like the
Floyd Rose The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1976, the first of its kind, and it is now manufactured by a company of the same name. The Floyd R ...
and the Fender ''synchronized tremolo'' (or strat-style) are therefore preferred by some players. Bigsby vibratos are still factory-installed on a variety of electric guitars, including certain instruments branded as PRS (Starla),
Epiphone Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...
, Fender,
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,
Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsch ...
,
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,
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, and
Schecter Guitar Research Schecter Guitar Research, commonly known simply as Schecter, is an American manufacturing company founded in 1976 by David Schecter, which originally produced only replacement parts for existing guitars from manufacturers such as Fender and Gi ...
, as well as luthiers companies such as MotorAve. Many electric guitars can also be retrofitted with a Bigsby, which requires no additional routing, but may require additional holes to be drilled. Adapters, such as the models sold by Vibramate, can be used to install a Bigsby Vibrato on a guitar without drilling any holes. Variations in guitars, such as between flat top and
archtop An archtop guitar is a hollow electric or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players. Typically, an archtop guitar has: * Six strings * An ar ...
, require different models of Bigsby. Bigsby units ship with their own roller bridges, though these are often discarded in favor of more adjustable alternatives such as the Tune-o-matic style bridge or
Jazzmaster The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in th ...
style bridge. The roller bridges that come with the Bigsby do not offer individual string intonation adjustment, and have relative string length preset for string sets with a wound G string, rather than for the plain G string preferred by many electric guitarists today.


Ownership

Bigsby was sold by its previous owner,
Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsch ...
, to Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in January 2019.


See also

*
Vibrato systems for guitar A vibrato system on a guitar is a mechanical device used to temporarily change the pitch of the strings. Instruments without a vibrato have other bridge and tailpiece systems. They add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the stri ...
*
Tailed bridge guitar The 3rd bridge is an extended playing technique used on the electric guitar and other string instruments that allows a musician to produce distinctive timbres and overtones that are unavailable on a conventional string instrument with two br ...


References

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External links


Bigsby guitars
producer of the ''Bigsby vibrato tailpiece''.


Vibramate
Guitar bridges