I recently completed a project I called the Gretschcaster and the main feature for this build was a Bigsby on a Telecaster. I wanted to make this build the best I can. Some of these upgrades can work for ALL Bigsby units and you may want to consider doing these.

I purchased a genuine USA made Bigsby B5 kit. Then, I headed to Callaham Guitar Parts for some nice Bigsby upgrades. Callaham has long made high quality parts and I have used them for many builds. Here is what I picked up.

1) Callaham Front Roller Upgrade Kit – All guitars equipped with a Bigsby B5 can suffer from reduced frequency response and sustain because of the lack of quality of the supplied front roller. This upgrade kit provides a solid, stainless steel front roller increases frequency response and sustain plus is grooved to maintain string alignment.

2) Callaham Upgraded Main String Shaft – Makes restringing easier while maintaining the original Bigsby look. Polished stainless steel shaft that is counterbored for the string ball ends. Thread the string through the hole and up to the tuner. These can be used on most Bigsby units and I put one on my Gretsch 6120RHH guitar.

3) Callaham 360 Arm Bracket for Bigsby Vibratos – Allows for full 360 rotation for the vibrato arm so player can position his picking hand without limit and maintain control of the vibrato.

I decided to use a Chet Atkins Bigsby arm on the Gretschcaster build. So this part was not used on that project. The Chet Atkins Bigsby arm already has the ability for 360 degree movement. This part will be a great improvement for most Bigsby units.

Installing the Bigsby upgrades.

Bigsby upgrades to install

To install the Callaham Upgraded Main String Shaft you need to remove the stock arm assembly. Just need an Allen wrench.

Remove stock arm

Using a locking pliers or vise grip you need to pull out the string holders from the original string shaft.

Once all the string holders out of the shaft it will pull out easily.

Slide in the Callaham Upgraded Main String Shaft. Easy to see it is better made and will made changing strings easier. Especially with the locking tuners I am have installed.

Attach the Chet Atkins Bigsby replacement arm. Just tighten with Allen wrench.

Chet Atkins replacement arm installed

Installing the Callaham Front Roller Upgrade Kit. Need to turn over and remove one screw using an Allen wrench. Then just slide out shaft and remove roller. Easy to see and feel that the original roller bar is basically hollow and lacks much mass. The Callaham Front Roller Upgrade Kit is not only better made with higher mass, it has grooves to guide the strings.

Remove Allen screw

Slide the new shaft and secure the new roller.

With these upgrades the Bigsby works better and is easier to use. Some other things you can do is look for some different Bigsby arms like the beefed up Duane Eddy Bigsby handle.

Gretsch 6120TM Bigsby Upgrades

Duane Eddy Arm

The Vibramate String Spoiler small bracket designed that fits your existing Bigsby Vibrato without any modifications or special tools. It easily slips right into place and is held in position by the tension of the strings when tuned to pitch. The Spoiler makes string changes so easier.

Trying different springs is also worth investigating. Some springs offer different tensions like the soft touch one sold by Reverend.

Adding locking tuners is a great upgrade improving tuning stability and making string changes easier.

Changing out the bridge can also help keeping your guitar in tune when using the Bigsby and improving tone.

Added recently did a few nice upgrades to my Gretsch 6120TM. I changed the bridge to an Stainless Compton bridge which increased sustain and has a nice clear tone. Also works better with the Bigsby.

Original bridge vs Compton bridge

Compton Compensated Custom Bridges are made in the USA from solid Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass, Aluminum and Titanium. Using solid material gives your guitar the sustain, tone and clarity you have been searching for. The concept of the solid bridge is to eliminate all the small parts that contribute to tone and sustain loss. The bridges are also designed to match your fret board radius.

The Compton bridge is a nice piece of stainless steel and has a nice mass. Sounds better in my opinion than the original bridge. These tune-matic style bridge also tend to rattle a bit.

I swapped out the stock Bigsby arm with a new gold Duane Eddy Vibrato arm. These have a nicer feel and are cast instead of stamped metal. I also liked the Duane Eddy Vibrato arm on my Gretsch G6120 Reverend Horton Heat Model better and wanted to add the same arm to this guitar.

Swapped out the original gold Grover tuners with gold Grover 502G Roto-Grip Locking Rotomatic. These are direct replacement with no screws holes needed to be drilled or modifications. Locking tuners make changing strings easier and cam improve tuning stability.

New Grover Locking tuners installed. They are a direct replacement. They look similar as well.

Original Grover Tuners on left and new Locking Grover Tuners on right

The Compton bridge is stainless steel and not gold like the rest of the hardware on this guitar. However Gretsch is known to mix gold and chrome hardware on some of their guitars. Tone is what I am chasing most and this bridge is a nice improvement.

Gibson ES-295 Bigsby Upgrade

My 1997 Gibson ES-295 Historic Custom Shop is a great Scotty Moore tribute, but features a factory Bigsby. Scotty’s guitar did not have Bigsby. Excellent guitar, but wanted to improve the way the Bigsby feels and plays. I had already replaced the original Gibson ABR-1 Tun-o-matic bridge with a Gretsch Bigsby 0261 Compensated Guitar Bridge Saddle. Tuning and sustain improved.

Gretsch Bigsby 0261 Compensated Guitar Bridge Saddle

I upgraded the Bigsby by installing a Callaham Main String Shaft making restringing easier allowing to thread the string through the hole and up to the tuner.

I also changed the stock Bigsby arm with a nicer Duane Eddy Vibrato arm. The original are is stamped metal and the Duane Eddy Vibrato arm has a better feel and are cast metal.

Making these changes are quite easy and totally reversible. Just did the work when I was ready to change strings. I use D’Addario Half Rounds, Medium, 11-49 strings on this guitar. They are round wound with stainless steel and then precision ground leaving the outer surface smooth and “semi flat.” The result is a string with the tone and tension characteristics of round wound strings, with a smoother feel, similar to flat wound strings. So these strings are generally brighter that most flat round strings with less string noise that round wound strings.

First step is to tape down the bridge with low tack tape. The bridge on many of these hollow body guitars are not pinned and are floating. The tape is to hold the position of the bridge when you take off the strings.

Next you need to remove the Bigsby tailpiece. You need to remove the three screws and the strap hanger.

Now that the strings and Bigsby tailpiece are removed from the guitar. Next step is to take off the stock Bigsby arm. Very simple using a hex or Allen wrench.

Now you want to use a vise grip or locking pliers to pull out the string holders from the main shaft. Locking the pliers and a bit of rolling motion as you pull will usually do the trick. You need to remove these before the shaft will slide out.

Now just slide in the new Callaham Main String Shaft. Replace the with the new Duane Eddy Vibrato arm (or whatever Bigsby arm you like). All you need is the hex wrench to tighten up the replacement arm.

Notice that Rockabilly legend Darrel Higham likes to install “fixed” Bigsby arms to many of his guitars.

Now all you need to do is re-install the Bigsby tailpiece back on the guitar, tighten (not over tighten) the three screws making sure the ground wire is still making contact with the Bigsby. Reinstall the strap hanger. Once the Bigsby is re-installed, just replace the strings and tune it up.

You should find the string thru design of the Callaham Main String Shaft will make putting the new strings on quite a bit easier. Once it is tuned to pitch, remove the tape on the bridge.

Job done and is a nice improvement.

I like the new arm and the upgrade improves an already great guitar.