Graphtec Saddles: good solution for Bigsby?

[Tommy Tourbus]

I've got a Johnny A w/Gibson tun-o-matic and Bigsby. The strings don't slide back and forth through the saddles when operating the Bigsby.

Would the Graphtec saddles be an improvement i.e.; would the strings pass back and forth through the saddle grooves? Would the gtec saddles be a cure for this? Also, how do they sound?

Or, is it that the metal saddles aren't the issue at all, but the break angle and pressure are the culprit? Could the regular saddles be cut to work just as well as the gtec's would?

[dunara]

Tommy - you've sussed it! That's the secret of how I can whammy away all day on my Bigsby trems and never go out of tune. You'll never break any strings again, and you'll get a terrifically even response across your strings. Don't delay - order them today!:AOK

[Phoebe]

Graph Techs will help, but you'll have to decide whether or not you like the change in tone. Personally, I polish and dress the slots and lube them w/graphite. Works well.

You're fortunate to own that guitar. A real beauty.

BTW, I bumped into Johnny at the Boston HOB Beck show Monday nite!

[Gas-man]

I have them on my Gretsch Elliot Easton. Stays in tune great.

[OlAndrew]

Got Graphs on two, both stay in tune just great. I went with the whole Resomax bridge setup. I changed the saddles in my Epi from metal to Graph, didn't see much change in tone and DID get rid of a lot of in-tune problems, but the Epi bridge was just junk to begin with, and I swapped it out. Be aware you'll have to touch up the slots in the GraphTechs to get them just right.

Something to look at is whether your bridge posts are set in a bushing, or just threaded into the wood. I did a thread on this awhile back that started a controversy, but my observation is that posts threaded into the wood wobble back and forth, don't stop in a real consistent place, and the wobble wears the threaded holes oversize pretty quickly. Bushings, and good-sized ones at that, are the way to go, in my opinion.

Good bushings come with a ResoMax, and some of the locking bridges at StewMac.

Then there's the issue of installing them. If you're not a good woodworker with the right tools, better have a pro do it.

[reverber8]

Gretsch 6120DSW and 6128TTVP PowerJet here. Both with Bigsbys. I use a little bit of Big Bends Nut Sauce at the nut and bridge. I have no problems with tuning stability although I don't aggressively Bigsby.
YMMV

[sidehatch]

I think graphteck sounds great. I hear a lot of folks call them tone killers but I disagree.

I ordered a carvin guitar 8 years ago and tried to order them but the guy taking my order wouldn't let me!

I have used them on my prs for 15 years and love them. I'm always intune after whammying.

I put them on a tunomatic and loved the tone thought I haven't used it with a bigsby. I know you'll have better tuning. The guitar may sound different but not worse.

[musicofanatic5]

[quote=Phoebe;5938725]Graph Techs will help, but you'll have to decide whether or not you like the change in tone. Personally, I polish and dress the slots and lube them w/graphite. Works well.

quote]

I noticed a difference. Not saying good or bad, but I noticed, and stayed with metal saddles.

I am just as fanatical about treating bridge saddle slots as I am nut slots. Slots are cut a coupla thous over the string diameter, with no more than half the string diameter buried in the slot, properly angled to meet the string trajectory at entrance and exit points, polished like a bastid, examined for inequities with a 30x magnifier, polished more as necessary, then lubed like a crazy monkey. No problems with a bigsby.