Gibson Vibrola

[Nathan]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has a guitar with the mysterious Vibrola/Maestro on it. I was thinking of using one on a build, but I kind of question the stability/usefulness. They look cool, but how do they compare to a Bigsby? I would use a quality roller bridge of course. Thanks for your input!

[Purple]

I have a '67 Historic Flying V with one. It's not for doing dive bombs and extreme whammy bar tactics but for little chord wavers and stuff it works fine. My guitar has an ABR bridge and I just make sure I lubricate the saddles and nut with Big Bends Nut Sauce. Of course, it's not as stable as a stop tailpiece - if you bend a string it will pull up on the bar some. But the tuning stability is reasonable (if the bridge and nut are not binding the strings).

I haven't spent enough time on a Bigsby to give you a comparison there.

[Budokahn]

I have one on my Firebird VII and it is great it is interesting though because it doesnt thro all of the stings the same like on a bigsby usually the treble strings get more action then the bass
If you push the arm down and look at the vibrola at the bridge the trebles side of it will bottom out on the guitar where the bass side is off of the guitar
It sounds great though.

[Shakermaker]

(Don't mean to rob your thread, Nathan, but I hope this may be relevant).

I have recently been considering having a Lyre Vibrola installed on my CS Non-Reverse Firebird RI, but have been holding off for fear of the sustain suffering. Can anybody comment on whether a Vibrola will seriously rob a guitar of its sustain? A certain impact is to be expected, but I certainly don't want to turn my guitar into a banjo!

Cheers,
Mike.

[Nathan]

for fear of the sustain suffering/don't want to turn my guitar into a banjo!

That's exactly relevant shakermaker, I wanted to add that I put a bigsby on my les paul once and it sucked. I had stringsaver saddles that gave the response a fender-like feel -softer and more "boing" thn steel TOM saddles. The tone was NOT what you think of when you think LP, but that doesn't mean it was a bad sound. Just not what I wanted to hear from a LP. It was the longer plate that attached at the butt end, and 2 screws into the top, the horseshoe one might have been a little different (?)

Please add more if you have experience!

[Purple]

I would say I perceive slightly less sustain than a stop tailpiece.

[Shakermaker]

Originally Posted by Nathan

That's exactly relevant shakermaker, I wanted to add that I put a bigsby on my les paul once and it sucked. I had stringsaver saddles that gave the response a fender-like feel -softer and more "boing" thn steel TOM saddles. The tone was NOT what you think of when you think LP, but that doesn't mean it was a bad sound. Just not what I wanted to hear from a LP. It was the longer plate that attached at the butt end, and 2 screws into the top, the horseshoe one might have been a little different (?)

Please add more if you have experience!

Good stuff, I didn't want to be a hijacker!

See this is what worries me, if you noticed a big difference with a bigsby, it makes me wonder what the Lyre Vibrola will do to my guitar since it's a less substancial piece of metal, and doesn't offer the same solid connection to the top of the guitar... Guess I need to try and get my hands on a Vibrola equiped guitar and try one out for myself! Not easy since the guitar shops round me way aren't the greatest....

So any more input is most definitely welcome!

Cheers,
Mike.

[Nathan]

Score! For the price, this is really decent. I don't know how the quality compares to the Allparts remake, but this is the right design for a Firebird III which is essentially what I'm building. It's chrome plated rather than nickel, and the mini humbucker covers I have are chrome, so that's important and they don't really get any cheaper! There are 2 other complete units on ebay but this one's expensive enough already. I'll be able to make my money back if it doesn't work for me since it's a real vintage part.

[Shakermaker]

Nice one Nathan! I was going to go with the Allparts version as the shop I get my frets done at can order them in.

Congrats again mate,

Mike.