My new (to me) S-50. Help finding a vibrato?

[devonteran]

Sorry for the cross posting. I originally accidentally posted this in misc instead of Solid Bodies.

I was at an antique mall the other day and found this guy:

It's beat up pretty bad but still plays and sounds great. I'm loving it so far. You can see from the pic that it used to have some sort of vibrato system installed. I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out what the right system is for this guitar and where I might be able to find it.

I saw another S-50 in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19982&start=15

There were some with sweet vibrato bars like this:

What is that system and is it even possible to find one any more? Is it the best for the guitar?

 

[Thunderface]

You should still be able to find them. They do pop up on eBay from time to time, and someone here might have one. I like the one that on mine (pictured above).

 

[Walter Broes]

http://www.hagstromparts.se/

 

[capnjuan]

Hi and welcome to LTG; pretty cool guitar! I hope you find the parts you need ... but am a little saddened that the guitar was sold in an 'antiques' mall ... I'm older than the guitar ....... so what does that say about me :evil: :wink:

Welcome!

 

[danerectal]

The Hagstrom vibrato is not going to be a "plug-and-play" situation. You'll find that you need a route in the body for the vibrato springs, etc. My guess is that you originally had a clamshell bridge that was replaced with what you see now. A Bigsby wouldn't require any routing, but it wouldn't be quite the same.

 

[devonteran]

My first thought was to go bigsby with it. I probably will. By the looks does anyone know if any bigsbys besides the B5 will fit? I'd love to get one with the Guild logo if possible.


Also, how well does that Hagstrom vibrato perform? Is it better than the bigsby in terms of bending and holding tune?

 

[Thunderface]

Doh! I forgot to say "Welcome aboard." Forgive my manners, or lack thereof. I think the Hag vibrato performs pretty well. It doesn't take semi-hardcore abuse like the Guildby's on my S-100 Deluxes, but I think it certainly holds it own compared to other vibrato-equipped guitars I've owned. I don't know where you're based, but I wish we were closer in proximity so I could loan you mine to try out and see what you think.

 

[devonteran]

Any idea if any of the Guild stamped bigsbys would fit this guitar and if so where I could get them?

 

[kakerlak]

Any idea if any of the Guild stamped bigsbys would fit this guitar and if so where I could get them?

The solidbody model Guildsbys might fit. You'll be drilling new screw holes, but possibly covering up some/all the old ones, which might be a plus. I just wonder if there's enough space b/w the bridge and the edge of the guitar for it to fit...

It won't be factory/era correct, but it will at least be a Guild part.

Finding one might be a bit tough, but they do come up on eBay from time to time. You can also order a regular Bigsby B5 new (non-Guild branded) pretty much anywhere and that's probably what the screw holes on the guitar now are from...

Here's how the Guild ones look (pic stolen from Thunderface):

They basically took the archtop ones and creatively cut off the hinge part (an example of the kind of cool facts you can learn from Hans' book)

 

[devonteran]

Could you by chance measure your Guildsby and let me know how much space it needs for clearance? I could measure my guitar then to figure out if it would work.

 

[Thunderface]

Here's how the Guild ones look (pic stolen from Thunderface):

They basically took the archtop ones and creatively cut off the hinge part (an example of the kind of cool facts you can learn from Hans' book)

The above photo is one that I "borrowed" off the two-page Used Gear spread on the Guild S-100 that was in the Summer 2010 issue of Guitarist magazine. I wish my sunburst Deluxe looked that good. Mine's a little rougher around the edges ...

 

[Thunderface]

You can really see by the two examples how they modified the archtop Bigsby vibratos to fit on the solidbody S-100. Cut it off before the hinge, drill some screw holes and voila, a Guildsby for the S-100.

 

[Thunderface]

Did you see this on eBay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0573302300

It doesn't appear, from our earlier conversations, that a Guildsby would fit on an S-50.

 

[Hammer]

eBay goodness. :wink: