Newbie with a question

Hi there,

Just signed up after finding this wonderful forum last week. Been playing guitar for almost 26 years. I'm a guitarist in a old school bluesband(westcoast, swing, Chicago) and a big fan of all roots styles, although I do like a lot of modern day bands as well.

I've had a a starfire III reissue in the past, that I sold (stupid, I know), had a butchered up starfire II that I also sold, and I had a x 500 for two days (it had a few issues). Then I was guildless for a long time, but luckily I bought a 71 ce100d a few weeks ago. It's all original and in a prettig good shape and the fullsize humbuckers are sounding great, very clear, bridge even has some twang.

It has a harp tailpiece, so I bought a bigsby b6. Unfortunately, the neck angle is really shallow, so there is almost no breakangle on the bridge. Now I'm thinking of having a b7 installed but I was wondering if it will hurt the top and affect the sound negatively. Any opinions on having a b7 installed on an archtop?

Welcome to LTG and congrats on your CE100D. Yeah, I don't know about drilling a hole in the top for the B-7. It could be done but it might not be necessary. Have you looked into a Bigsby B-3 ? It's a little shorter than the B-6 which would move the roller away from the bridge and perhaps drop down the curve of the body and give you a sharper break angle. Check out the specs on Bigsby's website.

Please share some pics of your guitar. There doesn't seems to be enough pictures of Guilds around here - especially hollowbodiies!

Thx Chris, I'll check out the specs of a B3. Mauve that will work. My only concern is that the handle will too far away and it may look a bit weird because of the shorter tail. On the other hand, the ce-100 is a tad smaller than an es-175 so it maybe a good sollution.

I'll make some pics of the guild and post them this weekend!

Thanks,

Miquel

Looking at the "blueprints" on the Bigsby website which are not as clear as technical drawings could be I'd guess the B3 is about 1" shorter on the body top then the B6. You are correct that the CE100 has less guitar aft of the bridge than the ES175 so I think it'll look cool and the reach from the arm shouldn't be too bad. Of course once can get a longer arm. I suggest a 1" spring as well.

Hi,

So I installed a b3 tonight. Although the break angle is shallow, I raised the bridge a little bit and it works. There is enough pressure to keep the bridge in place. I'll have to make the notches a bit deeper, because some strings will pop out of I attack the strings harder. She will get new frets at the end of the month so I'll have my tech also check the bridge out. The bigsby changes the sound acoustically. It is much thinner en softer now. With the harp tai piece (and especially with the wooden bridge) at has much more volume. But the sounds isn't much altered when amplifier. A bit more highs and a little bit more sustain. So the jury is still out.

I want to post some pictures, but it seems that I'm not authorized (yet?). Do have to post some more before I have the right to post pictures?

Glad the B3 made a meaningful difference for your guitar.

cc_mac said:

Glad the B3 made a meaningful difference for your guitar.

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Yeah, but the jury is still out. The action is little higher than I would like it to be, but it is nescessary for having enough pressure on the bridge. But the higher action, although not that high, gives me a slight muscle ache in the underarm. But that could be caused by the low frets, which means that I have to use too much pressure. Hopefully new taller frets will solve this.

Lester13 said:

I want to post some pictures, but it seems that I'm not authorized (yet?). Do have to post some more before I have the right to post pictures?

Click to expand...

HI Lester welcome aboard! Interesting report about the sound change when you installed the Bigsby.
RE posting pics there's not a "probationary period" but the "short answer" is you need to host them somewhere like Photobucket and then post links to 'em from here. Not that I'm endorsing Photobucket, just named 'em as an example.
And I'm sure many of us'll be delighted to see 'em!

Thx, already figured out how to post pics. But I will make and post beter pics this weekend.