The Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece

The Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece is a time-proven design and has been used by Gretsch Guitars for more than 55 years. Since the 1950’s the Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece has been the choice of world-class guitar builders for standard equipment on their premium guitars. Following Paul Bigsby’s original formulas from the early fifties, Bigsby tremolos are still hand-cast, hand polished and hand assembled. Hand cast aluminum frames, stainless steel handles, and nickel-plated string bars assure years of trouble-free service.

Re-Stringing the Bigsby Vibrato

  1. Crimp the string at a 45-degree angle next to the ball end (A)
  2. Feed the string underneath, around and over the axle (B).
  3. Place the ball end of the string onto the axle pin (C), keeping tension on the string to hold the ball in place.
  4. Push a foam wedge (D) into the space under the axle to keep the string in place on the pin while winding.
  5. Wind the string onto the tuning machine, tune to pitch and remove the foam wedge.
  6. Repeat for each string.