Jump to content
Heritage Owners Club

vibramate experiments: H150, H535


bolero

Recommended Posts

well I purchased a vibramate & tried it out, figured I'd post my thoughts/results here for anyone else

 

I got a flat style one, which is typically not used on Les Paul style guitars

 

first I put it on a 150 I got from Jack Baruth ( thanks!! I love that gtri! ) and it worked great. since the carve on the body drops off fairly steeply from the post holes, and the bigsby mounts flat, it was raised almost an inch at the back, which looked a bit odd if you looked parallel to the body.....but further than 2 feet or so you wouldn't notice anything strange, and to be honest I quite liked the look of it on there. it certainly worked 100% fine, I left it on for a couple months. here's a pic of the two of them together:

 

 

gallery_672_98_551125.jpg

 

I think that style bigsby looks slick on a LP/H150

 

*however*

 

I got the urge to put a bigsby on my 535 as well...and looking at it, it has a much more gradual top carve, since the body is longer. One thing that has always bugged me about bigsby's on larger hollowbody gtrs is how far away they sit, relative to the bridge...I like being able to palm the handle & strum at the same time, and also prefer the string break close to the bridge as well. I know you can get extra long handles for them but they look sorta goofy & sometimes don't fit in the case very well

 

so I pulled it off the H150 & tried the H535....wow!! it's a perfect match on there. the back raises up a bit, but nowhere near as much as the H150.....and I really dig where it sits. and..no holes drilled: the vibramate screws into the studholes, and the bigsby just mounts on top. here's a pic:

 

 

gallery_672_98_128855.jpg

 

 

 

so if anyone is considering putting a bigsby on a H535 & doesn't want to drill holes, I would highly recommend using this setup.

 

I wish i could take better pictures, they are blown out :D but good enough for reference

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Doesn't the arm pop off? If so, I wouldn't think it would be noticeable when closing the case. Another point, I think I should make is not to put a Bigsby on a full hollow-body (at least not a B5). There is a lot of extra pressure on the top that is supported with the center block of a semi-hollow body, but there is no extra support on a full hollowbody.... It may not be an issue, but I think prolonged use may cause the top to crack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...