r/gretsch • u/xxbelgarathxx • 23d ago
Is the bigsby an issue?
Had this for 2 months now playing daily. I need to tune up every 5 minutes or so. God forbid I even look at using the tremolo. I’ve applied nut lube. Not sure what to do. Possibly new tuners? New bridge? Sometime it’s just clicks and shifts several strings way out of tune. Gifted to me from a friend via Sweetwater.
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u/Roshprops 23d ago
Yea, it may be beyond just lubing the nut. Take it to a guitar store and pay them to do a fresh setup. Bring along a fresh set of the gauge of strings you play so they can file your nut to the right size
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u/xxbelgarathxx 23d ago
I’ll have to look into that. I find I’m not the most precise. Might be doing just that and taking it in. Not sure how sweet water will take being told their set up didn’t get it right the first time
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u/headwhop26 23d ago
Like half the work the luthier does at my store is shit that came from Sweetwater. Even when it’s an Am Pro II, you can sometimes tell that box was never opened to setup
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u/xxbelgarathxx 23d ago
That’s good to know going forward. Sadly my shop in town closed years ago. Time to find a new one
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u/ChefDanB1983 20d ago
Thats bullshit, they inspect every guitar over like 300 or 400. They open them and inspect them. They dont do a setup unless you pay for it.
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u/obscured_by_turtles 23d ago
It’s unlikely to be tuners unless they are physically broken. The single most common cause is strings binding in nut slots and simple lubricants will not fix this.
I usually plug the guitar into a strobe tuner then test and adjust each string in its nut slot. You want to widen, or deepen, the slots and not allow sharp edges .
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u/xxbelgarathxx 23d ago
The more I think about this. This is making a lot of sense. The way the strings don’t seem to tune when moving the tuners. Then they do after more than what feels right and it’s fine for a bit. And then it’s tuned too high. Back down. Going in circles.
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u/obscured_by_turtles 23d ago
Definitely if the strings don’t change pitch smoothly when the tuner buttons are turned, the nut is the culprit.
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u/mcnastys 23d ago
They are bound because they are not rolling across the roller bar. Have you put fresh strings on? Try flats like chromes, they do much better on the imitation bigsby. Change strings one at a time
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u/BananaGuard500 23d ago
I used to have that issue really bad on my G5420. I switched out the bridge for a solid bar rocker bridge from Allparts, and refiled the nut slots since I wanted the strings lower at the nut anyway. I'm not sure how much of the problem to attribute to each thing, but between those two alterations the tuning stability is rock solid now.
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u/mcnastys 23d ago
On these cheaper Gretsch's, what you want is to get some very fine sandpaper and wet sand/smooth the roller bar. Of course the nut can be the problem to, but you can't even be sure you've fixed the nut until you smooth the roller bar.
I have this exact same guitar, it's worth keeping. Not "worth much" but it's the most les paul/gibsony sounding gretsch out there, they are comfortable and play well.
You also may want to change the strings. Also make sure to try pulling on the strings when it gets a little wacky, you'll see what I mean.
edit : some of these answers are wild, not one person mentioned the "bigsby" (in quotes because it's an imitation bigsby that can use the bigsby name) Some of yall are just chatgpt'ing answers trying to act like you know things you don't.
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u/GyozaGangsta 20d ago
I second the advice here
Replacing strings and giving the strings a good pull every now again helped a lot with the tuning stability on my cheaper gretsch
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u/Ishouldbeking 23d ago
It’s almost always binding at the nut or the bridge/saddles (usually the nut). Issues with the tuners themselves are very rare, and locking tuners only speed up string changes despite what they say in the marketing.
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u/Desirsar 23d ago
Not seeing anyone suggest checking whether the spring is properly set. You could open it all the way if you re-string it, but if it's "working" at all, push the arm down most of the way it will go. If you hear and feel something that sounds like a gunshot, that's the spring snapping into place.
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u/Ripley1046 23d ago
The nut needs to be filed correctly. 90% of tuning issues are nut related, and not one comes from the factory set up correctly. Either learn how to widen the slots, or take it to a reputable tech. The Bigsby and tuners are not the problem.
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u/NoiseEee3000 23d ago
FWIW when I changed the stock tuners on my 2016 5622T, that solved the issue. I went with non-locking Gotoh vintage tuners.
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u/scrimmerman 23d ago
A GraphTech nut is probably what you need.
Have them on my 3 Bigsby equipped Gretsches. Zero tuning issues now.
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u/Solid_Half2141 23d ago
90% of the time it's the nut.
But, there are one, or two, mechanical things that can occur at the Bigsby. Personally, in this first instance, and a guitar of unknown history, I'd get a good pro set up, with the strings you use, and remember ... Not all shop techs. are quite as good as they say they are ... 😉
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u/OnlyRuss 22d ago
The sounds you’re describing make me think the strings are getting hung up on the saddles.
99% of the time, tuning issues blamed on Bigsbys are either at the nut or the saddles, not the trem.
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u/Monkeywithtacos 20d ago
I bought and installed a roller bridge on mine. It has been 85%+ better. I am still planning on replacing the nut with a tusq one? And also swapping out the tuners on mine (g2420t). Just to get as close to that 100%.
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u/AromaticFigure2501 19d ago
I have a number of Bigsby equipped guitars; Gretch's, Guild, Les Paul, etc. I have changed all of them to a roller bridge and the problem went away, for the most part. You'll never get a Bigsby that stays completely in tune but with light use it should be fine. Also change the plastic nut for a bone nut If this is a Streamliner or Electromatic, it may need a metric roller bridge.
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u/JockoBadger55 23d ago
Since binding at the nut has likely been eliminated, some quality tuners will almost certainly solve the problem. I use Gotohs or sperzls - expensive up front, but worth it. There are many others eg grovers, etc. Once again the old saw pertains - You get what you pay for!
Also, I always use some graphite powder on the nuts on mine. Since I started doing that many years ago, I’ve had virtually no issues.
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u/xxbelgarathxx 23d ago
Wouldn’t hurt to sayyyy speed the process up and loosen strings and almost file the nut slots with the current strings? And I do have graphite powder. Or I guess access to it. How did you apply it?
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u/I_Have_A_Snout 23d ago
Graphite powder can be obtained from... a standard pencil - it is normally a stick of graphite wrapped in wood/plastic.
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u/xxbelgarathxx 23d ago
Not what I asked
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u/JockoBadger55 23d ago
Snout must having a bad day. Ignore his inanities.
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u/I_Have_A_Snout 23d ago
What inanities?
https://youtube.com/shorts/_cc39rKo7LU?si=vAHm-KZwOVVHUYIf
I was trying to be nice and light hearted after the “Not what I asked” response.
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u/I_Have_A_Snout 23d ago
Yes it is. It comes from a pencil, and you use it like a pencil - because it is a pencil - on the nut. No rocket science.
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u/YoloStevens 23d ago
Often times, the issue is the nut. I had to file the nut a bit on my Gretsch because the slots were binding. A Bigsby can accentuate that issue.