Advice for adding aftermarket Tremolo
Advice for adding aftermarket Tremolo
Does anyone have experience adding a tremolo of any kind onto a guitar? I somehow managed to own a handful of solid body electric guitars without having a trem on any of them.
I've seen bigsby trems with vibramate mounting kits that don't require any drilling to install, but their pretty expensive.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/0868013004--bigsby-bigsby-b5f-telecaster-modification-kit
I've also seen the duesenberg tremolo that installs right over the bridge.
I'm considering putting something like that on my les Paul or telecaster. Has anyone done something similar? Is this something I can reasonably do myself? Looking for recommendations and/or advice.
Thanks!
Ordinarily I'm all for doing your own work on your own guitar, but unless you've done major work to a guitar before, I'd take it to a good luthier. Even a minor alignment error and you've got holes in your guitar that will ruin any resale value it has. That being said, if you're willing to take the risk, a bigsby shouldn't be too hard to install if you've replaced a bridge, shimmed a neck or slotted your own nut before. It's all about getting it located and mounted correctly the first time.
might also help to practice on a cheap beater guitar or even scrap wood.
Floyd Rose also does the FRX, which can directly replace a Les Paul style bridge.
I've replaced tremolos with aftermarket models before, but it was always a drop-in replacement because I'm not comfortable doing anything crazier than drilling bigger holes for tuning machines on my guitars. One botched measurement or slip of the hand and you've got a permanently ugly guitar.
There's also this trem for the Tele which requires no new holes