If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

Re: If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

it just means you can install a bigsby with no invasive drilling. it also lets you adjust the angle of the strings over the bridge. its very minimal, and works very sweet.
all you have to do is remove your stop, and put the Towner down tension bar in its place. It increases functionality because of the adjustible break angle and also means you dont need any "custom made" truck stickers or anything to cover the holes left my removing your stop bar. This is my axe:
DSC_0455_zpsec48c5f9.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

it just means you can install a bigsby with no invasive drilling. it also lets you adjust the angle of the strings over the bridge. its very minimal, and works very sweet.
all you have to do is remove your stop, and put the Towner down tension bar in its place. It increases functionality because of the adjustible break angle and also means you dont need any "custom made" truck stickers or anything to cover the holes left my removing your stop bar. This is my axe:
View attachment 51115

right on! it only works with a certain model bigsby right?
 
Re: If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

the bigsby for a thinline like a 335 is either a B3 or a B7.

A b7 requires drilling a hole in the top of your guitar and has its own downtension roller. Because of this, you are left with two holes where the studs for your stop tailpiece goes. People often cover this with the "custom made" sticker you see on some old 335's. You wont need a towner for this one, but youll either need to live with drilling into the top of your axe and covering the holes, or using one of those big clunky vibramate things.

A b6 is what you can see on mine. No invasive drilling, but not downtension bar....this is where the towner does its thing. You just replace your stop bar with the towner and job done. The height is adjustible too.

So yeah bigsby B3 or the import version the b30 is what you need if you use the towner setup.
 
Last edited:
Re: If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

I surfed the website, I watched the video, I still don't get it. I'm guess I'm just having one of those days. What does it do exactly?

It replaces the forward roller on a Bigsby "long" vibrato, so you can use the "short" versions instead. It mounts in the empty tailpiece stud anchors. This means you only have to drill into the butt end of the guitar, not the top. It also allows you to adjust the break angle, which you cannot do with a Bigsby, short of shimming it (a bit of a PITA).

I'd just drill into the top myself, but some people are against that.
 
Re: If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

It replaces the forward roller on a Bigsby "long" vibrato, so you can use the "short" versions instead. It mounts in the empty tailpiece stud anchors. This means you only have to drill into the butt end of the guitar, not the top. It also allows you to adjust the break angle, which you cannot do with a Bigsby, short of shimming it (a bit of a PITA).

I'd just drill into the top myself, but some people are against that.

from what i see i dont need to drill at all.
 
Re: If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

Excellent choice Gibson175!!! :yourock::bigok: Thank you for the post.
 
Re: If you've ever wanted to see the inside of a Gibson Archtop...

Custom custom in that spot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top