Guitar Reviews 4U Gretsch Bigsby B6C unit
a great upgrade for Gretsch 5420T guitars
The Bigsby B6C - here I'll review the unit
Then I'll show you how I'll upgrade a 5420T Electromatic to a B6C -
here shown as supplied with the original type B60 Bigsby
The Bigsby B6C vibrato unit is often referred to as the 'V' type Vibrato as it has the V shaped cutout, some Gretsch guitars have the 'Cadillac V type' non-vibrato tailpiece which is different altogether.
I've installed a few of these B6C units on guitars as upgrades over the years as I prefer the design of them to the B60.
The B6C unit used was purchased on-line from Thomann UK at £149 including shipping.
The B6C is a superior alloy to that used on the B6 unit fitted to the Korean and Chinese made Electromatics, although that unit works well, the B6C looks visually nicer and I think is a tonal improvement too.
The hinged mounting plate on the original B6 Korean version Bigsby is 4 screw and a different shape than the one used on the US made B6C - the B6C has a triangular shape plate with the strap button screw fitting through a central hole on the plate.
Fitting the new B6C is very easy with only a few basic tools required, which we'll cover in detail below.
Tonally the new B6C unit I found improved the tone on the Fairlane blue 5420T I fitted it to and looks great.
You may find on installation that the spring is too tall and makes the lever arm sit higher than is comfortable. Shorter tension springs are available for you to set the arm height, avoid bending the arm as the arm should be swung back over the name on the Bigsby when putting in a case and if bent can scratch the top plate and mark it if it sits on the plate surface.
In all the B6C is a great unit and not massively expensive, visually it looks stylish and I much prefer it in appearance over the Bigsby B70 type that has the extra roller over the strings that puts more load on the bridge.
So lets move onto fitting a B6C as an upgrade part:
The upgrade work is quite simple, for tools you'll need a cordless drill, drill bits, dowel rod, screwdrivers, hex key for the strap button, masking tape, wood glue and touch in paint. Fit new strings to the guitar once the new B6C is installed.
If required you can colour match any repair dowel ends - acrylic car touch-in paints or Tamiya model paints I find work as they do not tend to react to the guitar finish and are easy to blend and apply. If colour matching, note that on drying or clear coating over, that this may darken the final colour shade.
However, most of any repair areas are small and hard to see. The Tamiya series paints have many colour shades available including clear colours and tinted clear colours which you can see I have used on other projects like this Brian Setzer 6120 Hot Rod Truss Rod plate.
The Vanson Roller Tunamatic is a direct fit -
I use these on most of my Gretsch guitars.
I would advise fitting a roller tunamatic type bridge in the upgrade process as the roller saddles aid tuning stability, I use the Vanson type roller bridge but other makes are available.
The Vanson is inexpensive and I have found them to perform well, look good and basically do the job nicely and I have used them on 6120 Hot Rods, 6120 TM and the 5420 Electromatics.
The standard blade saddle type Tunamatic tends to 'rock' or hang up on the strings when you use the Bigsby, the roller type unit prevents this.
For extra sustain, once the guitar is adjusted and settled, you could turn some solid metal spacers to sit under the bridge thumbwheel adjusters so you have solid contacts between the bridge and the Tunamatic unit for better tone transfer.
Trial fit of the B6C rested on top of the original B60 unit -
note I have painted in the B6C recesses to the Fairlane Blue colour
If you are upgrading from the original type you will probably have to fill the holes left from the original unit that are not covered by the plate, this can be done with wooden cocktail sticks, round BBQ Skewer or wood dowel cut to length - the dowel can be matched to the old screw hole taper for a nicer fitting job.
The 5420T Silver Sparkle - Limited edition of 500 Guitars -
Also updated with a B6C and Vanson Bridge - in process here
On the Fairlane Blue 5420T guitar I blended some MGTF Trophy Blue with Platinum silver to make a touch in paint colour which I used on the wood dowels ends and also in the Bigsby plate recesses to colour match to the Fairlane blue for a classy finishing touch.
On the Fairlane 5420T I upgraded, the new B6C unit plate almost entirely covered the screw holes so there was minimal sight of any repairs.
The new B6C as fitted to the 5420T guitar -
Once installed the tip of the Bigsby should be about 1"
high off the scratchplate - here the standard spring is installed -
I replaced it with a shorter aftermarket spring to lower the arm
Once you are set with the new Bigsby and the tools to hand, the job is quite straightforward - and within around an hour's work you should be back into playing.
In this view, I have used masking tape to give me a centre line
down the guitar body and also on the end of the body side panel -
centreing the line of the guitar on the strap button position.
Always measure, test fit and check before doing any drilling!!!
Once you have removed the old B60 unit you can fill the old holes with the dowel or BBQ skewer. On my job I put the dowels in just under the surface of the existing finish so it allowed me to put a few coats of the repair colour match on so it would fill to the surface of the existing finish and not stand out proud over the surface.
To mount the Bigsby I aligned and centred the unit off the fixed bridge centre line to the strap button hole as in the pictures above.
In this view of a 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod you can see the c. 6mm gap
between the body top edge and the underside of the B6C plate clearly
at the binding edge of the guitar body
I placed the new unit on the guitar and adjusted the height of the top plate off the body at the end of the body - typically the height here from the underside of new B6C top plate surface to the top edge of the guitar body at the binding edge is around 5-6mm, as taken from a 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod guitar.** You can make a spacer of 5-6mm out of thin card to use to gauge the height at the body binding edge. The B6C can sit on here for test height and marking purposes.
**You may find this measurement may vary depending on the contour of the guitar top**
A simple block of postcard card laminated to around 6mm or 1/4" in Imperial can be placed at the top binding edge of the guitar to give you the space height the Bigsby top plate to the body at the strap button end as a guide.
The B6C in-filled detail with my colour match to the Fairlane Blue
Turn the guitar side on and the Bigsby top plate as you look down, should then be about straight or with a slight angle down towards the strap button. The 5-6mm height stated above seems to work I find. Check at the body binding edge. Measure and check before drilling.
The B6C in-filled detail with my Green colour match on my
5420T 2 tone Green Anniversary Gretsch I upgraded from the B60 to B6C
Mark the new holes onto the masking tape and drill the new holes according to the mounting screws and fit the new B6C and you're about ready to reassemble.
I did a B6C upgrade on this Gretsch 6118 Anniversary guitar -
this was originally a G Tailpiece equipped 6118 guitar
If you do find that the top panel is somewhat lower at the body end all is not necessarily lost, in this case you may need to use a longer spring in the holder, or a 'jacking up washer' under the tension spring to raise the height of the lever a fraction - but test the arm height with new strings first. This saves re-drilling holes.
The 5420T Silver Sparkle and Fairlane Blue guitars -
both upgraded with B6C units and Vanson Roller Bridges
The washer inserted under the tension spring will raise the height of the lever at the lever end if you find the lever arm too low in operational use.
So that's the upgrade process for fitting the B6C. I hope you have found this useful.
The modern Electromatic and Streamliner guitars are nice quality instruments that can be easily improved with new parts including pickups, bridge units and machine heads.
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