Hey folks,
Sorry this is the wrong section for this, but the weath of knowledge about Bigsby made instruments on this forum is amazing.
I'm interested in finding out the scale length and nut width Paul Bigsby used on his 6 string electric guitars, like the Merle Travis guitar etc.
In pictures and videos the necks look smaller than standard modern scale guitars?
Also I wonder how much influence Bigsby made guitars had on the ByrdLand guitar.
Thanks,
Matt
Bigsby electric 6 string scale length
Moderators: Dave Mudgett, Janice Brooks
-
Matthew Carlin
- Posts: 463
- Joined: 25 Mar 2008 4:03 pm
- Location: Lake County, IL.
Bigsby electric 6 string scale length
"Just tryin to make some music in the money business"
-
Deke Dickerson
- Posts: 85
- Joined: 2 Apr 2007 6:35 am
- Location: California, USA
Matt--
The fretboard on the Merle Travis famous 1948 Bigsby solidbody appears to have been taken off of his 1920's Gibson L-4 (check out the dot pattern on the 12th fret, different than the playing card suit inlays). Merle's L-4 body was later used to make a 12-string acoustic guitar, which Travis gave to Hank Thompson. I'm not sure what year exactly that Travis' L-4 was, but the early ones are 24 7/8" scale and the later ones are 24 3/4" scale, both with a nut width of 1 3/4".
The Bigsby guitars I've been lucky enough to inspect in person all have a 24 3/4" scale with a nut width of 1 5/8". So I think Bigsby probably just used the L-4 scale length as a default. I don't know if he used a 1 5/8" or the original 1 3/4" fretboard width on the Travis guitar, because I've never had a ruler on it, but my suspicion just looking at the guitar is that he probably slimmed the nut width from the L-4 fretboard's original 1 3/4".
So, as far as the scale length goes, I don't think Bigsby had any influence on the Byrdland design, but it is interesting that both Hank Garland and Billy Byrd used Bigsby solidbody electric guitars immediately before switching to the new Gibson Byrdland. In the hands, they are quite different guitars indeed, with almost completely different feel in terms of body size, scale length, space between the end of fretboard and the bridge, etc.
Hope that helps.
The fretboard on the Merle Travis famous 1948 Bigsby solidbody appears to have been taken off of his 1920's Gibson L-4 (check out the dot pattern on the 12th fret, different than the playing card suit inlays). Merle's L-4 body was later used to make a 12-string acoustic guitar, which Travis gave to Hank Thompson. I'm not sure what year exactly that Travis' L-4 was, but the early ones are 24 7/8" scale and the later ones are 24 3/4" scale, both with a nut width of 1 3/4".
The Bigsby guitars I've been lucky enough to inspect in person all have a 24 3/4" scale with a nut width of 1 5/8". So I think Bigsby probably just used the L-4 scale length as a default. I don't know if he used a 1 5/8" or the original 1 3/4" fretboard width on the Travis guitar, because I've never had a ruler on it, but my suspicion just looking at the guitar is that he probably slimmed the nut width from the L-4 fretboard's original 1 3/4".
So, as far as the scale length goes, I don't think Bigsby had any influence on the Byrdland design, but it is interesting that both Hank Garland and Billy Byrd used Bigsby solidbody electric guitars immediately before switching to the new Gibson Byrdland. In the hands, they are quite different guitars indeed, with almost completely different feel in terms of body size, scale length, space between the end of fretboard and the bridge, etc.
Hope that helps.
-
Matthew Carlin
- Posts: 463
- Joined: 25 Mar 2008 4:03 pm
- Location: Lake County, IL.
-
Deke Dickerson
- Posts: 85
- Joined: 2 Apr 2007 6:35 am
- Location: California, USA