Fender Tele -American or Japanese Bigsby?

[Ciaccona]

I'm going to shop for a Fender Telecaster tomorrow/next days.
I've been looking around for some time now.

I liked American Standards I've tried so far but since I always prefer to have a tremolo on guitars I've ordered a japanese built Fender with Bigsby to try it out tomorrow.

Heard good stuff on the japanese Fender quality, not being inferior to the american ones.
Many people complain about tuning issues due to Bisgby abuse though.

I'm going to play rock but don't intend to really use the Bisgby for hard bendings.

I'm scared of modifying an american Tele with any kind of tremolo though as the result is not safe and it'll loose value.

What are your experiences/opinions on the Fender bigsbies (compared to the American Standards)?

Thanks!

[BillytheMTN]

IMO putting a Bigsby on a Tele kind of defeats the purpose of a Tele. The Tele bridge and string through body design give the guitar its twang which is mostly void when you put a trem unit (especially a heavy Bigsby) on the guitar. Bigsby's do have tuning issues as soon as you touch the bridge, leave it alone and you should be ok, so why install one. Japanese Fenders are every bit as good as the Americans (sometimes better) unless you go custom shop. However the American guitars tend to hold their value better as long as they are stock. I play a tele with a standard bridge and play a strat with a tremelo for that purpose. There is no right or wrong but tele tone is all about fixed bridge.
If I were to experiment I would find a mexican or indonesian tele and put it on that. You could probably find one pretty cheap. The worst thing about them are the electronics followed by the tuners which could also be replaced easily if you like the results.
Personally I build my guitars from USA Custom parts and save about 50% of the cost. I install the pickups I like as well as locking tuners (which would be a good thing to install with a Bigsby) and buy genuine American CTS pots and quality switches. Assembling a guitar this way not only saves you money but you end up with a unique instrument that you can actually play and not worry about hurting its resell.

[jspartz]

I have a CIJ tele... I think it is a 50's reissue with a Bigsby on it. I like it a lot. It has a different tone and feel than my 1996 American Standard tele. I love them both but I find myself grabbing the CIJ tele more.

Jason

[orbro]

The 60's tele w bigsby is a cool guitar. The biggest drawbacks on that particular model are the bridge and pickups. Th bigsby itself doesn't throw it out of tune badly. Its a very subtle tremolo. You can retrofit it with a mustang bridge and custom shop nocaster pickups and have a very solid playing guitar that sounds killer as well.

[Pohaku]

I have a 2009 CIJ Tele (Floral Reissue). A great playing guitar. Did not love the stock pickups (thought they were too bright) and replaced them with SD Antiquity neck and SD 5-2 bridge pups. MUCH better. A wonderful guitar.

[big country]

pretty sure the twang comes from the neck pickup and the cap it uses
but the bridge does have its own sound being surrounded by a nickel
plated bridge not all bridges have the same metallurgic properties






if you put a Bigsby on you'll just have toast but very good toast
very good toast yielding a potentially much better jam


I would say if your buying the guitar for the next owner do not
put a bigsby on it .

but if your buying it for your self and you want a bigsby buy golly
a bigbys yee shall have

[Ciaccona]

thanks for your replies, very interesting to read your experiences!

I've tried the japanese bisgby Fender today and compared it to 2 Standards.
I was surprised how good and close the Americans sounded to each other.

The Bigsby on the other hand buzzed all over the place. The reason for sure lies in the bridge and the flat angle. Also, the pickups seemed to be very low output, not really my thing.

As mentioned above, changing bridge and pickups would change this but then again why go for this guitar? It looks cool and I'd like a Bigsby but I'd rather nail one into a Standard (won't do that though) than hoping the sound of the japanese would improve after these operations.

I've ordered an American now and see how it sounds when it arrives.
After Christmas though...

[octatonic]

Japanese Fender have a vintage radius (7.25").

Not a bad thing but if you are used to flatter fingerboards then you might not like it.

[Ciaccona]

So I finally got this baby from the USA. Loving it!
Sorry for crappy webcam quality.