Xtrem Floating Tailpiece Vibrato by Guitar Fetish - No-drill "Budget Bigsby" Review

[@slicksnewonenow]

Boy... I'm a real sucker for a cheap guitar, too! I toured playing music for years. I've had two Gretsches stolen. I've had a few Teles stolen. I've had an acoustic or two stolen over the years. I ended up just looking for the "finest" cheap-ass instruments that I could find. And believe it or not, certain ones were roadworthy. I haven't seen one of those Grote 330ish guitars up close, but that looks like a decent instrument. And YES, those GFS parts are well worth the money. I've hotrodded almost all of my instruments, and the parts I've bought from them are top notch, as far as I'm concerned. I have an Xtrem and roller bridge on my phony Thinline Tele-ish geetar... It's great! Cheers

[@StickMan...77]

Thank you for posting this.

[@AlexRGuitar]

Greta tone and great playing!! Pleasure to watch!! 🙌🏼

[@justinbishopmusic]

Thanks!🙏

[@george-st-george]

thank you so much for this...i'm considering one for a vintage harmony rocket!!!!!this helped me so much....great job,you covered it all...nice playing too....cheers!!!.....and i dig the t-shirt.

[@wildnmild]

Thanks for your review. You were very thorough from install to suggesting roller bridge upgrade. The 1st songb you started to play reminded me of an old song called "Autumn Leaves". I would have loved to hear a little more of your rendition. Melody with chords is a beautiful style of playing those old ballads (well any ballad ... lol) nice impromptu review. Thanks for taking the time.

[@justinbishopmusic]

Thanks! I have kept this trem system in that guitar, and I went ahead and drilled holes to install it permanently. So far, it’s holding up well, and I use it frequently.

[@oldasrocks9121]

Check out the Towner tension bar that installs in your stop bar bushings and increases your break angle, keeps strings from jumping out of you saddle grooves.

[@justinbishopmusic]

Nice!

[@markellis8621]

Looks really great. I’m going to purchase one of these. Bigsby is really great but there’s holes need drilling on top of the body. I really don’t want to chance it. I’m guessing screw this into your strap button and check with having both E strings on before proper tightening. 👍🏻

[@justinbishopmusic]

Yes, and they also have one that goes on the tail piece posts. I prefer the Guyker one of that style. But I’ve tried them all, and installation was easy.

[@jplee3]

Nice review! I just picked one of these up and installed it yesterday on my Gretsch Jr Jet but am having some issues. I'm actually encountering the opposite issue of what you described on mine - I also overlooked tightening down the screw of the vibrato arm but noticed the movement was just fine. However, after turning it, I also noticed that the arm is actually someone tightening the lock nut on it's own every time I turn it (counterclockwise) - it's almost like some weird wrenching action and it ends up tightening the arm down so much so that it pulls the tailpiece and causes the strings to go out of tune very easily. I'll probably have to completely loosen all the strings to remedy this which stinks because I'll end up probably breaking one or more - I guess the set I just put on will be the 'sacrificial' set unless you know of an easier way to access the screw? I'm really not sure why it's tightening though on it's own...

[@trinacria1956]

Looks nice too

[@thewrenchturner1]

That coin appears to be a 5 yen piece. The 50 yen coin also has a hole in it, but I think you chose well to use as a washer! Kinda related- I've heard that people stuff a coin into the spring pocket to adjust the arm angle on Bigsby tremelos...I wonder if that affects tuning stability by "preloading" the spring?

[@justinbishopmusic]

Thank you!

[@bzbzob]

Have you seen the Towner Down Tension Bar? Look it up, it could work really well for you. I just ordered the XTrem and got the Towner, should be a good pair. Thanks for the review!

[@bzbzob]

Oops. just saw someone else mentioned this...

[@bluwng]

Is this meant for flat top or arch top guitars and is there a way extend the dive range?

[@allen5019]

Excuse me, How's the break angle? Is it exceeds 8 degrees? or less

[@jayess9860]

Thanks for posting the video. Are you still pleased with the vibrato and have you found any problems with it staying in tune? I picked up a Grote with the harp tail piece which should make for an easy install.

[@justinbishopmusic]

Yes, I use this guitar all the time with no issues. I put some pencil lead on nut and saddles, and it stays in tune pretty well.

[@jayess9860]

@@justinbishopmusic Thanks Justin.

[@Fel1xF7W]

i don't like to play clean and if i'm gonna play vibrato, it's probably gonna be thru a pedal, but i like the look of the extended strings past the bridge. can you take the arm off?

[@fightingstudent2363]

Dear Justin Bishop could you recommend me a good jazz guitar in the range of 500 to 2000 Euros, i bought your last recommendation the yamaha transacoustic and i wonder if you could give me a second recommendation??? Thank you so much!

[@justinbishopmusic]

I am in love with my Ibanez AS93FM …it has the Super 58 pickups preferred by George Benson, a flamed maple top, and an Ebony fretboard. The neck is very similar to the Gibson 335, and it has a very similar sound. If you prefer a thinner neck, go for the D’Angelico Excel DC which is a bit more pricey. Make sure it has the Seymour Duncan jazz pickups in whichever edition you find.

[@justinbishopmusic]

Oh one more that I haven’t played is the Eastman T486 or T486B with a Bigsby. Some come with single coils and others with Humbuckers…the single coils will be brighter. It also has ebony fretboard and is hand-made in China. The specs look great, though I haven’t tried one in person.

[@M5guitar1]

Maybe I'll get this for my Casino coupe.

[@justinbishopmusic]

It’s held up well for me! Only thing I should say is that the spring probably wouldn’t be strong enough if you use 11s, but for 10s it’s fine.

[@jeffmckinnon5842]

Do they sell one of these that is long enough that you don't have to actually reach back to find the arm when you want to use it?

[@justinbishopmusic]

There’s a longer version

[@markellis8621]

Does anyone know what’s that song called being played from 2.26

[@justinbishopmusic]

Lenny - Stevie Ray Vaughan

[@markellis8621]

Thanks. Really appreciate that. Great guitar piece. Awesome. I’ve just purchased the Xtrem floating vibrato tailpiece. Haven’t installed it yet as I’m waiting on new tuners. Looking forward to installing it 👍🏻

[@trinacria1956]

Looks cool, would it work on a solid body?

[@justinbishopmusic]

Yes, there’s a video of a guy who put in on his Gibson SG. But I wouldn’t do that without getting some felt padding to put between the metal and wood. I didn’t mind on this cheap guitar.

[@trinacria1956]

@@justinbishopmusic saw that video w SG but looked like had felt under 2 of the forward feet

[@justinbishopmusic]

@@trinacria1956 yes, that should be enough to protect it if you decide to remove it later.

[@ferdberfle5069]

I bought an X-Trem for my Epi SG Classic, but I bought the model that replaces the stop bar tailpiece. It screws directly on to the studs and that's the only connection to the guitar, no "harp" tailpiece all the way to the base of the guitar. It comes with metric threaded screws to mount it and includes felt washers that you install under the steel washers so the body of the unit doesn't touch the guitar. The only issue I've had with it is if you "dive bomb" the trem arm the whole bridge flexes back and forth. I ordered a bridge with roller saddles to fix that problem.

[@Kevin_Jimdrack]

thank for your Review !! you change your guitar pickups?

[@justinbishopmusic]

I think the ones in this video are the original. I eventually changed them to GFS Fat Pat from guitarfetish.com

[@hobiecat901]

Are those the Pickups that came with that guitar or did you change them Justin?

[@justinbishopmusic]

Those are stock. These Grote guitars are great!

[@jeremyhall3550]

did you change the bridge to rollers? I can't tell by looking. (why or why not?)

[@justinbishopmusic]

No, not yet. I should, but I haven’t measured yet to see if the GF ones are compatible. But it seems to work fine as is.

[@jeremyhall3550]

@@justinbishopmusic Yeah, i've got a duesenburg les trem on my Epiphone LP, and i had planned to spring for the roller bridge, but its been 3 years and I havnt really seen the need. ---im still really curious about what difference it would make. (if it aint broke...)

[@MatthewGalloway]

I would say that before a roller is put on , that the nut and bridge slots are checked for burs and catches. A roller won't really help if your nut keeps catching the string :). And who knows, once that is done you might not even need a roller!

[@MickSammonsMusicWorld]

Would that trem work on a Tele style?

[@justinbishopmusic]

You would need a different bridge plate that's flat (not the ash tray style).

[@kmichaelp4508]

Through the video I didn’t hear anything bad about the pups.

[@justinbishopmusic]

They are definitely usable, and they're not microphonic like the Firefly...I think as far as 335 copies go, I like this Grote better than the Firefly. I just added the new single coil pickup, and it gives it a little more clarity and brightness. I'll try to make a comparison video tonight to see if it's really an upgrade or all in my head!

[@kmichaelp4508]

@@justinbishopmusic looking forward.what part of Cherokee Co do you come from?

[@justinbishopmusic]

@@kmichaelp4508 Canton. I’m near the high school across the river. By where the Kmart and Western Sizzlin used to be.

[@kmichaelp4508]

@@justinbishopmusic , hahaha. There wasn’t a Kmart or sizzling when I lived there. I dated a girl in high school that lived up on the hill but I left there in ‘71. Nice area up on the hill. And I remember some Bishops from school.

[@justtinkering6713]

It's junk. The string holes are in a straight line . When a cord is played and you activate it, all the note relationships are destroyed. I wouldn't buy this.

[@justinbishopmusic]

I recently tried the Guyker trem and I prefer it.

[@juanvaldez5422]

Can you explain your comment a bit better ? Thanks

[@justtinkering6713]

@@juanvaldez5422 When you play 6 strings each note is a certain frequency above or below the other notes. When you have a poor vibrato system those frequency differences change. On a good vibrato the frequency differences stay the same even though each note goes up or down. Check the patent for Semi Moseley's Mosrite vibrato.

[@justtinkering6713]

@@juanvaldez5422 This is from the Mosrite guitar patent. The apertures in the plate 54 are misaligned, so that when the vibrato tuning unit is operated, the tone of all the strings of the instrument is varied by an equal propor tion. In this manner, the tone of a particular chord being sounded by all the strings during the operation of the vibrato unit remains in tune, as the vibrato unit is operated. US Patent 3,237,502

[@justtinkering6713]

I did explain but it was removed

[@oscargross8021]

𝐩𝓻Ỗ𝓂Ø𝓈Ｍ 💔