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Company History
“I can build anything.”With that statement, Mr. Paul Bigsby switched from building Crocker motorcycles to making musical instruments.
In the 1940s, Paul Adelburt Bigsby was a skilled foreman at a machine shop in Los Angeles owned by Albert Crocker of the famous Crocker Motorcycle Company. Paul’s interest in motorcycles and Western music brought him into contact with Merle Travis. As they both were avid motorcyclists and music lovers, Paul and Merle became good friends.
During this same time, Merle brought his Gibson L-10 guitar to P.A., as Bigsby was called, with a worn out Kaufman vibrato that wouldn’t stay in tune. “Can you fix this for me?” asked Merle. “I can fix anything” said Paul. But seeing the shortcomings of the Kaufman vibrato and at Merle’s suggestion, he ended up designing a whole new mechanism which worked perfectly. This device set the standard and became the vibrato of choice for most guitar manufacturers the world over and remains so today.
One day in late 1946, Merle and P.A. Bigsby were having lunch. Merle, an accomplished cartoonist, had sketched an idea for a new guitar on a Pasadena radio station’s program sheet and passed the drawing to Paul.
“Can you make this, P.A.?” asked Merle. P.A. answered, “I can make anything.”
And indeed he could! That drawing of the Solid Body electric guitar with all six tuning pegs on one side of the headstock was built the following year and played by Merle on recordings, radio and in public appearances. The guitar attracted a lot of attention, and caught the eye and ear of other players and builders, famous and not so famous. This compact-sized guitar changed the sound and look of guitars forever. Billy Byrd, Butterball Paige and Grady Martin, to name but a few, ordered a copy of this guitar, and Paul set up shop in a small building built next to his house on Phlox Street in Downey, California.
That same year, a local steel guitarist, the legendary Joaquin Murphey, asked Paul to build him a steel guitar. With his “I can build anything” attitude, Paul set out to build the best steel guitar there ever was. And he did, delivering it to Joaquin in 1947.
Not to be outdone, Speedy West, another local up-and-coming steel guitarist, asked Paul to build him a steel guitar, this time with pedals. On February 8, 1948, the second steel was finished: a triple neck with 4 pedals.
As the word and sound of these new steel guitars traveled, more players wanted one for themselves. When Bud Isaacs played his Bigsby with pedals on the groundbreaking Webb Perce song “Slowly,” most steelers felt they had to have one.
Because Bigsby’s instruments were built on a custom basis, he could not keep up with the orders that poured in, and a waiting list of two or more years followed. Slowing him down even more was the fact that Paul wanted to make almost every part himself, even winding his own pickups. He was kept busy for several years trying to build one guitar a month. Over time, the Bigsby Vibratos took up more and more of his time, and his instrument making dwindled down to a precious few.
By 1965, Paul was experiencing some health problems and wanted to sell his company. He called up his old associate Ted McCarty, the retired president of Gibson guitars. Ted purchased the Bigsby name and all inventory effective January 1, 1966. Paul passed away in 1968. On May 10, 1999, the Gretsch Guitar Company purchased Bigsby Accessories from Ted McCarty.
Unlike some guitar makers who kept track of every instrument sale, Paul Bigsby had no log book and left no records. How many instruments did Paul make? We will never know exactly. After 15 years of research, we can document only 47 steels, six standard guitars, one tenor guitar, two double neck guitars, two mandolins and six neck replacements that are still around today. Are there others in a closet or under a bed just waiting to be discovered? We can only hope. All Bigsby instruments are highly collectable today.
Artistas que utilizan este modelo:
Keith Richards
Keith Richards - founding member of the Rolling Stones and one of the greatest guitar players/rock-n-roll personalities of all time. When the Stones formed in 1962, they fueled the blues-based British rock invasion that reintroduced America to its own music. His guitar style has always been, and continues to be, a sonorous tribute to the blues. Keith Richards pays homage with every signature “riff”.
Seen here with what is believed a ’59 Les Paul equipped with a Bigsby B7. More recently, he has been photographed with one of his favorite road axes – an ebony Gibson 355, complete with a B7 Model Bigsby.
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Neil Young
Neil Young – is known as a singer and talented songwriter as well as a gifted multi-instrumentalist. We know him as one of the most rockin’ guitar players of the last forty years. Father of the wall-of-guitar sound, Neil Young is cherished as the inspiration to Grunge. His electric sound and lead playing can satisfy all those in need of melodic Kerrang! From his early work with Buffalo Springfield, and CSN&Y, to his Crazy Horse project, he consistently rocks.He has also been closely associated with Bigsby – for all his main axes carry them as standard equipment.He is seen in this picture playing a vintage Les Paul gold top with a Bigsby B7.
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Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney – As music lovers we are all fortunate to have Sir Paul McCartney still writing, singing, and sharing his talent. What can you say that hasn’t already been said in describing his legacy? Let’s pretend you befriend a guy from another planet, and you have to explain who Paul McCartney is: you’d start by saying was in the Beatles…”you know…the greatest rock band ever”, then you’d say he’s arguably the greatest songwriter since the time of Virgil, then you’d go on telling of the many instruments and musical styles he’s fluent in and how he sings like a bird. If all else failed you could just hum a few bars of ‘Hey Jude”, since there’s a good chance aliens know that one.In this concert photograph he is playing an Epiphone Casino with a Bigsby B7. Preguntas frecuentes: Question: How long has Bigsby been around?
Answer: P.A. Bigsby started manufacturing musical instruments in the 1940s in Downey, CA. More information on the early days of Bigsby can be found in the new book: Paul Bigsby; Father of the Modern Electric Solidbody by Andy Babiuk. Question: Where are Bigsbys’ made?
Answer: Our ‘Original Kalamazoo’ line is sand-cast in Kalamazoo, MI. Our ‘Lightning Series’ lines are die-cast in South Korea. Question: What manufactures use Bigsby Vibratos?
Answer: Many including: Gibson, Fender, ESP, Taylor and Paul Reed Smith. However, it is Gretsch guitars that are most often associated with Bigsby Vibratos. Question: Which Bigsby Vibrato will fit my guitar?
Answer: Bigsby Vibratos are manufactured in two sizes (long and short) and are designed to fit almost any electric guitar. Some models are equipped with an additional pressure bar. As a general guide: - Model B-3 is designed for thin electric guitars
- Model B-5 is designed for flat top solid-body guitars
- Model B-6 is designed for large acoustic and arch top guitars
- Model B-7 is designed for thin electric guitars with more downward pressure
- Model B-11 is for thin electric guitars with an arch
- Model B-12 has a pressure bar and is designed for large acoustic and arch top guitars
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