How to restring a Bigsby-equipped guitar

Part of the Guitarist review process is to restring guitars even before we begin to evaluate them. We´re very aware that this can compromise certain guitars ‘out-of-the-box´ spec - Fender, for example, fit their electrics guitars with Bullet 9-42s - but, unless we have a good reason not to, we put either D´Addario or Elixir 10-46 sets on to level the playing field, to a certain extent at least.

However, when we receive our initial gear lists and the word Gretsch springs up, we´re filled with joy and dread in equal measure: joy because Gretsch guitars are wonderful, yet dread because we know from bitter experience that restringing any Bigsby-equipped instrument takes slightly longer than the moving of tectonic plates.

Of course, any technical processes can be vastly improved by experience in actually performing them, and one of the awesome Gretsch Tech Tips videos depicts the method in clear detail.

This and more videos are available by visiting Gretsch here, and check out the video below. Our eyes have been well and truly opened and we hope that any fellow long-suffering 6120 owners become similarly enlightened.