I’ve never tried blocking a bigsby but I suppose you could replace the spring with something solid (wood, a stack of washers, et al) and the string tension would keep it from moving. If I were to do that I’d probably remove the bar and run a bolt through the bar receiver plate and whatever I was using for a block to help keep it all in place though it really shouldn’t be necessary. I guess you could just remove the spring and let the arm plate sit on the receiver but aside from the inelegance it could be awkward with regards to the angle of the string retention posts. Most people would probably just replace the whole tailpiece with a trapeze type.
As to wearing in; it probably doesn’t apply to you since you don’t plan to use it but since you asked, the big fat springs typically used in bigsbys tend to be stiffer when new and soften up over time with use, this is more the case with the licensed versions and copies. Most people, myself included, agree that the bigsby system feels better after a lot of use so you can accelerate this by taking the spring out and stressing it. I find a good hour or two of stepping on it repeatedly while on a hard surface does the trick. I’ll just take advantage of some time I’m going to be working in one spot in the garage/ shop for a bit. You can just buy a better spring but I’m a cheap bastard.
One of the objectives of setting up a vibrato is to make everything move as smoothly as possible. To that extent, on really cheap bigsbys I’ve completely disassembled them down to individual pieces and sanded everything smooth lubed where necessary. Probably overkill for that Ibanez unit.
I used to be a vibrato hater but now not having one is almost a deal breaker for me. It’s just another expressive element I’ve gotten used to. I’m not a big fan of the the classic six screw strat type or the Gibson vibrola units but other than those I’m a fan. Floyd’s to Bigsbys and all in between. I’m currently trying to decide the best way to modify a hollow body Danelectro to be able to have one.
Similar to blurrghost idea, you could replace the spring with a short section of metal pipe that has the same diameter as the spring itself.
Might be easier to just replace the bigsby with a trapeze tailpiece. Will leave exposed holes in the guitar though, so less attractive.
What even is that, a less complicated hurdy-gurdy?
Description says
ご視聴いただきありがとうございます。
「これはいったい何だ？」「どこで手に入る？」など、たくさんコメントいただいていますが、数が多いため返答できず申し訳ありません。
これは私が考案して製作したギター用アタッチメントです。
ただいま製品リリースの準備中ですので、詳細の公開まで今しばらくお待ちください。Thank you for watching and for your many comments.
I’m sorry I can’t reply all of them.
This is a guitar attachment that I invented.
I am now preparing to release the product, so please wait for a while until the details are available.
By the way, it may appear that the wheel is applied directly to the strings, but it is not.
There are two loops clinging to the wheel, and they play the four strings.
Sold my electric guitar couple months ago but just rebought a classical guitar last week and having a blast with it. So much more enjoyable to play using fingers and acoustically. Ordered Ergoplay support for it just now to make playing easier as I dislike using foot stand but really want to play in the classical position.
I’ve gotten the Reverend replacement springs before and really liked them. Not expensive and a much better feel imho.
I’ve not surprised, I like Reverend stuff in general, one of my most played guitars is a reverend.
I hear good things about the spring offerings from a few companies of similar or smaller size which makes me wonder if they’re all from a single OEM source. Nothing wrong with that of course, most of the guitar industry is that way, just curious.
I really should try one of those out just to see but I am always inclined to go as diy as possible with most things so even if I like it I’ll probably continue to apply boot to spring more often than not. It’s not for everyone though.
What did you use before ? 
I ordered Yamaha APXT2 yesterday.
US-made Variax guitars on sale
https://shop-us.line6.com/hardware/guitars/
Surprised Lee Ritenour does not have a signature Fender model
Latest score. Danelectro 59 Divine. $100 because it has a crack on the top which will be an easy fix. It’s hard to capture in pics but it’s a really dark brown, not black.
I love danos. The super low impedance pickups (which are in series in the middle position!), the weirdly flat fingerboard radius, the hardware store vibe of the materials, how light they are, etc. This is the first one I’ve had that didn’t have an aluminum nut which is odd.
This thing plays wonderfully and sounds like a dano. I have a couple of mods in mind but I’ll hold off for a minute and see how I feel after playing it for a while. Definitely going to move the forward strap peg, thinking about adding a trem, neither of which are trivial.
As an aside, the bass to the right is a squire jazz bass I’ve had for 31 years. It’s seen some shit. Still plays like a dream.
Lee is one of my favs. Own 3 of his cds.
So I’ve been reminded why I mostly play acoustic! I’ve been fighting with my pedals and thought maybe someone way smarter than me could offer some advice!
I’ve rearranged my pedals so the preamp is first in line but now I get what sounds like clicks and pops (clipping?) if running through my reverb and/or tape delay pedal. If I plug directly into the 404 and make zero changes on my preamp pedal it’s fine. Makes no sense but probably me being dumb again!
I’ve verified the pedals are set for instrument level and mono input.
Preamp: Colour box
Reverb: Mercury 7
Delay: El Cap
Hmm… is it only when plugged into the 404? For example, if you plug into your handheld recorder are there still clicks and pops? How are you managing power? Discretely so that everything has it’s own power supply or are you daisy chaining? Does it do it when the pedals are in bypass? Like, all the time as long as they’re plugged in? Or is it only when they’re engaged?
I’d start by removing el cap and go mercury 7 into the color box and see if the issue persists, then even if it does click with mercury 7, I’d do the opposite and add el capistan back in and remove mercury 7 and see if it clicks. I’d check these behaviors against your handheld recorder or another output destination because if it’s only happening with the 404 then we might need to dig into that, if it happens with another recorder then maybe we need to look at the pedal chain itself.
Also, this is with the strat and not the fender highway series, right?
Any other details might help so if you think of something let me know.
Love your detailed responses! So thoughtful and well written. Thanks for replying!
I should have mentioned a few more details.
I did not try another recording device. Will test later.
I wanna say it did it while they are engaged or disengaged, but I’ll have to verify that as well later. I think this is true because that’s why I fully removed them. If not, I’m lazy they would’ve stayed in place.!
Im using a cheap one spot daisy chain but I don’t think it’s power because when I go directly to just a preamp, the other pedals are still plugged in just not patched in.
Everything works perfect when the preamp is end of chain.
This is with my acoustic. Poor Strat gets no love!
Also, this is when I’m plugged into the line in of the 404. I don’t use the guitar input. Probably should just to test.
Thanks for the time!
What I didn’t test was putting the pedal in line input mode and see what happens since the 404 handles it fine. I’ll give that a shot later as well.
Let me know what happens and maybe we can figure it out. If you have a way of recording an audio example of the clicks that might be helpful. Also if you have enough 9v power supplies to power them discretely, just as a test, that would be good as well just to make sure we aren’t chasing down a signal issue if there’s any possibility that there’s a power issue. While I don’t know how many milliamps the power supply that you’re using is, I know that el capistan is particular about power. I don’t doubt that you have some experience with these pedals though, and it hasn’t been a problem before, but just good to try and clear that hurdle so it’s not something to circle back to after a bunch of troubleshooting.
The guitar input is probably a Hi Z input with a built in preamp while the Line in is looking for a line level signal so I’m not sure that testing the input is going to resolve anything but if you try adjusting the gain between the preamp pedal and the guitar inputs gain parameter and can get the same pedal chain not to click or pop then maybe that will tell us something. I’d start with the preamp pedal lower and turn the 404 guitar input up a bit then turn the preamp up a bit until you can hear it and then try adjusting from the 404’s input volume to see if you can get it up to an appropriate level, but test the other stuff with the additional recorder etc. first so we have a bit more to go from on that line-in behavior.
I can’t promise anything but we can at least try, you know?
I dig! I’ll do some more testing later!
To be clear, last night was just the CB and M7 when it was happening. It’s so weird that it doesn’t do it when the CB is end of chain. It feels like the preamp is almost overdriving them.
Spent more time snapping out and chasing shit than making music. It’s why I hate owning a lot of gear. If I’m troubleshooting and not playing, I own too much gear! Those pedals though, they sound so good!
Does your acoustic take a battery?
It does. 9 volt