Vibramate B7 on LP special DC?

[selloutrr]

Hey,
I picked up a '08 Gibson les paul special VOS usa Double Cutaway with the idea of modifying it to be my live guitar. I bought it sight unseen and it is in great condition i just rather hate the tone. Without having to bastardize it permantly im planning on adding the following:

Replace the pickups for more bite with less noise/hum currently waiting on samples from dimarzio and lace. The guitar feels naturally brite but fails to harmonically respond with low output factory pickups.

Replace the factory tuners with 40:1 schaller tuners from the late 70's/early 80's

Schaller roller bridge

Reconfigure the tone controll layout to my playing style as well as swapout the tone caps and add treble bleeders to keep the treble as the volume is rolled back. I seldom play with the pots at ten.

I would like to add a bigsby. However I dont want to drill holes or see the tail piece holes. The correct bigsby would be the B7 but ive never liked the look. What im wondering is if anyone has successfully used a vibramate B7 on a Special? I know it will be tight with the controls which is part of why im reconfiguring the layout. As long a the B7 mounts correctly im willing to try it. I've seen the B7 on Specials from the 60's but they are all drilled directly to the body before the vibramate was invented.

String angle is less of a concern i can string/mod the bigsby a few ways to achive optimal angle.

[selloutrr]

If anyone else cares to know... The Vibramate will not directly work with the LP Special and the B7 It requires about 6" from the strap button to the center of the of the tail piece. It looks like the only way to do this and not bastardize the guitar is to use the B5. Oh well it'll still be pretty cool.

[LeftyStrat]

Have you seen the StetsBar?

http://stetsbar.com

Supposed to fit without mods. A little pricey, but the reviews are great.

[selloutrr]

Pretty cool! It reminds me of the 80's Les Pauls with the built in Floyd Rose systems as far as looks. They are probably a better system for dive bombing and general use, since the bridge is part of the assembly for optimal string angle.
I'm still hung up on the look of the B7 It might be best to part with the VOS and buy a faded and just bastardize the poor beast.

[amplifiednation]

I like those historic Jr's. How thick is the neck? I played a yellow single cut that just wailed even with the stock p90. Those slab bodies are cool!

[Reeltarded]

Do what you have to do to make it operate.

My typical thing is a pair of PAFs or an alnico and a P-90. Duncan makes a great alnico copy that kicks bunches of ass in a soapbar format, and if you find someone who isn't fishing for idiocy you might even come up with a simple Gibson flat Bigsby w/o the ebony block you find on SG LPs. They put them on a few original dbbl cut Specials. It looks right, and it works like a '60s western.. BawwWwwwWwwwwWww... and so on. Good rig.

Short Maestro, like on a Firebird III or a '60s V.

[selloutrr]

The neck is thin and surprisingly comfortable an easy to navigate.

After a closer look I could probably Modify the vibramate to work. its off just shy of 1/2". The rear mounting bracket should eat a quarter inch and I should be able to drill new holes to mount the tail.

I spent a good three hours looking at the B5 on yhe Special it growing on me.

[amplifiednation]

I think the B5 is cool, understated but still a good sized term. I think I just saw one on an old SG Jr and it was cool real cool.

Thin neck is not what I was expecting. You still in MA or is it all over?

[selloutrr]

MA is finished I'm back in CA until tomorrow I leave to OKC.
I had little to no time in MA it was go go go.

Yeah I was a big surprised at how thin the neck is too.
The Schaller roller bridge arrived today.

[amplifiednation]

MA is finished I'm back in CA until tomorrow I leave to OKC.
I had little to no time in MA it was go go go.

Yeah I was a big surprised at how thin the neck is too.
The Schaller roller bridge arrived today.

MA is nonstop go go go.

Wraparound tailpiece and bridge? I want one of these to mod! This sounds fun.

[selloutrr]

I should be online by the end of the week. I'm currently on my phone.

I bought the bigsby B5 and vibramate today. I tried to keep my business local but eBay had them as set shipped for 1/2 the cost of the bigsby alone.

I also picked up a set of schaller strap locks and Martin electric strings 9-42
Not my go to strings but they should work for setting up and roughing the new hardware.

The bigsby is scheduled to arrive the 10th. I'll take some pics of before and after.

[selloutrr]

Bigsby arrived last night so I had stayed up and put it together.
The roller bridge was a let down the mounting posts set to high and caused the action to be well over a half inch at the 12th fret so that got scratched, the tuner screws were bigger than the OEM so I left the original tuners on for now. The bigsby was easy to install its a bitch to string but it works well and looks pretty cool. I still need to stretch the strings more before it will hold tune.

[Structo]

So that model of Gibson only comes with soap bars?

Do mini humbuckers fit the same route?

Or do you want to keep the P90's?

[selloutrr]

Mini may fit but you would need to most likely drill mounting holes. I'm demo'n pickups I like the bridge pickup the neck needs work

[amplifiednation]

Looks sweet man. I like these Jr's, the slab bodies are ultra cool.