gold plating a bigsby

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 2 Jul 2008 4:21 pm

Is it possible to get a "chrome" (polished) or "nickel" (unpolished) bigsby plated in gold? If so, how many monies we talkin'?

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 2 Jul 2008 9:17 pm

A friend of mine had a cheap guitar but he thought gold plating the Bigsby would really pick it up. His uncle had a plating shop and put 24 karat plating, but the real stuff is much darker than the electroplaing on stock tail pieces. It just didn't look quite right. So it depends on who does it and what method they use.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 2 Jul 2008 11:58 pm

If your talking about Bigsby Tremolo's, you can buy them in Gold or Aluminum.
http://www.bigsbyguitars.com/products.html

You can even get a variety of arms, in gold plating:

The Chet Atkins arm

The Merle Travis arm

or Duane Eddy arm

Now if your talking about gold plating a triple neck eight string Bigsby steel, that would be some job. I don't think I would do that.

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 4 Jul 2008 7:51 pm

Gary,

Sounds like it might not be a good move for me.

Alvin,

I like the look of those--it's a satin tone, not too glossy.