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Callaham Guitars
Callaham Upgrade Kit, Bigsby B5/B7 Front Roller
Callaham Upgrade Kit, Bigsby B5/B7 Front Roller
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Country of Manufacture: USA
All guitars equipped with a Bigsby B5 or B7 vibrato suffer greatly from reduced frequency response and sustain because of the complete lack of quality of the front roller of the units. Callaham's upgrade kits provides a solid, stainless steel front roller and axle that will greatly widen the frequency response and sustain. The roller is polished to a mirror finish and is grooved to maintain string alignment. This is a simple retrofit and pays huge dividends.
Not for licensed or import Bigsby-style vibratos.
Overall as advertized, but found the bore of the roller to be quite rough on one side. Sent a note to Callaham and received a canned response that didn't address the issue. Tried to smooth it out with a rat-tailed file whiched helped. Have not installed yet. Would prefer ball bearings., which I may add to the OEM roller instead.
Hi tater, sorry you didn't feel the finish on this was up to par. We hate to disappoint!
Product works as described. The action of the roller is smooth, with a nice fit and weight. The grooves work well at keeping everything aligned and in tune. A worthy upgrade.
High quality piece, still expensive for what it is, but i like this addition. Should be standard on Bigsby’s
No issues with fitment, it’s nice to have the grooves guide the strings. Highly recommended!
The shaft did not fit in my brand new sand cast B7. I did not break out the micrometer, but the two shafts appeared identical to the naked eye. I installed the Callaham roller on the Bigsby shaft.
We've done this particular upgrade on a bunch of B5s and B7s, as we sell these complete bridges with all upgrades installed. Sometimes these small shafts are a bear to get in, but we're always able to - we have a little H-frame press that we use when one is stubborn. The fact that they ultimately always go in indicates that the shaft properly fits the hole, but it's only slightly looser than a slip fit, so any small obstruction will prevent it from being easily pushed in with finger pressure. Two possible causes: 1) the two holes on the outer frame are not perfectly in line with each other; 2) there's a burr where Bigsby has drilled and tapped a hole for the setscrew that holds the shaft in.
95% of the time or maybe more, we can push the shaft in with just finger pressure, but now and then there's one that is just too tight, in which case we go to the press, and that always does the trick. Tapping lightly with a plastic or brass hammer should do the trick for those who don't own a press, but we wouldn't suggest hitting the shaft with a steel hammer, as you might bend or deform it. In any case, sorry you had trouble with yours!
maestro
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