Bigsby 5-string at Wexer Guitars

[mrmando]

Paul Bigsby made at least one more 5-string mandolin in addition to Tiny Moore's. Here's a feature on that instrument at the Fretboard Journal Web site:
http://www.fretboardjournal.com/feat...ctric-mandolin

[F-2 Dave]

Nice.

[Jim Garber]

Thanks, Martin, for posting that. Boy that certainly got played. Check out the deep gouges in the fretboard.

[JeffD]

I saw that. Yummmm.

[Jim Garber]

When I met Tiny years ago at the two Ashokan Swing Weeks I was at, he brought his Roberts 5 string which did sound quite nice -- similar to the Bigsby I thought. In fact I ended up ordering one from him which I did play for some time.

[Barry Wilson]

Very cool looking instrument. I am not a whammy bar guy (I remove them from my strats too) but it is still nice to see all that hand crafting.

[mrmando]

Well, Mitch Simpson has evidently acquired this instrument from Larry Wexer and now has it listed on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-195...item2806299307

This will undoubtedly go out of my price range and end up in some Bigsby collector's climate-controlled shrine. Ah well.

[Spruce]

Thanks Martin!

OK, by chance would anyone here at the Cafe have measurements or drawings of a Bigsby mandolin, preferably Tiny's??
Love to know about it if "yes"...
Tried to contact the store in Sacto that supposedly has it, to no avail...

After looking at the E$%y pics and the wonderful page depicting Tiny's mando here, it finally dawns on me that we're looking at figured maple veneers on the top and back of both mandolins--interesting...

Love to whip one of these up someday....

[Pete Martin]

Love to whip one of these up someday....

Then you could "distress" it in your normal method.

Or let Pinkerton play it for 5 minutes

[mrmando]

Well, if the three of us pool our cash, perhaps we can win the auction and set up a timeshare.

I had a Roberts for a while, would've been happy to let you measure it. I also had Joel Eckhaus's prototype Bigsby knockoff, briefly ... it was pretty cool but not really close in terms of measurements.

[mrmando]

After looking at the E$%y pics and the wonderful page depicting Tiny's mando here, it finally dawns on me that we're looking at figured maple veneers on the top and back of both mandolins--interesting...

Not only that, those veneers are stretched out over empty space. There's a solid plank in the center of the instrument where the pickups are — but the bouts on either side are hollow.

[Spruce]

Then you could "distress" it in your normal method.

Of course!

Or let Pinkerton play it for 5 minutes

I don't want it look that hammered...

[Spruce]

I had a Roberts for a while, would've been happy to let you measure it.

Never thought of that...
Roberts told me he got to measure the Tiny mando, so that would be pretty close for sure...

Gonna do a cold call at the Sacto music store soon to see if I can get lucky and see it, so stay tuned...

[darrylicshon]

I would love to win it but as said above it will go out of my price range

[mrmando]

I hope Skip lets you see the original. He also has Tiny's Roberts and the Gibson EM150 that Tiny played when he first went out to California, before getting the Bigsy.

[MikeEdgerton]

I wondered what happened to Mitch Simpson. He hasn't been discussed in years.

[Marty Jacobson]

Mitch is a cool guy with an every-shifting endless variety of cool instruments to show off, and the depth of knowledge to truly appreciate every one of them. I ran into his parents a few years ago on a plane back from Las Vegas, he had just cut a new CD at that point. There are still bluegrass events hosted at his business occasionally, and I always plan to make it out there, but never end up being able to make it.

[mandroid]

Wondering if the Author got Bob, and his brother Billy Jack Wills confused .

Read Bob did co opt players from his brother's Sacramento California band to join the Texas one,
for tour gigs.

so Tiny played in Both .. was the arranger listed for the BJW KFBK sessions 52~4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQoNQmetolA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmmBaVPiHdU

[mrmando]

Tiny started with Bob right after WWII; later he settled down in Sacramento to play with Billy Jack.

Tiny played a Gibson EM125 with Bob. When he moved to Sacramento around 1950 he was playing an EM150. He got his Bigsby in 1952. Later he got a Roberts.

You can see photos of Tiny with all four instruments here:

http://emando.com/players/Moore.htm

[mrmando]

"Ended by the seller because the item is no longer available." So Mitch may have accepted an offline offer. It was over $5K with a couple of days to go; I really wanted to see how high the bidding would get. Ah well.