1958 T100D bigsby b3 or b6?

I have a nice 58 T100. I'm thinking about installing a bigsby but i don't know if it should be the b3 or b6 type. i can buy a b3. The thing is I already have a bigsby bridge on it and the action is great with the bridge turned al the way down. Will there be enough tension on the strings with a bigsby tailpiece installed? Does anyone know if the original rosewood bridges from the 50's are lower than the ones from the 60's?
I hope someone can help a little bit further.
It's nice to find out there are more Guild enthousiastics!

Welcome aboard Niek! That would be a B3 on a T100. The hinge on a B6 is deeper than the body. As far as string tension, maybe, maybe not. A B3 should be at least in the ballpark compared to the harp tailpiece that you have now.

Don't know about the old bridges for comparison but I'm sure someone will chime in soon.

If you decide to go ahead with your mod, let me quote you a price on a new B3 with shipping before you buy somewhere else.

THank you for your reaction. I live in Holland (the Netherlands) so shipping might be a little complicated (or not?). Don't know if 80 euro's (about the same in dollars) is to much? Are the bigsby's on the Starfire III also of the B3-type? THey look longer to me.

Ok. Looking back through Hans' book, there were B6's on the thin bodied guitars as well as some B3's. I have a couple new B6's in stock & the hinge overhangs the depth of my '64 Starfire body by a fair amount. If string tensioin is a concern, you'll have more with the shorter B3 also.

80 Euros appears to be a decent price (about $102 US). Shipping from my end isn't a big deal, but you would likely have to pay a duty on that end which would end up costing you more. Get it locally if you can for that price.

Welcome again, Niek.

I'd suggest emailing Hans Moust - he's in your country. If he doesn't have what you need, he's in the best position to recommed where you might get one. You can e-mail him directly through the "contact" section of his website - http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

I have purchased parts from him in the past, and shipping from the Netherlands to the USA was cheaper and simpler than I thought - but I don't know how it is the other way around.

All of my Starfires and T100's have B-6's.

That's where the Guild branded B6's come in handy (official name for those is B2 I believe), they are in effect a B6 length Bigsby with a short hinge that fits thinlines as well as archtops.

What I'd do for a T-100 or a starfire if I couldn't get a hold of a Guild Bigsby is grind the excess length off a Bigsby B6 hinge and make it fit that way.

Hello everybody

Thanks for the advise. I also asked Hans, because the bridge on my guitar is pretty low a bigsby would probably not work really well. I don't want to mess things up so I decided to keep it the way it is. I'm glad I didn't by the B3. It would have looked strange.

Niek