I recently purchased the TL-1TB kit and was wondering if it is possible to opt-out of the bigsby style trem and just make it a hardtail wrap-around bridge?
The simple straight-swap answer is no. A wrap-around bridge uses the wider hole spacing of a stop bar tailpiece (because that's what Gibson first used and everyone copies that), rather than the hole spacing of a Tune-O-Matic bridge that the kit is drilled out for.
The 'work involved' reply is yes. There's the option of filling the existing holes with hardwood dowel and then drilling out new ones for the wrap-over bridge holes, or keeping the existing T-O-M bridge and its holes, and drilling out for a stop bar tailpiece. The latter would be better if you were going for a natural or stained finish with clear over the top, the first would be better with a solid body colour to hide the wooden plugs.
Thank you Simon. I plan on attempting A stain finish so I will move forward with the stop bar. I assume (I know that's a bad idea ) that
If I measure out the stop bar to replicate a similar set up on a LP style its should intonate properly since the predrilled bridge holes are the most important part for scale length. Correct?
Yes. The bridge is the most important element to position, and that’s already done. The stop bar needs to line up with the saddle slots, but the fore/aft positioning isn’t too vital. Just measured a Les Paul and the stop bar is roughly 4cm back from the bridge. You won’t want it much closer otherwise its hard to get a good string break angle, but it could go back a bit more if you want.
The standard trick of running some string up and down the neck and over the bridge should allow you to line up the stop tail nicely. Better than trying to work out centre lines.
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