I bought a Bigtone in white. The QC on the guitar was terrible and I ended up sending it back. This took about 6-8 weeks. I was sent a replacement. The finish on this guitar was better, BUT the first guitar sounded better. The binding on the white guitars is painted on and a brittle paint is used for this. The painted binding is chipping off in a few places. The Bigsby is set at a very steep angle on the Bigtone. This causes the rear bridge to pitch forward under the strain. It also affects the ability to bend strings. The second guitar sounded like a plywood box with strings. I took the guitar to a friend who crafts handmade guitars. He installed a set of Gretsch brod tron pickups in the guitar and a new rear bridge. He set up the guitar, straightened the neck and worked on the Bigsby. I kept the original tuners, they do hold tune but the gold hardware is tarnishing and it looks cheap. With the extra work, I am starting to like my Bigtone better. I left an honest review on Thoman's website but it was not posted. So beware of the official websites reviews. I own 4 Gretsch guitars. The is no compassion between a Bigtone and a Gretsch. If you want a hollow body on a budget can I suggest buying a Gretsch Streamliner. They are around £150 dearer, but it is money well spent. Would I buy a Bigtone again, the answer is no. They are not worth the money. I had the brod tron pickups leftover from another guitar, Had I bought these it would have cost approx. an extra £100 plus fitting. I own three Harley Benton guitars, the Bigtone is by far the weakest out of the three Harley Bentions I own.
@@Oscarhobbit thanks for sharing your experience. Now, a few weeks later, the guitar is absolutely fabulous and I haven't found any problems. The issue with the string tension is mentioned by various people and easy to solve. This is at least the 10th HB that I buy and they have never let me down
@alexanderlvt I think that if I was was to do it again l would have bought an orange guitar with Chrome tuners and a different finish. The tuners stay in tune, I can't fault that. Once set up properly the guitar was a lot better. Perhaps, I am just used to the quality that Gretsch provides in their guitars. Enjoy your guitar.
I had the orange one. The bindigs were partially painted in orange - I polished this off. This Bigsby-copy was mounted in a bad angle to the bridge, the bridge was changing position by using the trem, the neck is too thin for the scale length, the pickups sounded sickly awful and muddy. The pickguard broke after 3 months itself. I fixed the bridge with 2 pins, swapped the pickups to Filtertrons, put in a way shorter trem spring and left the pickguard taken off. Finally I took off the trem, closed the wholes with pieces of wood, glued in and fixed the angle issue. This repair was fortunately invisible.The frets and the neck needed a setup. too, befor being able to play this guitar correctly. The Big Tone is a copy of the Guild X-175 and also looks very similar to a Heritage Hollowbody. In fact, the Big Tone is very beautiful, but she´s not worth the money you spend for. Even my J&D Hollowbodody is way better than this Big Tone. Finally I sold it and besides the beautiful orange with that nice sparkling binding I don´t miss this guitar at all.
@@MrTimcoronel yes they do. But if you watch several videos a lot of people comment that the string tension is too high then and it will move the bridge when using the bigsby. And it works just as well when they go over
Of course it isn't. But it works very well nontheless. This is a chinese guitar. If you want the real thing buy a Gretsch (also fromChina btw) and pay double the money
I bought a Bigtone in white. The QC on the guitar was terrible and I ended up sending it back. This took about 6-8 weeks. I was sent a replacement. The finish on this guitar was better, BUT the first guitar sounded better. The binding on the white guitars is painted on and a brittle paint is used for this. The painted binding is chipping off in a few places.
The Bigsby is set at a very steep angle on the Bigtone. This causes the rear bridge to pitch forward under the strain. It also affects the ability to bend strings.
The second guitar sounded like a plywood box with strings. I took the guitar to a friend who crafts handmade guitars. He installed a set of Gretsch brod tron pickups in the guitar and a new rear bridge. He set up the guitar, straightened the neck and worked on the Bigsby. I kept the original tuners, they do hold tune but the gold hardware is tarnishing and it looks cheap.
With the extra work, I am starting to like my Bigtone better. I left an honest review on Thoman's website but it was not posted. So beware of the official websites reviews.
I own 4 Gretsch guitars. The is no compassion between a Bigtone and a Gretsch. If you want a hollow body on a budget can I suggest buying a Gretsch Streamliner. They are around £150 dearer, but it is money well spent.
Would I buy a Bigtone again, the answer is no. They are not worth the money. I had the brod tron pickups leftover from another guitar, Had I bought these it would have cost approx. an extra £100 plus fitting. I own three Harley Benton guitars, the Bigtone is by far the weakest out of the three Harley Bentions I own.
@@Oscarhobbit thanks for sharing your experience. Now, a few weeks later, the guitar is absolutely fabulous and I haven't found any problems. The issue with the string tension is mentioned by various people and easy to solve. This is at least the 10th HB that I buy and they have never let me down
@alexanderlvt I think that if I was was to do it again l would have bought an orange guitar with Chrome tuners and a different finish. The tuners stay in tune, I can't fault that. Once set up properly the guitar was a lot better. Perhaps, I am just used to the quality that Gretsch provides in their guitars. Enjoy your guitar.
I had the orange one. The bindigs were partially painted in orange - I polished this off. This Bigsby-copy was mounted in a bad angle to the bridge, the bridge was changing position by using the trem, the neck is too thin for the scale length, the pickups sounded sickly awful and muddy. The pickguard broke after 3 months itself. I fixed the bridge with 2 pins, swapped the pickups to Filtertrons, put in a way shorter trem spring and left the pickguard taken off. Finally I took off the trem, closed the wholes with pieces of wood, glued in and fixed the angle issue. This repair was fortunately invisible.The frets and the neck needed a setup. too, befor being able to play this guitar correctly. The Big Tone is a copy of the Guild X-175 and also looks very similar to a Heritage Hollowbody. In fact, the Big Tone is very beautiful, but she´s not worth the money you spend for. Even my J&D Hollowbodody is way better than this Big Tone. Finally I sold it and besides the beautiful orange with that nice sparkling binding I don´t miss this guitar at all.
This looks like a cool guitar. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for sharing your experience here!
Looks like my old VSA850R, even the pickups and control knobs, good for the money, I later got a Gretsch 5120 in orange, still have my VSA.
Well, let's hear you play it !
@@PJ-hn4cg plenty of videos around where they do the instrument mo credit than I can
Is it thick like an accoustic guitar? Or is it thick like the Gretsch?
Check the Thomann website for more detailed images. It's definitely a full body, almost like an acoustic
I use DR strings, and they fit on a bigsby
the strings go *under* the bar on the Bigsby
@@MrTimcoronel yes they do. But if you watch several videos a lot of people comment that the string tension is too high then and it will move the bridge when using the bigsby. And it works just as well when they go over
The guitar come with D'Addario strings
Hmm. That tremolo is not Bigsby...
Of course it isn't. But it works very well nontheless. This is a chinese guitar. If you want the real thing buy a Gretsch (also fromChina btw) and pay double the money
Thomann normaly uses d‘addario strings
@@martinschillings1689 I saw it on the website. They updated the information
Funny that they don't use HB strings on their own guitars
Gretsch Electomatic G5420 copy
Only $200 too !
@@PJ-hn4cg €329 at Thomann
Those strings are colour coded and look like D'Addario.
I sold my Gretch and bought this guitar, 3 Chbsons, and some fake fenders.
crazy gurl