Although somewhat of an archaic and outdated concept, Bigsby vibrato systems still remain popular to this day. A bit impractical compared to your regular Fender-style synchronized tremolo, or even Floyd Rose and similar bridges, Bigsby still has its appeal, both visually and sonically. However, things have now been taken to a whole new level with the new Bigsby pedal.
Fender, who owns the Bigsby brand, teamed up with pedal manufacturer Gamechanger Audio for a new Bigsby pedal. The announcement came last year in June with the guitar pedal brand sharing a few photos and video demos of the unit. And now, we finally get the pedal available for sale, as Music Radar reports.
So technically, there’s no longer any need to retrofit your guitar with an old-school-style Bigsby bridge if you don’t feel like it. The pedal, simply labeled as Bigsby, is a polyphonic pitch shifter.
Its main purpose, of course, is to convincingly replicate the sound of this type of bridge. However, there are a few other features on it, including rate, depth, blend, and tone controls. What’s more, the pedal works with a “carefully crafted algorithm that is designed to emulate the imperfections and dissonant properties of traditional mechanical string-bending hardware” and the main mechanism is spring-loaded.
Finally, it’s also worth noting that the pedal is always on in your signal chain. To engage it, all you have to do is step on it and it will do its thing. Technically, it’s just like having a vibrato bridge but on your pedalboard.
You can check out the pedal on Gamechanger Audio’s website here. Its listing price is $379. The demo is available below:
Photo: Gamechanger Audio website
