This special 1 of 1 instrument is the first official made in the USA Bigsby guitar produced since 1958. It was made using precise measurements from the 1948 Merle Travis Bigsby in the collection of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Merle Travis Bigsby is widely considered the first modern electric guitar ever made. It features a birdseye maple body and neck with a rosewood fingerboard and walnut filigree. The Fender Nashville team combed over every detail to make this guitar as true to the original as possible.
Joe Williams, Senior Masterbuilder for the Fender Specialty Brands, used his vast experience with neck-through guitar construction just as Paul Bigsby would have using patterns, a pin router, and hours of shaping by hand.
Fred Koszegfavli, Principal Engineer for Fender Research & Development, designed and made many of the small parts and patterns by reverse engineering from historical photos. He also milled the aluminum parts featured on the guitar.
Chip Ellis, Senior Masterbuilder for Fender Research & Development, took care of the finish work and aging to match the look, and most importantly, the feel of an original Bigsby guitar from the late 40's-early 50's.
Tim Shaw, Fender's Chief Engineer/Guitars, created a pickup for this instrument that would have made Paul Bigsby proud. It's low output and chimey just like the original would have been. He also reverse engineered the original wiring circuit to perform exactly as the Merle Travis Bigsby from 1948.
This guitar was a passion project for the Fender Nashville and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum teams from the start. Every guitar player and builder owes Paul Bigsby a debt of gratitude for essentially inventing what we now consider the electric guitar.
Includes a new old stock Bigsby hard case.
