cheap Bigsby or Bigsby "copy" Vibrato on Asian Les Paul copy?

[Gear_Junky]

Hello, everyone. My new purchase after many years of only playing acoustic brought me back to the electric world and this site.

Guitar only being my hobby I could not swing even for an Epi (although years ago I had an Epi LP custom with gibson classic '57's).

So I noticed this Brownsville knockoff at local SamAsh - GG1 vintage sunburst - played with it, sounded nice, well-made and heavy, so I snatched it up for only $175 (sorry if this is against policy to post prices, but it was the last one, it's not available anywhere, so i'm not really advertising anything).

I replaced the tuners and bridge and installed GFS Dream 180's and now sort of daydreaming about a Bigsby (the guitar hardware is all "gold").

My question is 2-fold, first about actual installation and the kind of Bigsby I'd need and second about whether there exist cheaper versions of Bigsby (i've seen ones with "epi" logo on them).

I really think that what they want for the bigsby's, even the "licensed" is ridiculous for the piece of metal.

Any advice/help? I know that there's some without the long tailpiece, which attaches to the strap button, but are those only for flat-tops? For me either would work visually, i would just opt for easier installation with less drilling.

Also, would a roller-type bridge be necessary? Too bad I just got a standard tune-o-matic bridge from GFS. I guess I'll have to buy another.

How about the nut? I was thinking of getting bone at a later time, but would I need graphite for the vibrato?

P.S. I tried uploading 1 picture, sorry for the quality.

Also, I know about the Les Trem from StewMac, don't really like that, especially not for the same high price. The one from Elderly Instruments looks a bit better, but still, too expensive, imo.

Again, thanks everyone for the help!

[Axeman16]

a rolling bridge will help it stay in tune, and a bone nut will self lubricate itself. i guess you could try ebay. i too agree that bigsby's are over priced. theres always the import versions...

[Gear_Junky]

Import versions are aluminum, right? should be dirt-cheap, but they're still $100+, it's ridiculous, especially seeing how much i paid for my guitar

How about the physical installation aspects?

Or maybe there's a nice-looking alternative to bigsby, something that'll actually fit onto the tailpiece studs? Thanks!