The Story Of Paul Bigsby Book

Get your personally autographed deluxe hardcover edition of The Story Of Paul Bigsby by Andy Babiuk from Fab Gear with FREE  two day Priority Mail shipping anywhere in the US for only $50! NOTE: Free shipping for US customs only, email us about international orders.

Press Release January 2009

Fred Gretsch Enterprises publishes

The Story of Paul Bigsby: Father of the Modern Electric Solidbody Guitar

On January 15th, at the 2009 winter NAMM convention in Anaheim, California, Fred Gretsch Enterprises will release a new book entitled The Story of Paul Bigsby: Father of the Modern Electric Solidbody Guitar. The book is written by Andy Babiuk, author of the critically acclaimed book Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four’s Equipment, From Stage to Studio.

In this well researched book, that will undoubtedly raise some controversy, the author re-writes guitar history proving factually that Paul Bigsby was truly the father of the modern solidbody electric guitar. Most musicians are familiar with the famous Bigsby Vibrato, but not as many know about the wonderful guitars that Paul Bigsby built in the 1940s. Bigsby, who was responsible for developing and refining the pedal steel guitar, also built the first modern solid body electric guitar for Merle Travis in 1948, predating Leo Fender and Gibson’s Les Paul by a number of years. The Story of Paul Bigsby tells the untold story of how Bigsby influenced Fender and Gibson, as well as a number of other guitar manufacturers, in building techniques and design. This deluxe, well illustrated coffee table book contains over 300 color and black and white photos. Many of these have not previously been published, and over 50 are actual Bigsby instrument photos taken by fine arts photographer Greg Morgan. The book also comes with an audio CD of Paul Bigsby, recorded in the late 1950s, telling stories of his business.

The Story of Paul Bigsby is the first title published by Fred Gretsch Enterprises under the FG Publishing imprint. The hardcover trade edition of the book will be distributed worldwide by Hal Lenard Publishing and retail for $50 US. A deluxe edition of the book with a special embossed leather bound cover, gilded gold edges, cloth woven bookmark, autographed by Fred Gretsch and packaged in a special clothbound commemorative Bigsby clam-shell box will be available in a limited edition direct from Fred Gretsch Enterprises / Bigsby.com and retails for $100 US.

 About the author

Andy Babiuk is a musician, writer, producer, founding member of the Chesterfield Kings, has been a professional in the music industry for more than 30 years and is the owner of a boutique music shop Andy Babiuk’s Fab Gear. He is currently in the band The Empty Hearts featuring Elliot Easton from The Cars on lead guitar, Clem Burke from Blondie on drums, and Wally Palmar from The Romantics on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. The Empty Hearts LP release, August 5th, 2014. He is a staff consultant to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and consultant to major auction houses in London and New York. Andy is a respected expert on vintage guitars and the foremost authority on the equipment used by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Andy perceived the need for a book about The Beatles’ gear when he tried to emulate some of their recorded sounds for his own band, The Chesterfield Kings. Andy then embarked on six years of research for Beatles Gear, during which time he interviewed over 400 people who worked with or were closely associated with The Beatles, listened to hundreds of recordings, watched miles of film, and amassed a vast library of documents and photographic evidence of The Beatles using their instruments and equipment. The result is this most detailed account of The Beatles and the tools that they used, on-stage and in the studio. As a follow up to his first book Beatles Gear, Babiuk worked nine years resurching and writing Rolling Stones Gear – a history of the equipment used by The Rolling Stones. Andy worked directly with memebers of the Stones and photographed The Rolling Stones actual guitars and equipment. His critically acclaimed books Beatles Gear (2001) and Rolling Stones Gear (2014) are books that manage to be both historical documents and an entertaining read. Andy is also the author of the book The Story of Paul Bigsby: Father Of The Modern Electric Solidbody Guitar, published in February 2009. He has worked as the technical consultant and associate music supervisor of Davis Chase’s feature film Not Fade Away released by Paramount Pictures in the fall of 2012. He lives in Rochester, New York, with his wife, six children and a very large collection of guitars and music memorabilia. He can be contacted at Andy Babiuk's Fab Gear .