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So I have this old Chet in the shop, with the E-string roll pin broken off flush with the bar. New ones are available, for not a lot of money, but there's the wait, and the dismantling/re-assembly issues. So it's cowboy time. For the one or two who may not have worked with these, those pins are as hard as high speed steel drill bits, and what will attack them.

Dremel makes diamond point tools, and the only one locally available comes in a two-pack; one a small spear point (too big) and the other a mini-ball. The ball is a bit under 1/6".  This will do.

So with some padding under the Bigsby, careful bracing of the elbows, and the grinding begins, holding it as close to vertical as I can muster. It appears the ball follows the hollow of the pin, grinding it out right through the center. It took about 10 minutes, and it's gone. Much of the time was spent letting the Dremel cool.

Once I could tell the pin was gone, I deepened the hole with a regular bit, and then blotted the hole out with naptha several times, and filled it with JB Weld with a new pin, cleaned and roughed a bit in the slightly bigger hole.

After an overnight I strung it back up and it's held for over a week now. We'll see, but I think it may last. If not, then a new part is in order, but this got it up and going for now. If there were more than one broken off, I think a new part would be best fix. Hope this helps anybody facing a similar dilemma.   

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A GREAT solution to all Bigsby "tech terror" problems.  It'll probably work well with just 4 or 5 remaining pins:

http://www.vibramate.com/vibramate-string-spoiler.php

Hope your solution works though.  If it doesn't, I wouldn't hold out for much hope that a factory replacement pin will work after the original 'hole' was enlarged.  Given that it was enlarged, what you've already done would likely be the only workable solution.

Best regards (:

Well not knowing too much about a Bigsby I do own one. With that said on another forum they mention removing the little rods and running the strings through the bar.

    P.S. Good to see you posting again Paul

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