Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey everyone,

I have an early 80s 360/12 with the vintage 7.25" radius neck / fingerboard / fretboard. I've got TI flats on it. I'm currently using a shubb capo with a 7.25 radius. It works, but it doesn't work that well. It doesn't seem to put enough tension on the .10 and .13 strings, and causes them to buzz. If I tighten the capo down with enough tension to stop that buzzing it puts way too much tension on the neck (which will cause frets to wear faster) and causes the low strings to go way sharp. Seems a different capo is required, something with a more curved radius (don't think that exists) or something with different rubber that accommodates for the different gauges.

G7th makes a "12 string capo" with notches in the rubber, but they're shaped for normal string orientation, not Rick reverse orientation hahaha. So no luck there. https://www.g7th.com/12-string

Thalia, G7th, etc. All kinda pricey so I don't want to blindly buy them.

These Paige capos look interesting - http://allaboutcapos.com/product/paige- ... ius-black/ - Of course they "say" they're for a 12 string, but I also wonder if the design could theoretically accommodate any fretboard radius, since it appears to pull down on the capo from both sides, and form to the radius. I wonder?

Anyone have any recommendations?

You can bend the arm on the Shubb to alter the radius some, enough to fix your issue with it. I did so with one of mine to better work with the guitar I use it on.

I have had no problems using a Kyser capo on any 12-string (or any other guitar for that matter) and I don't believe I own a Rickenbacker that doesn't have a 7.25" radius.

https://www.kysermusical.com/

collin wrote:I have had no problems using a Kyser capo on any 12-string (or any other guitar for that matter) and I don't believe I own a Rickenbacker that doesn't have a 7.25" radius.

https://www.kysermusical.com/

What year Ricks do you have? They changed at some point. Rickenbaker themselves now say it has a 10” radius. I’ve found corroboration online that the vintage radius is 7.25 and the new ones are not.

I’ve read good and bad on the kysers but they’re definitely cheap enough to try.

One thing to note is that the early fretboards often had tighter (like 6") and inconsistent radii up and down the neck, due to the way the radius was hand-sanded into the fretboards. You might be running into that.

akpasta wrote:

collin wrote:I have had no problems using a Kyser capo on any 12-string (or any other guitar for that matter) and I don't believe I own a Rickenbacker that doesn't have a 7.25" radius.

https://www.kysermusical.com/

What year Ricks do you have? They changed at some point. Rickenbaker themselves now say it has a 10” radius. I’ve found corroboration online that the vintage radius is 7.25 and the new ones are not.

I’ve read good and bad on the kysers but they’re definitely cheap enough to try.

All mine are pre-1974 models, which are 7.25” radius.

They didn’t switch to 10” radius until the 1980s.