Accent Vibrato

[martynwelch]

Just curious as to whether folk have an opinion on my idea of drilling a new hole higher in the Accent's tail plate rather than a lower one in the body?
I'm about to install one and could do with the advice before I proceed.

[scotty]

Why dont you just put it on and see if your happy with angle before drilling anything.Ill be honest i didnt like the accent that thats just my opinion i tried it and didnt like it.Put it on and try it.

[wj350]

In MHO, drilling new holes in a guitar is a bad idea unless you want to keep the guitar forever, or unless you're going for an established example, ala the Lennon 325s with a Bigsby.

If you've got an in on an Accent for a good price, buy it, try it on your guitar--if it doesn't work to your desires, flip the Accent. But don't drill holes in the guitar unless it's your keeper.

[scotty]

+ 1 on Bills advice!

[collin]

Back in the 50s and 60s, a vibrato on a guitar was considered a huge upgrade, stemming from jazz and instrumental music. Ironic that now, particularly with Gibson guitars, it devalues the instrument significantly.

With the inherent tuning instability and redundancy of the vibrato these days, they have been phased out as a standard feature on many guitars, including Rics. (with the notable exception of the Stratocaster, for some reason..)

[egosheep]

Just curious as to whether folk have an opinion on my idea of drilling a new hole higher in the Accent's tail plate rather than a lower one in the body?
I'm about to install one and could do with the advice before I proceed.

Winfield Vintage sells an Accent adapter tailpiece that sets it lower and covers the screw holes in the guitar.

[martynwelch]

Thanks for the swift replies. I read and commented in the other accent thread where it was suggested drilling the guitar tail with a lower placed hole and filling the old one. Someone had done this and included a photo showing the end result, but my idea was to re-drill the accent's tailpiece instead as I'd rather drill a second hole in a £120 piece of metal than one in an £1100 guitar.
I'll certainly try it first as it comes but if, as some have reported, the unit does sit too high and the reduced angle from bridge to tail causes muddy tones or similar instabilities, then I've either got to drill the unit or abandon the plan and sell it on. I saw the link to the Winfield tailpiece but purely from a cosmetic viewpoint, it looks like it's finished with a satin silver effect rather than polished chrome - unless I'm mistaken? I know it's just cosmetics but I'm a bit daft about such things.

[wj350]

I haven't looked on his site recently, but go and contact Winfield V and talk to them--I believe they've offered their hardware in several finishes over the years, and either will have the adapter in polished chrome or probably can do it for you.

Doesn't hurt to ask.

[martynwelch]

Well the Accent that I bought on eBay arrived yesterday and is now fitted so I guess I technically now have a 335.

Because the hole location in the end plate is a little low, as some have commented, I took the plunge and drilled another about 10mm above it and used that to locate it with the strap bolt. Figured this was far better than drilling the guitar woodwork. Problem is that although the plate now sat in the 'correct' position with less gap between it and the body upper works, the strings were pressing down on the front leading edge of the plate as they passed over it towards the bridge. I could hear the strings pinging and fidgeting on that edge when I operated the arm, so I undid all and reinstated it using the original lower hole and despite the plate having a slightly larger gap between it and the body, the angle is still OK and the strings no longer press on that edge. The unit now works normally, although I did need to slightly bend the arm up a little as it was sloping downhill towards the neck and making it difficult to operate without my fingers clattering into the strings. I now have an extra unneeded hole in the vibratos' end plate but it doesn't look odd and I may fill it with a small grommet, but given its location nobody will probably notice it anyway.

By the way, there's no need to remind me I should have tried it first before drilling it . . .

No problems with intonation so far but although it has a new set of Elixir 10s on, my instinct was to order a set of Rick 10-42 compressed round wounds and I'll try these for sound because I also think the bottom E .46 Elixir is sitting up in the nut slot rather than resting in it and at this stage I'd rather not start opening up nut slots. And much as I really like the Elixirs on my strats, I don't think their very fresh and overly bright sound suits a Rick so I'm hoping the compressed set will be better.

When the weather brightens up I'll take a photo or two and pop one or two on here for you to see the outcome.

[fireglo67]

FYI Rickenbacker have now changed the guage of their strings to a more common 10 - 46.

If you want 10 - 42 guage you'll have to make sure that it's old stock.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=402911&p=721141&hil ... gs#p721141

[martynwelch]

Bought a set of Rickenbacker 10-42 compressed wound and fitted them - couple of businesses here in the UK supply them still. Better balance of sound now and after adjusting pickup height and poles, the results are pretty good.

[martynwelch]

When the weather brightens up I'll take a photo or two and pop one on here for you to see the outcome.

Here's a quick shot for anyone interested.

[jps]

Here's a quick shot for anyone interested.

Of course, we are!

Lovely.

[daytripper1964]

Been thinking about doing this to my Rickie 360V64, not sure if it's a good idea or not though

[jps]

Been thinking about doing this to my Rickie 360V64, not sure if it's a good idea or not though

Why not? It is a simple thing to do as the Accent unit mounts to the same bracket as the trapeze tailpiece, no drilling or any other mods needed.