Adding sweet sweet vibrato

blackdog · Post by **blackdog** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:16 pm

Hey,
I was wondering how difficult (or easy) it would be to add a vibrato unit to a 330 with an R tailpiece. Does rickenbacker sell vibrato units? Is there drilling that needs to be done?

Thanks

winston · Post by **winston** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:22 pm

Sam,

I don't have a vibrato on my Ric 350 but a lot of forumites do have them on various models. The Rickenbacker accent vibrato seems to be one of the most popular. I don't believe that it is a difficult retrofit.

Welcome to the forum BTW

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 6:48 pm

The Accent can be added without drilling any holes--it will fasten with the rear or bottom strap bolt. It~s a sturdy unit. It will NOT give you ^dive bomber^capability--it~s nice and subtle.

(Sorry--On a foreign language keyboard tonite...)

blackdog · Post by **blackdog** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:06 pm

yeah, I was just thinking the accent vibrato found on 335's and 365's. I like the little touches of trem, so the accent is all i would need, but it is bloody impossible to find a 335 around. I was thinking maybe i could just add the accent vibrato to a 330.

Btw, does anyone who has accent vibrato on their ricks find they compromise tuning easily?

-Sam

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:50 am

Hi Sam, I have accents on three of my Rics...a 350 & two 330's. They are great! As Paul says, you are not going to be able to dive bomb with them, but used sensibly, they are fine with tuning...I have no problems at all in that department with any of them.

The strap bolt secures them & the unit covers the R tailpiece screw holes, so it's a nice tidy job. If you don't like it, you could go back to the R without any ill effects what so ever...totaly reversible.

longhouse · Post by **longhouse** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:08 am

Sam, I bend and tug on my Accent quite heavily. No tuning problems -ever. If your strings are sufficiently stretched, you should have no trouble.

Two weeks ago I grabbed the wrong silver Tolex case and found myself at rehearsal WITHOUT my 1997SPC/VB -and therefore no vibrato. It was awful.

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:26 am

Not long ago, I grabbed two cases to go to a gig with & found when I arrived that I had two 12 strings! For that particular gig, I had only planned to play a 12 on 3 songs, so it was an interesting night.

longhouse · Post by **longhouse** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 6:50 am

Indeed! I had to improvise. Later, my songwriting partner/co-guitarist asked about the 'new' parts I'd played.

'We should add that to the recording'.

Regardless, I missed my Accent and realised just how much I use it.