Replacement Tailpiece for 330-12

[DrRichie]

Hi Everyone,

I have a Ric 330-12 with the "R" tailpiece. I've communicated with a company who advertises a replacement Trapeze tailpiece (with an adapter) and a tailpiece that looks like a Harp. Either one has to be easier to string than the "R". Does anyone have any experience with the replacements, and if so, which would you recommend? Thank you. Richard

[beatlefreak]

Welcome to the forum Richard. Contact an authorized Rickenbacker dealer like Pick of the Ricks and inquire if they have a denuine RIC trapeze tailpiece in stock.

[libratune]

I wasn't familiar with the harp TP, but I know the company to which you refer. Here's a link to the harp TP for those who haven't seen it.

If you have a 12-er and are frustrated with stringing the "R", I would go with the trapeze TP. RIC uses the trapeze TP on it's vintage reissue 12ers, so it won't look odd. The harp, on the other hand, is relatively new to the scene and "to each his own" as far as appearances go.

I am guessing that, for ease of stringing, the trapeze and harp are the same, and have the same (slight)disadvantage: 12 strings into 6 holes.

On the other hand, The "R" stringing can be mastered. There are some tips for stringing up an "R" 12er that can be found on this forum and the RIC forum. You just have to search around a bit.

Richard -- welcome and good luck!

[DrRichie]

Thank you for the welcome. I appreciate the input and absolutely love my Rickenbacker 330-12. I call it one of my "Holy Grail" guitars (guitars I dreamed of owning when I was a teenager). I have just found the R to be a bear to string even with the tips from the forum members. The Pic of the Rics has a replacement Trapeze for a 6 string but not 12. The Winfield Village site says they have a Trapeze designed for the 12 string Rics. I'm sort of leaning that way. Richard

[beatlefreak]

The genuine RIC trapeze was only made with six holes, and used for both six and twelve string guitars. The part Winfield Vintage offers is an aftermarket item, and not genuine.

[scotty]

Richard id personally go with the Trapeze from Winfield(6 holes) and buy the bracket that is `R` to tail piece adapter thus no drilling required.Im not a fan of the Harp and the 12 holes in the trapeze.As Kris says the 6 hole bracket does both 6 and 12.
http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... ine%3Dtrue