Accent Vibrato on a 330 - Question!

[justshane]

Okay, so I get my wonderful '96 330 Fireglo and since I have been using Bigsby's on all my other guitars I find that I really need that little "vibrato" in several songs. Never realized I used it so much until it wasn't there! Anyway, I like the Ac'cent vibrato because it is totally "Rickenbacker" and just looks right on the guitar. My problem is that the vibrato arm almost touches the top pickguard when it is on there. Less than an inch to move at all. Have I installed it wrong? I got the Ac'cent from Chris at POTR so I know that it is a good one and I am 100% sure that it is something that I am doing wrong but I can't for the life of me figure it out. Any suggestions from other users or thoughts on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated! I'm a little frustrated with it, but not ready to give up on it just yet. I have taken it off and put the trapeze tailpiece back on there, but I would like to get the Ac'cent back on there. I have heard some people say as well that they can just drop the strings in the Ac'cent and that changing strings is easier, but the gap between the tailpiece of the vibrato and where the strings slot in is not big enough to fit the ball in there without sliding the vibrato section off, putting the string in there and then sliding it back on. As you can see, totally stumped, but am really anxious and willing to learn!

[wittyair]

I had a wayward ac'cent arm before......I took it out to the garage, put it in the vise, coupla nice whacks
with a rubber hammer and you've got the arm where you want it. I would assume that during storage, shipping
and handling that those things occasionally need a bit of adjustment.

[scotty]

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=395287&hilit=accent

[paologregorio]

Do not bend the arm at the joint where the arm is welded to the mounting ring. Rather bend at one or both of the "elbow" bends. I've done this with at least two of my Accents for more travel, because one can never have too much whammy bar.

[xpitt]

Be careful not to chip off some chrome when bending the arm. Use some kind of cloth in between the bench vice.

[justshane]

I finally got it on there and the bending did just the trick! I may take the arm off and bend it a little more but for now it works just the way it should and I really like it! Thanks for the advice!