A BIT OVER A YEAR IN THE MAKING...

[wints]

Truly a labour of love and a work of art.

[sloop_john_b]

If it were mine, I'd go with a long R or long trapeze tailpiece. Keep it distinctly "Rickenbacker".

[tennis_nick]

I was thinking a long trapeze tailpiece as well John. there was on on ebay not long ago I believe... gold and all...

I'd like to see a dark red or mink color on this one, or a natural montezumo brown type of colour...

I tihnk Paul's got something up his sleeve... snotglo perhaps?

[squid]

I don't think a long trapeze would do this justice. It's full of curves and the trapeze is just too trapezoidal. I could live with an elongated "R" but I still think it needs something special.

[tennis_nick]

something special maybe, but something about the double trussrod shaped tailpiece makes me think it would either look like a fish, or look like an 8th grade science project about going fast...

I like the classic look of the standard "Casino" tailpiece. it does the job, and it's doesn't atract attention to itself, leaving your eye to behold the beauty of the guitar shape

[jingle_jangle]

Here's the 760J in the RIC collection:



It has the Allparts tailpiece that's simple and non-obtrusive. I have tried a long "R" tailpiece that I was saving for another project, and it looks too ornate. The Gretsch CC tailpiece that I have (which says Gretsch nowhere on it) looks like a bridge girder. The ebony Benedetto doesn't work.

Maybe a Bigsby...

BTW, I have a handmade adjustable rosewood bridge that is simply beautiful and quite elegantly minimal.

[jps]

Paul, of all the metal tailpieces I have seen, the old Gretsch (the new ones look diferent) is the nicest looking one of the bunch.

[sloop_john_b]

How about a Kauffman, Paul?

[jingle_jangle]

The Gretsch tailpiece (bought on Ebay) looked like a possibility in the listing...





But the steel it's made of is fully .090" (12 gauge?) thick, and the darned thing weighs almost a pound.

Kaufmann, JB? It would be an interesting idea, but I'd have to pin it, and then it would only be for looks...if this was going to be an electric with knobs in the body like a Gretsch or Gibson, then a vibrato would definitely be on the table, but this one should follow the tradition of previous archtop Ricks and be plain and elegant.

[jps]

I was thinking of the more traditional Gretsch tailpiece.

[rickenbrother]

Outstanding work as always, Paul!!

[tennis_nick]

I still think the basic allparts bridge would be the epitome of minimalism and style on a guitar like that.

let's face it, when you see a jazzbo like that, the lack of pickups, while retaining the look of a modern electric jazz box has a nice mellow minimalistic feel to it. why mess it up with overly ornate tailpiece?

























....It needs a Floyd Rose...

[squid]

A Benedetto style tailpiece is the one that I'd turn to in a pinch, although, again, I'd want it made out of rosewood.

In my mind, my "reverse truss rod cover" design would ape the Benedetto shape as much as possible and would do its utmost not to resemble a fish tail or a needlessly complicated "go fast" high school project ... gimme some credit here, people!

[jingle_jangle]

OK , John, you're a customer and a friend...but...although a "TRC" styled tailpiece might seem to make intellectual and rational sense, as a design statement and a component on a guitar (not just this one) it would be a dismal failure, aesthetically. I don't have to mock one up to know that; I can visualize it in several different forms. And the Benedetto looked (in the catalog) like it would work when I paid about $120.00 for a real one with cable. Then I fitted it to a nice Chinese jazz archtop with single cutaway in place of one of those awful Byrdland spaghetti tailpieces, and...

...it looked pretty bad. It is not really that original; it's a scaled-up violin tailpiece and it does not work on a guitar. As far as making one out of rosewood, then you'd have another bit of woodgrain fighting the finish and the wood of the fretboard like stripes and plaids or polka-dots.

By "traditional Gretsch tailpiece", you're leaving me a bit in the dark, Jeff. Which TGTP?

[tennis_nick]

Even if you could get that shape to work (or even a single TRC shaped tailpiece) I think anyway you do it, it would end up "fighting" the flow of the bound F-holes that flow so beautifully towards the edge of the body, following it's contours.

That is the "feel" I would want to leave intact on this kind of guitar, which is why I vote for the simplistic tailpiece.