Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a 620-12 and want to replace the "R" tailpiece with the Trapeze tailpiece. I'm told that the holder for the trapeze tailpiece has the screw holes in places different from the "R"tailpiece holder. I assume this will mean drilling new holes in the guitar. I thought it would be a fairly simple swap and am pretty leery of drilling new holes, especially if they are close to the old ones.
Has anyone here made the change and how easy was it? Thanks.

Yes, it's very do-able. When I did it, I only used two screws for the new tail piece, plus one for the strap lock, and left the other four screw-holes in the bracket "blank". It's fine and totally solid that way, and you won't see any holes. You won't ever look at it or notice any problem, and your guitar will have a cool vintage look with much easier maintenance. I have a picture that I can post later.

Plus, if you only use the inner two holes on the trapeze bracket, if you decide to go back to the R, you won't see any holes with the old R bracket. I fully recommend you do it this way. Mark Arnquist recommended modding it this way. If you don't like the blank screw-holes in the new bracket, you can glue the screw heads to the bracket, and make it look like the screws are there. I'll email you the photo if that's OK.

Scratch that ... I drilled two holes in the trapeze bracket to line up with the holes in the R bracket. Makes for an easy retrofit. Sorry for the misinformation.