Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Man sometimes when it rains it pours...first I got lucky enough to score a 325c58 thanks to one of the gang over in the Guitars section, then Gary notifies me the 1996 is in! Wallet's a little afraid of daylight at the moment, but after the long wait, it's kind of exciting!

Congratulations, Bill. Enjoy those guitars!

I've got one on the way, too. Ooo-wee.

Kris, thanks--Glen-congrats as well! BTW, apologies if I posted this in the wrong area--

How sweet it is! Just got mine today as mentioned in another thread under Rickenbacker Guitars. Wonderful instrument.

My only quibble so far is that lower E string on the roller bridge moves around a little bit. There is some up down movement as it slides around the inside of the roller. I'm not sure how to address it at the moment. I've never had one of these bridges before, except briefly on a c58. Must be part of the character of those roller bridges?

I'm sure there are some experts here, Mike. I'm far from one, though.

I'll chime in about this..

I have yet to play a C58 that had string travel across the saddle groove...anyone is welcome to add what they want about this, but IMO the C58 has a good bit more downforce across the saddles due to the lower angle of the Kauffman. My C58 is currently strung with 13 flats.

A C58 and a 1996 are two different animals, and there has been a fair amount of talk already on the 1996 concerning the break angle of the strings across the bridge..I reckon there will be more discussion about it---it may just be the 'nature of the beast' so to speak.

Mike, my 1996 does it too..I suppose about all vintage 325s and newer models (C64s, 1996s) may do it as well. V63's didn't have a roller bridge of course.

One way to address the issue may be to have roller saddles on the top 3 strings with a narrower groove...it may help with increased sustain on the top E string. YMMV...

Yes, John. My c58 didn't have the sliding issue, but it had the rattley roller bridge syndrome. That thing made all sorts of racket. I ditched the kaufman and roller bridge for the Lennon Bigsby and bowtie mod. Problem solved. I think I can live with the minor slippage on the 1996 for now.

I spoke with Kenny Howes about it and he basically said, "welcome to the joys of the roller bridge". Which is understandable. I think the rollers themselves are just string ball ends. I'm not sure if they make them with smaller grooves. It's important to have them "roll" if you use the Vibrola, but I don't care to use it so I just take the arm off.

I kept my JG c58 like that for a while--just disarmed the vibrola. Although I eventually did the Bigsby conversion, I was wondering--how much did JL actually use either system?