Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This is something I saw on the official Ric forum, and we probably have a topic for it here, but do you remove the bridge cover on your Ric?

Until late December of '07, I didn't remove it from my 660/12 Tom Petty, because it didn't look right without it. But last week, when I was sending it to my tech for new strings (can't be bothered changing them myself), a neck adjustment and cleaning, a raise in the action and an intonation setting for the bridge, I decided to remove it so my tech wouldn't have to when he restrung it. I got it back yesterday, and I couldn't believe how much better it sounded without it! I still have the original cover and screws for it, but it sounds cooler without it, so off it shall remain!

I'm not sure what kind of tonal difference it would make without it? You were probably hearing the guitar post-setup and that's what would have made the difference.

I take mine off, I like to palm mute.

playing with the cover on doesn't make palm muting any tougher for me... and it looks cool... so... I'd leave it on.

Agreed with John, the sound diff has 0% to do with the cover not being on, unless you just smoked a big bag of placebo.

tennis_nick wrote:playing with the cover on doesn't make palm muting any tougher for me... and it looks cool... so... I'd leave it on.

I'm surprised you wouldn't notice a big difference, Nick, in regards to leaning on the bridge vs. leaning in front of the bridge. Leaning in front of the bridge alters the pitch for sure, and is much less comfortable. IMO of course.

sloop_john_b wrote:

tennis_nick wrote:playing with the cover on doesn't make palm muting any tougher for me... and it looks cool... so... I'd leave it on.

I'm surprised you wouldn't notice a big difference, Nick, in regards to leaning on the bridge vs. leaning in front of the bridge. Leaning in front of the bridge alters the pitch for sure, and is much less comfortable. IMO of course.

It depends how you do it I suppose. I'm not big on palm muting anyways, but when I do (on a strat or Gibson) I always use a very minimal amount of pressure. for some reason, resting on the saddles doesn't feel as good as hovering over the string just in front of the bridge.

sloop_john_b wrote:I'm not sure what kind of tonal difference it would make without it? You were probably hearing the guitar post-setup and that's what would have made the difference.

I take mine off, I like to palm mute.

+1 to what John says, although sometimes I take the cover off if the songs require more palm muting than normal. Otherwise, I leave it on. Regards....Goofyfoot.

I take mine off and leave them off, but only after the bridge and saddles have been properly smoothed-out and deburred like they used to be during the vintage days. Mr. Arnquist does a very nice job of this as part of the setup process.

I tried playing with the bridge cover in place when I got my new 330. It didn't interfere with palm muting, like I had suspected it might, but it did feel odd. Maybe I just wasn't used to it, but I took it off. I'm sure one day I'll try it again.

Howdy,

I'm a palm-muter and remove my bridge cover.

Eggman

I just put mine back on! Love the cleaner look and I'm not much of a palm-muter anyway...

- Scott

On my Rics that are more of the "show" type like my V-series, I have the covers on, with the exception of my RM1997. On my "workhorse" Rics like my 330 and 360/12, they come right off and the screws go back in the holes so that they don't get lost. I find that more of the songs that I play with these are the types that I need for finger muting.

While the covers look nice, I appreciate the palm mute effect more and so mine are usually in the drawer, 12 string excepted.

Well this is interesting to me. I like the look of the bridge cover so I've always kept the cover on my 330. However my 330 and my Victoria 5112 have had some trouble getting along together, and I've tried nearly everything in the book to make them get along. Rounds, flats, and EQ pedals for the guitar, a changed speaker for the amp, but the thing that helped the most, aside from the speaker change, was when I removed the bridge cover. It made my 330 sound much more alive and resonant, and I sure couldn't tell you why, scientifically speaking. The removal of the cover did not coincide with a change in the strings, or the change in the speaker by the way.