Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a mid-60s 365 that has its original roller bridge on it. A friend showed me that you can drop on a regular bridge and improve sustain/tone, and I'd like to do that. However, I have now tried and failed TWICE to buy the right thing for it. I bought a vintage bridge from one of the ebay parts dealers and didn't look close enough to notice that it must have been meant for a 3/4 size model, and even though the string spacing is right, the bridge itself isn't as wide as the original and won't fit. Then I bought a modern bridge from Pick Of The Ricks, and it turns out that Rickenbacker doesn't drill the holes in the same place as the vintage ones! Cmon Rick, why would you do that?! That bridge didn't come with a baseplate, so suppose I could buy a baseplate and drill new holes in that, to match up with the guitar, and then the new bridge would fit on that. But I'd rather just find the right thing.

Does anyone have any suggestions where I can find a vintage bridge or two?

And has anyone fooled around with this sort of thing and noticed a difference in sound?

Thank you... why didn't I think of that?! Third time's a charm I guess

I'd still like to know if anybody has replaced their roller bridges with regular saddle bridges and preferred it that way.

apossibleworld wrote:Thank you... why didn't I think of that?! Third time's a charm I guess

I'd still like to know if anybody has replaced their roller bridges with regular saddle bridges and preferred it that way.

yes i did replaced one on 660 guitar with accent that had modern roller (dealer said it was from factory). roller was rattletrap and i didn't like it so normal modern one went on, the charm is to buy one with the correct base plate and make sure the notches in the saddles are cut well and smoothed out with something like "Mitchell Abrasive Cord", than it functions well even with accent...

winfield bridge is pretty good and i have it on another guitar, the ric factory roller is in my parts drawer for now untill i find some good use for it...

Hi im new to Ric source. and have been delving in to the forums and came across this dicussion about roller bridges. Are the bridges better than sattle bridges?

sped55miles wrote:Hi im new to Ric source. and have been delving in to the forums and came across this dicussion about roller bridges. Are the bridges better than sattle bridges?

Not really. The rollers make a lot of noise and, as far as I can tell, don't have any effect on the guitar staying in tune with a vibrato. They're just kind of a cool vintage thing to have.

dpowell wrote:

sped55miles wrote:Hi im new to Ric source. and have been delving in to the forums and came across this dicussion about roller bridges. Are the bridges better than sattle bridges?

Not really. The rollers make a lot of noise and, as far as I can tell, don't have any effect on the guitar staying in tune with a vibrato. They're just kind of a cool vintage thing to have.

"Cooler" to keep it in the case pocket imo. Went with Winfield's and have not looked back yet.

greg_feo wrote:

dpowell wrote:

sped55miles wrote:Hi im new to Ric source. and have been delving in to the forums and came across this dicussion about roller bridges. Are the bridges better than sattle bridges?

Not really. The rollers make a lot of noise and, as far as I can tell, don't have any effect on the guitar staying in tune with a vibrato. They're just kind of a cool vintage thing to have.

"Cooler" to keep it in the case pocket imo. Went with Winfield's and have not looked back yet.

That Capri appears to have a neck heel at the 12th fret!

egosheep wrote:That Capri appears to have a neck heel at the 12th fret!

a shadow.....

Ooh I love that guitar! When was the Bigsby put on?

greg_feo wrote:

dpowell wrote:

sped55miles wrote:Hi im new to Ric source. and have been delving in to the forums and came across this dicussion about roller bridges. Are the bridges better than sattle bridges?

Not really. The rollers make a lot of noise and, as far as I can tell, don't have any effect on the guitar staying in tune with a vibrato. They're just kind of a cool vintage thing to have.

"Cooler" to keep it in the case pocket imo. Went with Winfield's and have not looked back yet.

Question, Greg. Which Winfield bridge did you buy?

When I bought my '65 365, it had an "Ac'cent by Paul" vibrato as well as a standard non-roller bridge. I'd suspected that my guitar started out life as a 360, since the Paul Ac'cent is too old for a 1965 model. It has always worked well, though, and stayed in tune. In fact, I added a Rick Vibrato to my '91 1997 and it performs well with the non-roller bridge, too!

The 60's is on it now, 50' rollers in the pocket.

apossibleworld wrote:Ooh I love that guitar! When was the Bigsby put on?

In the early 60's, a LONG time ago.