Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have GAS, which recently developed into RAS, adding a 2011 660/12 FG. I love my first Ric and it's getting along with the LPs and Strats just fine... except for one thing: none of my Schaller strap locks fit.... the buttons on the 660/12 are too small for the locks to stay on. My Schallers were branded as both Fender Schaller, and plain Schaller. All of them are chrome, but when I fit the receiver over either button on the 660/12, I can push the receiver off easily without pulling the release. So.... what's going on? Two sizes of Schaller buttons?

(Great forum... I've lurked for a while.)

Welcome Thomas.

Never heard of different sizes. I got Schaller straplocks which fit fine on my 360 and 340. I got a generic "Schaller" set from China and they fit too.
Are the strap pins on the Fender the same shape as on the Ric? Don't the 660s have the vintage Ric strap pins, which are not Schaller at all?

The Schallers on my two 620s and a third set I bought for my Fender are all the same. I think Werner is right - yours are probably the non-lock vintages.

Wildberry wrote:Don't the 660s have the vintage Ric strap pins, which are not Schaller at all?

+1

jps wrote:

Wildberry wrote:Don't the 660s have the vintage Ric strap pins, which are not Schaller at all?

+1

+2. Yes, they're just the standard "Vintage Style" strap pins.

Thanks for quick replies and the explanation. I mistakenly thought all modern Ric guitars had Schaller strap locks, and the stock buttons on the 660/12 look like scaled down Schaller buttons. Mystery solved. I've got an extra set of Schaller buttons, so I'll install those on the 660/12, since nearly all my straps are fitted with Schaller locks.

Reedy wrote:... I've got an extra set of Schaller buttons, so I'll install those on the 660/12...

Actually you need these: http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/BOLT-S ... p_648.html

Actually you need these: http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/BOLT-S ... p_648.html

You might be able to find a bolt that will replace the screw on your standard Schallers, but I'm not sure this will work -- the hole in the standard Schaller buttons is quite small and may be too small to accept a bolt of the appropriate diameter.

How does one go about changing the strap pins anyway? I remember them being so tightly fixed to my 480 I gave up on switching them to Schaller pins!

I have used pliers with rubber bits on the jaws to get a good grip; they can be tight but will come loose.

jps wrote:I have used pliers with rubber bits on the jaws to get a good grip; they can be tight but will come loose.

+1. Had to do the same thing with my new 350. Also laid about a dozen rags around the base of the guitar in case I slipped, LOL...

Must've been big pliers? I mean, how can one get a decent grip on it with pliers?

jps wrote:I have used pliers with rubber bits on the jaws to get a good grip; they can be tight but will come loose.

I've used pliers or vice grips with a chunk of leather from an old strap or belt wrapped around the bolt...

ken_j wrote:

Reedy wrote:... I've got an extra set of Schaller buttons, so I'll install those on the 660/12...

Actually you need these: http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/BOLT-S ... p_648.html

I used those on my 480. They work like a champ.

FYI: If someone gives you a set of Chinese or Taiwanese knockoffs and you already have the RIC straplock buttons, the knockoff strap part wont fit on the RIC buttons. . .