Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm the very happy owner of a new 330 fireglo. My first Ric six-string and a boon companion to my 660/12TP. I've restrung and set it up to play and it's wonderful. My question is about the 'R' tailpiece. First I should say I finally found out why the 'R' tailpiec isn't as popular as the vintage one. The notches where you hook the strings into the tailpiece are a nightmare, and mean you need three hands to fit new strings. If I had to do this with a twelve string I think I'd go nuts!

Anyway, the strap buttons seem to be made out of plastic, and don't fill me with confidence so I'm going to put straplocks on it. The question: Will the tailpiece come flying off the guitar if I unscrew the bottom strap button? What holds the tailpiece on the guitar? There are two tiny screws on either side of the strap button, but they don't look very strong. Can anyone help?

If this is a brand new 330 then the strap buttons should be standard Schaller straplock buttons. The screw is different, it's the same larger diameter machine screw found on older models, but the buttons are Schallers and accept the standard Schaller straplocks (the parts that go on the strap) without any modification.

And AFAIK they are metal, not plastic.

Hi Dave and thanks,
Mine's a January '03 model, and the buttons could be metal. They just didn't sound 'right' when I tapped them with a fingernail. I'll go ahead and get a straplock set and put them on. But my original questions: "Will the tailpiece come flying off the guitar if I unscrew the bottom strap button? What holds the tailpiece on the guitar?" still concern me.

"If I had to do this with a twelve string I think I'd go nuts!"

Read Steve Howes comment on this in The Steve Howe Guitar Collection book, page 85.

If you take the strap button off, the R tailpiece will not go flying. There's still a few screws holding the tailpiece bracket on the body.
I put a vintage style trapeze on my 330, after I had it a few months.

If your worried, just slacken off the strings a bit to reduce the tension.

Lee,

Congrads on your new guitar.

The strap buttons should be metal. They probably sound funny when you tap on them because the guitar is hollow

You can take the one out by the bridge, there's 2 other screws in there to hold the tailpiece in place. I've done it before, it would rip off the end of the guitar and go flying.

-Nick

Yes, congrats.

"The notches where you hook the strings into the tailpiece are a nightmare, and mean you need three hands to fit new strings."

Once you get used to it, re-stringing an 'R' tailpiece isn't so bad, even on a 12-string. Before I restrung my 12 I did some research on the Forum archives, and found that a capo is extrmely useful for changing strings on guitars with the 'R'. Once I hook the ball of the string into the slot, I keep tension on it, and then put a capo on it around the fifteenth fret to hold it in position while I feed the string end into the hole of the tuning peg and then tighten it up. Once there is a little bit of tension on it, I take the capo off and bring it up to pitch. However, I will concede that the trapeze tailpiece is a bit easier to string, although it is not as pretty as the 'R'!

I actually wind the machine post with a turn or two and *then* slot the R, maintaining tension with one hand and winding with the other. 6-string only though!